Dr. Britta Acksel

Education and Academic Training

• 2022 Doctorate "Opening the toolbox … Insights into current sustainability efforts in and of cities". Goethe University Frankfurt. Supervision Prof. Dr. Gisela Welz und Prof. Dr. Jörg Niewöhner (Humboldt University Berlin)
• 2013 Master of Arts Cultural Anthropology, European Ethnology at Goethe University Frankfurt. Focus: Global Economies
• 2012 Kadir Has University Istanbul - Department of Radio, Television and Cinema
• 2010 Bachelor of Arts Social and Cultural Anthropology and Political Science at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
• 2010 Hastings College (NE, USA) Political Science

Professional Experience

• Since 04/2023 at the Wuppertal Institute
• 09/2022 - 03/2023 Post Doc Researcher with Prof. Dr. Friedrich Balke at the Institute for Media Studies, Ruhr University Bochum
• 2019 - 2022 Researcher with Prof. Dr. Julika Griem at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen
• 2018 - 2019 Researcher Project: Ener/Change: Spaltung in NRW überwinden - Energiewende für alle kommunizieren a spart of the Virtual Institute Energy Transformations NRW (Ministry for Economy, Industry, Climate and Energy NRW)
• 2016 - 2019 Doctorate Scholarship of the Klaus Murmann Foundation. Think Lab - Energy, Society, Transformation. Fieldwork in Brussels (BE), Almada (PRT), Essen (GER), Malmö (SWE)
• 2014 - 2015 Research Assistance for Prof. Dr. Robert Ladresch at Keele University (GB) Project: Climate Policy and Climate Parties
• 2013 - 2016 Researcher with Prof. Dr. Claus Leggewie at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen Project: Energy Transition Ruhr - Framework program to implement the Energy Transition in the cities if the Ruhr Area (Mercator Foundation)

Research Focus

• Methods of Transformative Research
• Science and Technology Studies
• Anthropology of Policy
• Sustainability Transformations in/of cities
• Participation

Research Methods

• Ethnographic Methods
• Interviews
• Participant Observation
• Document Analysis
• Multi-Sited-Ethnography

Teaching

• Winter Term 2022/23, Ruhr University Bochum, Institute for Media Studies "Governing Infrastructures - Discovering Commons and Commoning"
• Winter Term 2022/23, Ruhr University Bochum, Institute for Media Studies "un/political - Infrastructures of current Sustainability-Governance"
• Sommer Term 2022 University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Philosophy "Dwelling - Human Right or Investment?" Interdisciplinary Tandem Seminar a spart of the KWI teaching Lab together with Dr. Eva Weiler
• Winter Term 2017/18 University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Optional Studies a spart of the certificate Education for Sustainable Development "EnergyWalk - Sustainability in Essen's northern City Centre"
• Sommer Term 2017 University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Optional Studies a spart of the certificate Education for Sustainable Development "Essen: European Green Capital - Edible City 2027?"

Memberships

• Society for Transdisciplinary and Participative Research
• Laboratory: Anthropology of Environment / Human Relations (Humboldt University Berlin)
• German Association for Empirical Culture Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft, DGEKW)
• STSing - Science and Technology Studies in and through Germany
• European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
• Société International d'Ethnologie et de Folklore (SIEF)
• European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)