I don’t see digital technologies primarily as technical innovations, but rather as products of social negotiation processes in which issues of participation, inequality, responsibility, and forming the future are discussed.
My research approach consists of shaping the digital change in the interests of people, using reconstructive and participatory methods for foresight, questions of digital sovereignty in work and care contexts, and the analysis of digital inequalities (e.g., in smart homes, platform economies, or knowledge production).
Following my PhD, I joined a research group with focus on participatory design and research of the „Internet of Things“. In this group, I focussed on the methodologies of „Living Labs“ and Co-Design and conducted several field phases. In 2018, I received a grant by the German ministry of education and research (BMFTR) to establish a „Stadtlabor“ in Chemnitz. Since then, I have been successfully coordinating interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary consortia that also include partners from outside academia such as consumer protection organizations, care or tertiary education providers.
In 2019, I co-founded the „Network for Integrated Research“, which was part of the German federal High Tech Strategy. Since 2022, I have been organizing the PartWiss conferences, a networking project that contributes to the BMFTR’s participation strategy research on several levels.As an advocate for participatory transdisciplinary research, I try to sensitize research policy and public funders for the chances and challenges of integrating people in technology development.
Since 2022 I have the distinct honor and pleasure to lead the junior professorship „Sociology with a focus on Technology“ at the TU Chemnitz.