Technology and Social Change (TEMAT)

Tema T - Technology and Social Change - is a nationally and internationally leading environment for research and education, where social science, humanities and interdisciplinary perspectives on technology, science, medicine and social change are at the center.

Research and teaching focus on how people create and use technology, and how technological change is interwoven with knowledge, policy, practice and ethics.

Research at Tema T – Technology and Social Change is divided into two research programmes. P6: Bodies, Knowledge, Subjectivities researches topics of agency, care, embodiment, knowledge practices, normativities, and subjectivities in science, medicine and other technological practices. These topics are examined from social, cultural, philosophical, and ethical perspectives, contributing to feminist theory, medical humanities, and science, technology and society studies.

STRIPE gathers researchers with an interest in the political and environmental dimensions of infrastructures such as energy, transport and waste.

In addition to our research, Tema T offers PhD education in Technology and Social Change. We offer a bachelor programme in Urban and Regional Planning (in Swedish) as well as an international Master’s programme in Strategic Urban and Regional Planning, and teach courses in theory of science, history of technology, and in medical humanities. Employees at Tema T also teach in various other programmes at all faculties.

Tema T is host for the Centre for Medical Humanities and Bioethics (CMHB); a cross-faculty centre at LiU that aims to strengthen and develop research, teaching, and collaboration with society within the areas of medical humanities and bioethics.

Research programmes

Research centre

Calendar and activities

Higher seminar series

The Higher Seminar is a series of guest lectures of the Department of Thematic Studies, Technology and Social Change where invited speakers present their own research. Previous speakers have delivered lectures about environmental history and the politics of nuclear power in Ukraine, embodiment and technicity in magnetic resonance imaging, the constitution of households as energy consumers in France, the role of borders in energy transitions, the imagination, negotiation and construction of satellite communications infrastructure during the Cold War, temporal (non)imaginaries in precision medicine and the feasibility of being “non-nuclear” in an increasingly nuclear world.

Information about upcoming seminars will follow as event pages above.

Contact: Graham Minenor-Matheson

Fellowship programme

Education

We teach within the fields of urban and regional planning, various perspectives on technology, science, and medicine, as well as philosophy of science and methodology. Our focus is on broadening perspectives within the areas we teach.

Our main teaching responsibilities are within the Bachelor's Programme in Urban and Regional Planning and the international Master's Programme in Strategic Urban and Regional Planning. These programmes combine theoretical perspectives on planning with practical applications, with a particular focus on how different aspects of sustainability and other societal challenges can be addressed in urban and regional development.

We are also responsible for courses in philosophy of science and methodology within the teacher education programme. In collaboration with the Centre for Technology, Science and Society (CMTS), we offer a course in the history of technology for students at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, as well as courses on urban and regional planning and the societal aspects of technological development for students in the Bachelor's Programme in Logistics Management. Additionally, Tema T collaborates with Tema Environmental Change on several courses within the Master’s Programme Science for Sustainable Development.

Staff at Tema T also contribute to various other programmes across the faculties of Arts and Sciences, Educational Sciences, Science and Engineering, and Medicine and Health Sciences.

View of Linköping city

Strategic Urban and Regional Planning, Master's Programme, 120 credits

Strategic urban and regional planning is one of the most powerful local instruments to (re)shape long-term urban and regional development and create sustainable cities and regions of tomorrow.

PhD Education

News

Thomas Keating at a table with a computer in front of him.

Highly radioactive nuclear waste – how to keep it from oblivion

Sweden’s radioactive nuclear waste will be stored in a sealed bedrock repository for 100,000 years. How can we ensure that it is not forgotten? Researchers at Linköping University have come up with a proposal.

Corinna Röver standing on a stair.

Reindeer husbandry in the shadow of war – then and now

Sweden’s NATO membership may entail increased military activity in Sami reindeer herding areas. One way of trying to predict the consequences of this is to look back in history. This is what a new research project at LiU will do.

Diplomatic talks focusing on nuclear waste and climate

Do the environmental organisations still have a role to play in Swedish nuclear waste final repository design? And is it possible to reach understanding between oil producer Saudi Arabia and the island nation of Fiji?

Publications

Latest publications

2025

Ericka Johnson, David Rayner, Jools Kasmire, Victor Hennetier, Saghi Hajisharif, Helene Ström (2025) Metadata/README elements for synthetic structured data made with GenAI: Recommendations to data repositories to encourage transparent, reproducible, and responsible data sharing
Stella Huang, Reidar Staupe, Barbara Maria Sageidet (2025) Tensions and opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration in smart city work A Nordic Smart Sustainable City: Lessons from Theory and Practice, p. 41-55 (Chapter in book) Continue to DOI
Åse Richard, Marcus Mohall, Irene Molina (2025) Capturing Displacement: A Dialectical Mixed-Methods Approach to the Study of Renoviction-A Case from Sweden International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Timos Karpouzoglou, S. Vij, V. Narain, B. Juma, L. Sitoki, D. Nilsson, P. Blomkvist (2025) Beyond the (non)piped drinking water regimes: complex configurations of conflicts and cooperation Urban geography (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Christoffer Hahn, Emma Lindkvist, Dick Magnusson, Maria Johansson (2025) The role of agriculture in a sustainable energy system: The farmers' perspective Renewable & sustainable energy reviews, Vol. 213, Article 115437 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Kristina Trygg, Ida Grundel (2025) Strategic spatial planning in the implementation of mobility hubs Journal of Urban Mobility, Vol. 7, Article 100105 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Flora Mary Bartlett, Julia Velkova (2025) This Photograph has Never Been in a Data Centre: An experimental intervention in pursuit of responsible research practice Platforms and the Planet: Digital Platforms and Environmental Responsibility (Chapter in book)
Julia Velkova (2025) Data Infrastructures and their Temporalities Sage Handbook of Data and Society (Chapter in book)

Contact & staff

Staff

Staff

Visit us in Tema Building, Campus Valla

Postal adress
Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies/Technology and Social Change, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden

About the Department of Thematic Studies