Making Europe through and for its Research Infrastructures

At present, the European project is widely considered to be in a state of crisis. Citizens express increasing skepticism about the value of transnational collaboration and the European Union appears to struggle in responding to complex problems at least in part due to defection of individual member states from proposed collective solutions. At the same time and much less in the focus of public attention, cross-national scientific collaboration in Europe seems to develop unimpeded. This is noteworthy, as the project of scientific integration so far has proceeded hand in hand with the political and economic integration project that is presently controversial. So far, there has been little research that systematically traces this link between scientific and socio-political integration. The project aims to contribute to closing this gap. We comparatively explore how European integration and European science have influenced each other. We do this by looking at four eminent Transnational European Research Infrastructures (TERIs): the Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN; 1954), the European Space Agency (ESA; 1975), Laserlab Europe (LLE; 2001), and Biobanking and BioMolecular Research Infrastructure (BBMRI; 2008). We aim to analyze how each infrastructure embodied a distinct vision for European integration, and how, conversely, these research infrastructures were powerful vehicles to advance integration. We will thus explore how changing imaginations of Europe since World War II affected the foundation, the institutional forms and societal positioning of TERIs. Mobilizing theoretical approaches from Science and Technology Studies (STS), we conceptualize TERIs as sociotechnical machineries of integration that manage to promote broader processes of European integration through relating diverse scientific and socio-political elements to each other. We consider TERIs as being shaped by shifting European political visions and practices of integration while, at the same time, they are relevant actors in the making and stabilizing of Europe. We trace how TERIs operate through a comparative multi-method approach. The challenge of researching the processes of mutual shaping of TERIs and European socio-political integration lie in the fact that such processes are hardly visible in the everyday life of TERIs. However, this project will get access to the entanglements of the scientific and the socio-political by focusing on key moments in the life of a TERI, i.e. its foundation, as well as major moments of transformation and commemoration. We identify and explore these moments through extensive fieldwork at each of the TERIs. We thereby aim to understand how TERIs are not only the result of a changing European society, but also promote specific ideas about Europe at large. By studying the dynamics of European scientific integration, the project potentially also holds lessons for making sense of the complex challenges European political integration confronts today.

Currently, the European project is widely perceived to be in a state of crisis. Citizens are increasingly skeptical about the value of transnational collaboration, and the European Union faces challenges in responding to complex issues, partly due to the reluctance of individual member states to support collective solutions. In contrast, cross-national scientific collaboration in Europe seems to be thriving. This is particularly noteworthy because scientific integration has historically advanced alongside the politico-economic integration project - the latter being increasingly questioned. This project aimed to investigate the intricate relationship between techno-scientific and socio-political integration in Europe taking transnational European research infrastructures as ideal sites to observe these processes. Three case studies were investigated by our team: CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research, founded 1954), ESA (the European Space Agency, established 1975), and BBMRI-ERIC (Biobanking Network, initiated 2008/2013). They were created at different moments in time and have different organizational structures, which allowed to better see how each research infrastructure has been shaped by a distinct vision of European integration and, conversely, how they contribute to specific dimensions of integration. All three case studies demonstrated in diverse ways, that research infrastructures are more than mere support structures for research. Throughout their histories these infrastructures embody and symbolize specific visions of the relationship between science and Europe. The case of CERN, as the oldest European research infrastructure, rendered visible the transformations of this relationship over time. In the post-World War II era CERN played a crucial part in rebuilding Europe. However, from the 1980s onwards, when Europe was considered politically stable, CERN shifted its focus to shaping international science from Europe, promoting the idea that European values should guide research. In contrast, the case of BBMRI-ERIC, a relatively recent initiative, was distinct. Being a European network of national networks of biobanks rather than a technology-centered infrastructure turned out to be challenging, specifically due to the diverse ways of translating the vision of a European network into local realities. Building such a research infrastructure not only required aligning research practices across many different, independent sites, but also involved the effort to establish a shared vision about what it means to be European. Finally, the ESA exemplified most visibly the entanglement of science and geopolitics in the European context. The analysis of ESA demonstrated how the objectives and governance schemes of European space activities reflected the growing importance of space for ensuring Europe's security. In essence, this research illuminated the complex relationship between techno-scientific and socio-political integration in Europe. It revealed that research infrastructures, beyond their role in advancing scientific endeavors, serve as symbolic representations of the vision of Europe and actively contribute to the project of European integration in diverse, often invisible ways.