The International Network for Engineering Studies (INES) was founded in Paris in 2004 and currently has 275 members. INES operates as a collection of overlapping intellectual communities, linked by workshops, conferences, its journal Engineering Studies, and this website.

The field of engineering studies is a diverse, interdisciplinary arena of scholarly research and teaching built around the question: What are the relationships among the technical and the nontechnical dimensions of engineering practices, and how do these relationships change over time and from place to place? Addressing and responding to this question can sometimes involve engineering studies researchers as critical participants in the practices they study, including, for example, engineering formation, engineering work, engineering design, equity in engineering (gender, racial, ethnic, class, geopolitical), and engineering service to society.

Membership in INES is designed to complement memberships in other professional societies. Its mission is threefold:

1. to advance research and teaching in historical, social, cultural, political, philosophical, rhetorical, and organizational studies of engineers and engineering;
2. to help build and serve diverse communities of researchers interested in engineering studies; and
3. to link scholarly work in engineering studies to broader discussions and debates about engineering education, research, practice, policy, and representation.

INES is coordinated by Dr. Gary Downey, Alumni Distinguished Professor, Department of Science and Technology in Society, Virginia Tech, USA; Maria Paula Diogo, Associate Professor, Department of History, New University of Lisbon, Portugal; and Dr. Chyuan Yuan Wu, Director, Institute of Sociology and Program in Science, Technology and Society, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan.