Head of Department
Vice Director of the Studies Programme Sociology

Tel: +43-1-4277-49613
eMail: maximilian.fochler@univie.ac.at

Consultation hours:
To register, please send an e-mail, at least two days beforehand

Biography

Max Fochler is Professor for Science and Knowledge Cultures at the Department of Science and Technology Studies of the University of Vienna. He currently serves as head of department as well as as vice-director of the Sociology study programme, responsible for the teaching offer in Science and Technology Studies. He is also an adjunct professor at the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture of the University of Oslo.

Max' research work revolves around the question how researchers, research communities and research institutions orient themselves and their work in the environmental, political and social polycrisis we are facing today. He is interested in how these actors define the purpose, aims and values underlying their practices, and how this translates to how they produce knowledge. This involves asking how researchers and research communities reflect the relevance of their work, and how this meets support or frictions in their institutional environment. It also comprises to understand how research institutions, and universities in particular, define their role in society and how this relates to the way they structure the spaces their researchers work in. Thematically, Max has been working with researchers from the crop and soil sciences in recent years, as well as on the life sciences more broadly.

He has expertise on dynamics of knowledge production, inter- and transdisciplinary research, on the (e)valuation of academic practices and research evaluation, research and university governance and policy, responsible research and innovation as well science/public interactions (science communication, public engagement)