About

Erik Fisher is an associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. His work focuses on the politics and policy of science and technology, including the multi-level governance of emerging technologies from laboratory to legislative levels. Fisher builds upon historical and conceptual understandings of the evolving relationship between science and society, studying public policy demands and practitioner responses to interdisciplinary collaborations between science and the humanities aimed at enhancing societal responsiveness. He directs the Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) project and the STIR Cities project, which explore how interdisciplinary collaboration between scientific experts and embedded humanists can support responsible innovation across various sectors, including energy innovations in cities like Phoenix and Portland. Fisher's research demonstrates that integrating societal and ethical reflection into laboratory research on nanotechnology, synthetic biology, biotechnology, and neurotechnology can foster learning, deliberation, and practical adjustments. His conceptual framework of Midstream Modulation helps understand how technical decision-making can be broadened to incorporate public values and concerns. Fisher's contributions have significantly influenced the scholarly frameworks of Anticipatory Governance and Responsible Innovation.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Security
• Engineering ethics
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Sociology
• Chemistry
• Genetics
• Internet privacy
• Philosophy
• Law
• History
• Epistemology
• Public relations
• Business
• Economics
• Positive economics
• Biology
• Psychology
• Data science
• Linguistics

Selected publications

• Enhancing translation capacities of COVID-19 researchers through interdisciplinary collaboration: empathy, awareness, and action

  International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being · 2026-05-01

  articleOpen access

  PURPOSE: Integrating societal considerations into public health research, particularly during crises, can foster public trust, support inclusive policy-making, and enhance technology development. Interdisciplinary collaboration may enhance researchers' capacities to reflect on the societal impacts of scientific advancements as they occur. METHODS: This qualitative Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) study investigated these claims among four early-career researchers in virology, physics, and engineering, working in a large-scale COVID-19 research project across Germany. The collaboration involved 12 weeks of protocol-based dialogue exercises, pre- and post-study interviews, and participant observation, and was analyzed using the "Midstream modulation" framework. RESULTS: We found that the exercises documented, and in some cases stimulated, changes in participants' awareness, attitudes, and behaviours regarding their research's broader social context. One participant grew more aware of their work's social impact over time, recognizing stakeholders beyond the laboratory. Another shifted attitudes toward science communication, while a third demonstrated greater empathy for public reactions to scientific advice. DISCUSSION: These enhanced capacities for reflexivity suggests potential of STIR for improved communication among scientists, the public, and policymakers, strengthening the science-society interface in COVID-19 and broader health research. Such collaborations can build public trust, inform interventions, and improve the translation of basic research into effective health policies.

  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing translation capacities of COVID-19 researchers through interdisciplinary collaboration: empathy, awareness, and action

  Repository KITopen (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen access

  $\textbf{Purpose}$ Integrating societal considerations into public health research, particularly during crises, can foster public trust, support inclusive policy-making, and enhance technology development. Interdisciplinary collaboration may enhance researchers' capacities to reflect on the societal impacts of scientific advancements as they occur. $\textbf{Methods}$ This qualitative Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) study investigated these claims among four early-career researchers in virology, physics, and engineering, working in a large-scale COVID-19 research project across Germany. The collaboration involved 12 weeks of protocol-based dialogue exercises, pre- and post-study interviews, and participant observation, and was analyzed using the “Midstream modulation” framework. $\textbf{Results}$ We found that the exercises documented, and in some cases stimulated, changes in participants' awareness, attitudes, and behaviours regarding their research's broader social context. One participant grew more aware of their work's social impact over time, recognizing stakeholders beyond the laboratory. Another shifted attitudes toward science communication, while a third demonstrated greater empathy for public reactions to scientific advice. $\textbf{Discussion}$ These enhanced capacities for reflexivity suggests potential of STIR for improved communication among scientists, the public, and policymakers, strengthening the science–society interface in COVID-19 and broader health research. Such collaborations can build public trust, inform interventions, and improve the translation of basic research into effective health policies.

  PublisherDOI

• MODERN TRENDS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

  Economics Theory and Practice · 2025-01-01

  article

  This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of employing information technologies in organizational human resource management and presents proposals for mitigating the identified shortcomings. In the context of widespread digitalization across various domains, human resource management has gained particular relevance. Information technologies in labor resource management serve as tools aimed at enhancing employee performance, streamlining work processes, and increasing organizational efficiency. Today, these technologies are utilized in recruitment and selection, training and professional development, and facilitate employees’ professional tasks across the company.

