Refereed Contributions (17)
- . (2022). Stuck in the Present: A Human Lack of Ability to Visualise (Different) Needs in the Future May Hamper Timely Implementation of AAL and Supportive Technology. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health 2022Special Issue Healthy Aging: Past And Future Challenge, 19(11), 1-14. doi:10.3390/ijerph19116804
- . (2021). Modelling human influences on biodiversity at a global scale–A human ecology perspective. Ecological Modelling, 465, 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2021.109854
- . (2021). Let’s Walk It: Mobility and the Perceived Quality of Life in Older Adults. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health 2021Special Issue Ageing And Health: A Functional And Psychological Perspective, 18, 1-14. doi:10.3390/ijerph182111515
- . (2021). Democratising utopian thought in participatory agenda setting. European Journal Of Futures Research, 9,5. doi:10.1186/s40309-021-00174-3
- . (2020). Paternalistic Rather than Assistive? Concepts and Social Attributions of Older Adults Represented in Active Assisted Living Technology Project Descriptions. Gerontechnology 2019, 18, 193-207. doi:10.4017/gt.2019.18.4.001.00
- . (2019). Wrinkles and Smiles — What is Good Aging? A Technology Assessment Perspective. Obm Geriatrics, 3, 26. doi:10.21926/obm.geriatr.1902058
- . (2018). Socially Assistive Robots Diffusion in Elderly Care: A Pre-Adoption Study Through Agent-Based Modeling. Journal Of Strategic Innovation And Sustainability, 13, 58-75. doi:10.33423/jsis.v13i5
- . (2017). Contributing to an European imaginary of democratic education by engaging multiple actors in shaping responsible research agendas. Special Issue 'Participatory Methods for Information Society'. Public Philosophy &Amp; Democratic Education, 5, 29-50. doi:10.14746/fped.2016.5.2.20DOIWebsiteRISENWBIB Abstract
Traditionally, expert-based forward looking has been applied to anticipate future challenges, solutions and strategic decisions, but limitations to this approach have become obvious – especially when considering long term perspectives – e.g. failing to include a comprehensive array of opinions. Aiming at producing sustainable strategies for responsible socio-technical change, research funding can benefit from combining forward looking and public participation to elicit socially robust knowledge from consulting with multi-actors, including citizens. In this paper, we give insights into the EU project CIMULACT – Citizen and Multi-Actor Consultation on Horizon 2020. In CIMULACT, more than 4500 citizens, stakeholders and experts from 30 European countries engaged online and offline to co-create research topics. These are supposed to serve as input for the next round of calls in Horizon 2020, national research agendas as well as the ninth framework programme in the making. We investigate key results of this transdisciplinary process focussing on the topic “democratic education” with regard to two levels: What issues concerning the topic were raised? Can we find a common European imaginary for “democratic education”? Our analysis shows that the results contribute to defining and describing challenges for the currently prevailing imaginary of democratic education in Europe.
- . (2017). Futures of ageing and technology – comparing different actors’ prospective views. Journal Of Responsible Innovation, 4, 157-176. doi:10.1080/23299460.2017.1360721DOIWebsiteRISENWBIB Abstract
Ambient and assistive technologies (AT) have the potential to increase individual autonomy, social participation and quality of life for ageing populations. In seeking to implement these technologies, national and supranational funding schemes have strongly supported primarily market-driven research activities. This means that other societally relevant aspects, such as specific social and cultural contexts, are likely to be underestimated if not neglected. In view of the development of RI, this would be a serious misconception. We examine three recent participatory forward-looking technology assessment studies that involved experts, stakeholders and laypersons in discussions about the future of ageing and AT, and identify the diverse futures they imagine. We show different ways an ageing society of the future can be pictured, and contribute to the discourse on European demographic change as a Grand Challenge. In the light of RI, this diversity of imagined futures underlines the finding that answers to societal challenges connected to an ageing population cannot only be found by means of technological solutions, societal aspects will also play an important role.
