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

Current Research Projects

FutureSpace: Making the Ariane Rocket: Negotiating relations between European integration and the future of Europe in space.

Completed Research Projects

Europas Forschungsinfrastrukturen – Akteure der Integration (FWF; 01/2019 – 06/2023)

Recent Publications

Expanding boundaries

Author(s): Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Matthias Leese, Paul Trauttmansdorff
Abstract: This paper empirically retraces and conceptualizes secrecy in the study of security. Building on 27 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with social scientists about their field research experiences, we use Gieryn’s concept of “boundary work” to rethink secrecy not as a self-evident separator between clearly demarcated spheres but as something that is negotiated, suspended, or circumvented in social situations. A boundary perspective allows us to highlight how contextualized social interactions draw and redraw lines between what can be known and what remains classified. Our analysis identifies three ways in which boundaries around secrecy can be expanded: fallibility, co-optation, and ambiguity. Explicating and empirically substantiating these forms of boundary work portrays secrecy as continuously performed and reconfigured. The paper contributes to current debates about field research by providing a different conceptual angle: one that favours performativity rather than individual capacity to reflect how access to security sites and actors comes into being.
Organisation(s): Department of Science and Technology Studies
External organisation(s): Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Journal: Political anthropological research on international social sciences
Volume: 3
Pages: 168-197
No. of pages: 30
ISSN: 2590-3284
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/25903276-bja10039
Publication date: 2022
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 506007 International relations, 509017 Social studies of science, 509024 Security research
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Anthropology, Political Science and International Relations
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/220b787a-0d28-4a93-a685-d5ff03d61724