Ass.-Prof. Dr. Nina Klimburg-Witjes, MA

Tenure Track Professorship: Infrastructures, Innovation and Global Politics

FUTURESPACE

Tel.:+43-1-4277-49610

eMail: nina.witjes@univie.ac.at 

Consultation Hours:

to be arranged by email


Teaching: Link ufind

Biography

Nina's work centres on the complex and dynamic relationships between infrastructures, innovation, and shifting geopolitical landscapes. Her research employs qualitative, empirical methods to develop a grounded understanding of the interplay between global politics and technological transformations. Particularly, her work focuses on outer space governance, exploring topics such as cooperation, militarization, and environmental justice, as well as the nexus between security infrastructures, (digital) technologies and innovation discourses.

In 2022, Nina Klimburg-Witjes was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for her project "FUTURESPACE" The project uses the European Ariane 6 rocket as a case study to investigate the complex connections between large-scale infrastructures, European integration practices, and envisioned space futures in the new space race. Methodologically, Nina and her team will conduct an interdisciplinary ethnography, linking social science and aerospace engineering to explore the material, political, and imaginative dimensions of space infrastructures and their politics.

Nina is an active member of the international STS community. She regularly organizes panels at leading STS conferences and participates in various international academic networks and societies. She holds elected positions on the Council of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Austrian Academy of Science (ÖAW) Young Academy, co-founded the international network for the Social Studies of Outer Space (SSOS) and is a member of the International Network on Security and Technology in Outer Space.

Nina Klimburg-Witjes received her PhD in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the Technical University of Munich in 2017 (MCTS) and was co-leader of the research group "Science, Technology and Security" of the Engineering Responsibility Lab. She was a visiting researcher at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, a research fellow at the Austrian Research Foundation for International Development (OEFSE) as well as the Austrian Institute for International Policy (OIIP), and a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Albert Ludwig University Freiburg.

Main Research Interests

  •  Imaginaries and Politics Outer Space
  • Infrastructures of In/Security
  • Technology, innovation and Securitization 
  • Social studies of outer space and future visions of Earth-Space relations,
  • Science, technology and international relations 
  • Fieldwork in contexts of secrecy 

 

 

Recent Publications

Of Red Threads and Green Dragons: Austrian Sociotechnical Imaginaries about STI cooperation with China

Autor(en)
Ruth Mueller, Nina Witjes
Abstrakt

In this chapter, we address intersections of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and International Relations Theories (IR) by looking at how Austrian science, technology & innovation (STI) policy makers and related stakeholders envision and enact a close relationship between China and Austria in the field of green technologies. Analytically, we draw on the concept of ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ as proposed by Jasanoff and Kim, which attempts to grasp how visions of social order and technological development become entangled in the processes of science and technology policy and politics. China is currently arising as one of the key global players in STI. It is intensely courted by numerous countries seeking collaboration and market access. China’s most recent Five-Year-Plan has introduced a focus on environmental sustainability to complement economic growth. Based on interviews, participant observation and document analysis, we show how Austrian STI actors connect their national positioning activities to this recent focus on sustainability. We trace how they attempt to find common ground for relating to the rising and ever so dynamic People’s Republic by drawing on a nationally accepted narrative about Austrian technopolitical history and culture that casts the country as pioneer of environmental awareness and green technologies. We understand and analyze this process as part of a broader Austrian sociotechnical imaginary in the making that constitutes a situated response to an increasingly globalized STI system, while building on and reaffirming central elements of Austria’s local technopolitical culture and history.

Organisation(en)
Band
2
Publikationsdatum
2014
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
506007 Internationale Beziehungen, 509017 Wissenschaftsforschung, 509025 Technikforschung
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 8 – Menschenwürdige Arbeit und Wirtschaftswachstum
Link zum Portal
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/of-red-threads-and-green-dragons-austrian-sociotechnical-imaginaries-about-sti-cooperation-with-china(d2fc146b-b794-4f0c-ab6b-cb3ac621ec54).html