12 November 2018

Marina Joubert

“Books have to be used, and they must be accessible to students,” Professor Arie Rip explained to me when we talked about his donation of more than 2 000 books and reports to the resource centre at CREST. “Once I did not have research students any longer, it helped me to come to terms with the decision to donate my book collection to Stellenbosch University.”

Professor Rip is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of STS (science and technology studies) and emeritus professor of philosophy of science and technology at the University of Twente in The Netherlands. His sizeable donation of books and grey literature in the field of STS now constitutes the ‘Arie Rip STS Library’ that is housed at CREST in the RW Wilcocks Building on the main campus of Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

“After the arrival of democracy in South Africa in 1994, I was fascinated by the possibilities of transformation in the country, while scholars in South Africa were keen to catch up with global developments and international perspectives,” Professor Rip explains. “Based on this, we developed mutually beneficial academic partnerships that lasted more than two decades.”

Since 1996, he has visited Stellenbosch University once or twice every year to teach on various postgraduate courses, collaborate on research projects and to work with science policymakers in South Africa.

Professor Rip’s work in STS, as well as in the field of science, technology and innovation policy studies and constructive technology assessment of newly emerging technologies, is widely acclaimed. He has been involved in issues of social responsibility of scientists from his early days at the University of Leiden, and led the technology assessment and societal aspects of nanotechnology sub-program of the Dutch national nanotechnology R&D consortium NanoNed. More recently, he was involved in the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 R&D Framework Programme for the cross-cutting issue of so-called responsible research and innovation (RRI).

When asked about his plans for a new phase in his life when he would be scaling down on his academic and travel commitments, Professor Rip replied: “My hobby is to think, and to externalise the thinking by writing. I’m looking forward to writing more essays and articles, and specifically want to write about the history of STS as a scholarly field.”

CREST director Professor Johann Mouton (left) and Stellenbosch University vice-rector Professor Eugene Cloete (right), with Professor Arie Rip (middle) at the inauguration of the ‘Arie Rip STS Library’ on 6 November 2018.

“My hobby is to think, and to externalise the thinking by writing. I’m looking forward to writing more essays and articles, and specifically want to write about the history of STS as a scholarly field.”