- . (2017). Introduction: Imagining socio-technical futures – challenges and opportunities for technology assessment. Journal Of Responsible Innovation, 4, 85-99. doi:10.1080/23299460.2017.1364617DOIWebsiteRISENWBIB Abstract
An increasing orientation of technology assessment (TA) and adjacent fields toward future socio-technological developments is leading scholars to examine, assess and adapt different approaches of future studies on various levels. In this special issue of the Journal of Responsible Innovation, a number of members of the extended TA community in Europe seek to advance different approaches to handling the unpredictable, to consider various possible socio-technical futures and to explore a more active role in technology design and shaping of the future as required by concepts such as responsible innovation (RI) or responsible research and innovation (RRI). The three German words ‘Zukunft Macht Technik’ (the title of a TA conference in Vienna in 2015) make a nice little pun in German: they can either be interpreted as the short sentence ‘Future shapes technology’ or as the assembly of the three nouns ‘future power technology.’ Both readings are borne in mind in this special issue. A main insight of this special issue is that we need to explore how the debate on imagined socio-technical futures is enriched by concepts such as R(R)I, taking into account that no future can exist without an awareness of the present setting of innovation processes and technology development.
- . (2016). SoFISHticated policy-social perspectives on the fish conflict in the Northeast Atlantic. Marine Policy, 93-103. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2016.01.014
- . (2014). The Demographics of Aging in China and Europe – An Evolutionary Demographic Approach. In W. Mazal (Ed.), Austria and China: Societies in Change. Demographic and Economic Challenges (pp. 17-26). Wien: NWV Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag. Retrieved from http://www.nwv.at/soziologie/1071_austria_and_china_societies_in_change/
- . (2013). The Role of Information in Public Participation. Journal Of Public Deliberation, 9, Art. 3. doi:10.16997/jdd.152
- . (2013). Assistive technologies: Their development from a technology assessment perspective. Gerontechnology, 11, 521-533. doi:10.4017/gt.2013.11.4.015.00
- . (2012). Forward-looking activities: incorporating citizens´ visions. Poiesis &Amp; Praxis. doi:10.1007/s10202-012-0121-6DOIWebsiteDownloadRISENWBIB Abstract
Looking back on the many prophets who tried to predict the future as if it were predetermined, at first sight any forward-looking activity is reminiscent of making predictions with a crystal ball. In contrast to fortune tellers, today’s exercises do not predict, but try to show different paths that an open future could take. A key motivation to undertake forward-looking activities is broadening the information basis for decision-makers to help them actively shape the future in a desired way. Experts, laypeople, or stakeholders may have different sets of values and priorities with regard to pending decisions on any issue related to the future. Therefore, considering and incorporating their views can, in the best case scenario, lead to more robust decisions and strategies. However, transferring this plurality into a form that decision-makers can consider is a challenge in terms of both design and facilitation of participatory processes. In this paper, we will introduce and critically assess a new qualitative method for forward-looking activities, namely CIVISTI (Citizen Visions on Science, Technology and Innovation; www.civisti.org), which was developed during an EU project of the same name. Focussing strongly on participation, with clear roles for citizens and experts, the method combines expert, stakeholder and lay knowledge to elaborate recommendations for decision-making in issues related to today’s and tomorrow’s science, technology and innovation. Consisting of three steps, the process starts with citizens’ visions of a future 30–40 years from now. Experts then translate these visions into practical recommendations which the same citizens then validate and prioritise to produce a final product. The following paper will highlight the added value as well as limits of the CIVISTI method and will illustrate potential for the improvement of future processes.
- . (2011). Sustaining sustainability science: The role of established inter-disciplines. Ecological Economics, 70/4, 835-843. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.12.008DOIWebsiteRISENWBIB Abstract
The establishment of new interdisciplinary fields such as ecological economics, human ecology or technology assessment can be interpreted as a logical consequence of striving for new sustainability sciences that address current global, multi-dimensional and multi-scale challenges. They set out to bridge the gap between the natural and the social sphere, between scientific analysis and societal action. This papers aims at re-assessing the contribution of established inter-disciplines to sustainable development. Journal articles of ecological economics, technology assessment and science and technology studies are analysed and compared along several proposed features of sustainability science. The results converge in two crucial aspects. (1) Concise societal or political recommendations are not part of present day 'normal science', be it a disciplinary or an explicitly interdisciplinary research context. (2) Participatory exercises are rarely applied as a socio-politically embedded practice, despite a high interest in such exercises as an object of study and discussion.
- . (2008). Participative Approaches for “Technology and Autonomous Living”. In K. Miesenberger (Ed.), ICCHP 2008, Lecture Notes in Computer Science LNCS 5105 (pp. 78-81). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-70540-6_10