Esther Dessewffy, MA
Biography
After graduating from the MA program "Science, Technology, and Society" at the University of Vienna, I joined the STS department in February 2021 as a university assistant and PhD candidate.
In my PhD project, I ethnographically map the politics of the more than human relations that imbue simulations for architecture and spatial planning. In doing so, I attend to practices and materialities engaged in developing and researching computer simulations in different academic contexts. My thesis is supervised by Andrea Schikowitz and Sarah Davies.
Sharing an interest in Technosciences, Materiality, and Digital Cultures with my collaborators, I participate in collective autoethnographic research on mundane academic practice. Together with Bao-Chau Pham, Ariadne Avkıran, Fredy Mora Gámez, Kathleen Gregory, Constantin Holmer, Sarah, and Andrea, I research data and (digital) writing practices, care, and infrastructuring in our everyday work. We experiment with different ways to represent this research (such as our zine, our blog post, and pinboarding) and are interested in feminist methodologies and how they might contribute to making more live-able (work)spaces in academia.
Next to research, I enjoy editing the department's blog Reflections with Lisa-Maria Ferent and teaching courses in STS. It is my aim to encourage students to critically inquire into the political dimensions of science and technology and consider which role the social sciences can play in contributing to more desirable futures.