Martin Nestepny is a social anthropologist specialising in environmental governance, nature conservation conflicts, and digital and scalar infrastructures in human-environment relations. His comparative field research spans protected areas in Central Europe, Louisiana and the Indian Ocean, and examines human-wildlife conflicts, contested resource governance and the dynamics of nature conservation policy. His other research interests include multispecies dynamics and the relationship between local experiential knowledge and techno-scientific systems.
Martin Nestepny completed his MA in Cultural and Social Anthropology in 2025 at the University of Vienna with a thesis on nature conservation conflicts at the boundaries of Slovakian national parks. His comparative field research covers protected areas in central Slovakia and southern Louisiana (human-wildlife interactions with bears and wolves), the Seychelles (fisheries governance and marine spatial planning), as well as a remote sensing project funded by a grant from the European Space Agency (ESA), in which he investigated human-environment interactions in the Andaman Islands using satellite remote sensing.
Following roles at the World Bank (IFC) and the Institute for European Ethnology at the University of Vienna, he has been working at the Institute for Technology Assessment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) since 2026. In his new role, his work focuses, among other things, on AI-supported environmental monitoring technologies in the context of Austrian nature conservation and climate policy.
Tel.: +43 (0)1 515 81-6566
Fax: (+43-1-) 515 81-6570
Bäckerstraße 13, 1010 Vienna
martin.nestepny(at)oeaw.ac.at
