Project description
Digging deep into future mining operations
The mining industry is constantly evolving. The future of mining is being shaped by new technologies like bots, drones, and autonomous machines. The advent of synthetic minerals or those grown in labs is also changing the dynamics. The EU-funded SYNTHLIVES project will explore the role of human and non-human nature in increasingly synthetic, automated, and digital mining economies. It will conduct a multi-sited and multi-methods study in three case studies: synthetic laboratories, automated mines, and digital and data-driven mining processes. The findings will shed new light on the political, epistemological, ecological, and economic consequences of future mining operations transformed by synthetic properties, autonomous machines, and digital technologies.
Objective
The global extractive industry is undergoing three critical transformations: first, the advent of synthetic or lab-grown minerals, impacting the mining industry and the extraction of resources from nature; second, the creation of fully automated mining operations, seeking to render human work redundant or accessory to that of bots, drones, and other autonomous machines; third, the introduction of digital data and disintermediation technologies for mining management and traceability. Taken together, these innovations anticipate a future of mining that replaces nature with synthetic substances, human labor with intelligent machines, and intermediaries with unmediated accountability. This project responds to these changing conditions with a novel conceptualization of the emergent relationship entangling synthetic and natural objects, humans and machines, material and digital spaces: Synthetic Lives. It asks: What is the role of humans and non-human nature in increasingly synthetic, automated, and digital mining economies? This research innovates by bringing together three related areas of scholarly enquiry: i) resource materialities, to destabilize the divide between nature and culture; ii) mediation and technology, to problematize the separation between humans and machines; iii) algorithmic governance and digital transparency in mining sites, to untangle how material and digital properties are co-produced. Through a multi-sited and multi-methods study, it contributes to these fields of research in three case studies: synthetic laboratories, automated mines, and digital and data-driven mining processes. Interlacing these three foci, Synthetic Lives assists policy-making on environmental, employment, and social-digital issues, and inaugurates a debate of anthropological import: What are the political, epistemological, ecological, and economic consequences of a future that promises to be entangled in synthetic properties, autonomous machines, and digital technologies?
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology governance
- engineering and technology environmental engineering mining and mineral processing
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics autonomous robots drones
- social sciences economics and business business and management employment
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1202 Geneve
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.