My research focus lies on the material politics of socio-ecological transitions. I study global recycling networks, energy transitions and sustainability measures. My background is in sociology, and I published widely on relational approaches in Science and Technology Studies, on economic sociology, digital methods, and interdisciplinary discussions in waste, energy and valuation studies as well as consumer issues, for example through the lens of human-animal relations.
Material Politics of Socio-Ecological Transformations
The goal of my academic research is the mutual arrangement of empirical case studies, social theory and methodology. I examine the socio-ecological transformation from different directions, i.e. through multiple case studies. Across all cases, I am particularly interested in the materialities of transformations.
This website is an example of a (minimal) intervention into material politics: the site is hosted on a low-carbon hosting provider, it uses a static html setup, and content such as images are highly optimized.
My goal is to conduct sustainable and careful research and to cultivate a different kind of science. This includes both reflecting on the planetary impact of one’s research and valuing open and free methods and forms of publication. My work therefore appears primarily, though not exclusively, in open publications, such as Science & Technology Studies, Valuation Studies, the Austrian Journal of Development Policy, ephemera, and Cultural Studies Review.
Interests
- Material politics of energy transitions and sustainability measures
- STS and relational approaches like actor-network theory
- Economic sociology
- Digital methods
- Waste, energy, and valuation studies
- Ethnography and qualitative social science research methods
Memberships
- Elected Board Member: stsing e.V. Doing STS in and through Germany. Access Point of the working group “Tech and Infrastructure“
- Member of the DFG Research Network: “Valuation Studies: On the Way to the Evaluation Society?”
- Co-organisation of a DFG research network. “Waste in motion: Mobilisations of waste and pollutants as a sociomaterial configurations”
- Member of the RUSTlab in Bochum
- Member of GWTF – Society for Science and Technology Research
- Member of the German Society for Sociology and the sections: Economic Sociology, Social Theory
- Member of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
- Member of the “Platform for Experimental, Collaborative Ethnography” (PECE), with contributions to “The Astma Files” and “Disaster STS”