Science and technology have turned decisive for the economic and cultural development of current societies, and on them depends, in an ever-greater way, the well-being of countries and their citizens.

Today more than ever, science and technology are producing positive and negative impacts in society and the environment, while at the same time they constitute one of the main resources for problem resolutions. At the same time, for their development, they depend on the investment of huge capital by society coming from public and private funds.

These processes have given place to a model of society which has become more dominant in the last decades: the so called ‘society of knowledge’, where the creation of riches would be mainly based in the control and development of new forms of production and enhancement of knowledge.

One of the main guiding tenets of the society of knowledge is that science and technology are indispensable to achieve the material, environmental, social, and cultural conditions necessary to guaranteeing the well-being, a dignifying life, and a just social organization for present and future generations. The strengthening and development of science and technology are not enough on their own; it is necessary to articulate these systems with the rest of society so that their problematics may be understood exactly as they are perceived and defined by those struggling with them, in such a way that the solutions are acceptable by them and not according to determinations settled partially or independently of those interested.

The purpose of this line of research is to train experts capable of offering to the different social areas (state agencies, enterprises, those working in science and technology, and citizens in general) a comprehensive view of science and technology that allows them a better understanding, evaluation and enhancing. For this, they will have substantial philosophical and social-and-scientific knowledge about the cognitive and epistemological processes of science and technology, about their normative and value structure, their logical aspects, their historical development, about the design, management, and evaluation of scientific and technological policies, about the problematics of their communication, as well as about the adequate training of teachers and institutions capable of teaching new citizens in an appropriate scientific and humanistic culture.

In order to prepare them in this way, students will acquire basic and updated instruments from philosophy, history, and social science to critically understand science and technology; their constrains and political, economic, social, cultural, ethical, and environmental implications; also, to understand and evaluate the role of the teaching institutions in charge of promoting science and technology, as well as to evaluate scientific and technological policies, their managements, and their results.

They will also have the training to debate about the axiological problems of scientific and technological development, and their applications, particularly concerning ethical questions and the role of science and technology in the generation, evaluation, and management of risk, as well as to discuss about the necessity of opening science and technology to the understanding of citizens, to social participation, and to the public and constructive discussion of the values present in them.