  PublisherDOI

• How SocioTechnical Learning Broadens Participation in STEM by Developing Self-Efficacy within Work-Based Experiences: Work in Progress

  2024-08-04

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The nation's need for a diverse and competent Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce contributing to economic growth, global competitiveness, and innovation is a primary driver for broadening participation in STEM.Yet, social justice and ethics policies dating as far back as the civil rights movement and earlier have not successfully diversified the current STEM workforce nor the STEM higher education system.This paper looks across three qualitative studies during the work-based experiences (WBEs) of eleven undergraduate computer engineering and information technology systems students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM.In this paper, WBEs are defined as paid engagements for students as they work on solving real-world problems, while performing tasks and projects in partnership with an employer or community partner.Three types of WBEs are represented: internships (Study 1), apprenticeships (Study 2), and company employees (Study 3).All three studies used the Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) methodology which has been established in 80 studies worldwide and over a dozen peer-reviewed publications.As a methodology STIR provides 1) a protocol for collaborative dialogs with an embedded humanist about upcoming decisions in the context of performing work-related activities and 2) a framework for analyzing the results of using the protocol to assess for reflexive and deliberate changes (modulation sequences).Additionally, we tested the efficacy of STIR to serve as a pedagogical intervention that supports SocioTechnical learning (STL).We define STL as 1) learning technical skills, 2) learning to reason about the normative societal dimensions of technology decisions, and 3) applying social and technical learning together in the context of work-based experiences.Using a combination of deductive coding and temporal analysis, several empirical findings emerged, including: During each WBE, STL was found to occur, regular STIR dialogs supported STL, and STL strengthened self-efficacy.These and other qualities of STL were found to help advance Broadening Participation in STEM as it is theorized in the literature.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Responsible innovation scholarship: normative, empirical, theoretical, and engaged

  Journal of Responsible Innovation · 2024 · 31 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Testing Reflexive Practitioner Dialogues: Capacities for Socio-technical Integration in Meditation Research

  NanoEthics · 2024-01-04 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract To put frameworks of Responsible Innovation and Responsible Research and Innovation (R(R)I) into practice, engagement methods have been developed to study and enhance technoscientific experts’ capacities to reflexively address value considerations in their work. These methods commonly rely on engagement between technoscientific experts and social scholars, which makes them vulnerable to structural barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration. To circumvent these barriers, we adapt Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) for broader use within technoscientific communities. We call this adaptation: reflexive practitioner dialogues. While the primary aim of this article is to introduce and explain the methodological adaptation, we also analyze results from a pilot study with participants who are involved in research on contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation. The analysis is guided by research questions that sought to assess whether and under what conditions the practitioner dialogues support reflexive and practical engagement with value considerations in participants’ work. The results indicate that reflexive practitioner dialogues can stimulate reflexive awareness of value conflicts and help re-direct decision-making responsively. We characterize the conditions facilitating such responsiveness as “value exnovators,” highlighting the oft-unacknowledged interpersonal relational practices that support collaborative engagement with value considerations. We suggest that “exnovation”—exposing the strengths of given practices for their improvement—can support R(R)I practices by directing analytical attention to their micro-level carriers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Technology assessment in science and engineering: theory, policy and practice of integration research

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2024-10-15 · 1 citations

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  Calls for ‘integration’ in policy, funding, and technoscientific practice have been accompanied by an academic debate about the possibility to integrate socio-ethical considerations into science and engineering. Some humanities scholars and social scientists tasked with achieving integration across socio-technical divides argue that it is impossible due to power asymmetries, epistemological and cultural differences, and other obstacles. In light of uncritical and critical emphases on integration, this chapter reviews its theory, policy, and practice histories. To exemplify interrelations between these histories, Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) is presented as a practical approach to Technology Assessment. STIR is situated in the literature and history of integration to clarify its theoretical underpinnings, carve out its methodological features, and elaborate on its achievements, challenges, and perspectives. The chapter concludes by suggesting that pronouncements on the success or failure of socio-technical integration must be contextualised within a broader cultural change unfolding in science, engineering, and society.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Shifting from binaries to pluralism: Unpacking polarizing discourses on the Forest Rights Act in India

  Environmental Science & Policy · 2023-03-07 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Engaging with societal challenges in responsible innovation

  Journal of Responsible Innovation · 2022-01-02 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Responding to difference in and for RI

  Journal of Responsible Innovation · 2022-05-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• STIR Cities: Engaging Expert Performances of Sociotechnical Imaginaries for the Smart Grid

  NSF · $325k · 2015–2019

• STIR: Socio-Technical Integration Research

  NSF · $543k · 2009–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Miklós Lukovics

  12 shared

• David H. Guston

  Institute for the Future

  10 shared

• Michael Reinsborough

  University of the West of England

  10 shared

• Roop L. Mahajan

  Virginia Tech

  9 shared

• Jennifer Richter

  8 shared

• Mareike Smolka

  RWTH Aachen University

  8 shared

• Mark Benassi

  University of Colorado System

  6 shared

• Philip Shapira

  6 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Environmental Studies

  University of Colorado-Boulder

  2006

• Other, Science and Technology Policy

  University of Colorado-Boulder

  2005

• M.A., Classics: Greek Philology

  University of Colorado-Boulder

  1995

• B.A., Philosophy and Mathematics

  St. John's College in Annapolis, MD

  1992