On December 7th Maastricht hosted a one-day workshop on the theme of Techno-Scientific Innovation and Waste; Opportunities and Consequences, as part of a two-year research network funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under their international inter-disciplinary research network programme. The initiative originated with a FASoS research stimulation and valorisation award in 2015.

Organised and chaired by Professor Graeme Evans, together with Peter Peters, Vivian van Saaze, and the Jan van Eyck Academie, the day brought together speakers and presenters from materials science, social science/STS and local government with practising artists working in recycled and waste materials. This included a biomaterials expert from Brightlands Chemelot campus and a Bioplastics scientist from the University of Ferrara, Italy, as well as Maastricht City’s Policy Advisor on Waste Management.

Nora Vaage – whose own PhD was in the emerging field of Bio-Art – presented On Roles for Art in Societal Challenges, whilst local artist Paul Koenen gave a fascinating presentation on his installations using material from the region’s industrial past (he designs benches from old mine stones which are then placed on the top of old mineshafts). The event continued with several participatory workshops and exhibitions/ installations by artists, coordinated by Amsterdam-based Irene Janze, and a thematic brainstorm session which will inform the next research workshop to be held in London on 7th April 2017.

Participants included local artists, students (Maastricht and the Van Eyck), and academics from Maastricht and Amsterdam, in addition to policy-makers and industry representatives. The report from the workshop will be available on the project website together with details of the Network activities and details of future workshops. Arising from the Network, the project team are working on a European Horizon 2020 research proposal based on the Call: Integrating Society in Science and Innovation – An approach to co-creation.

This workshop is part of the Maastricht University Sscience, Technology and Society studies research programme and connected to the Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage.