Georg Hausladen studied Biology, Architecture, and Philosophy at the Technical University of Munich. After completing his studies in 2010, he worked as a research assistant on various interdisciplinary research projects at the intersection of ecology, architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture at the Technical University of Munich: "Animal Aided Design" with Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Weisser (2014); "Climate Protection and Green Infrastructure in the City" with Prof. Dr. Stephan Pauleit (2015-2017) at the Center for Urban Nature and Climate Adaptation. In 2013, he worked at the Technical University of Darmstadt as part of the project "Genesis and Ontology of Technoscientific Objects" with Prof. Dr. Alfred Nordmann, and from February to March 2014, he was a visiting scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.

Since completing his studies, Georg Hausladen has been working independently in the field of nature conservation and landscape planning as a cartographer, consultant, and planner. Additionally, since 2010, he has been a lecturer at the Technical University of Munich on the topic of ecology in the degree programs Landscape Architecture and Landscape Planning (and until 2016 in the Master's program ClimaDesign). Since February 2019, he has been pursuing a PhD in the Department of General Technology Science at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg on the topic of Ecology of Technology – Technology of Ecology. Since October 2019, he has been working there as a research assistant.

Georg Hausladen, M.Sc.
Lehrgebäude 10, Raum 130a
Erich-Weinert-Str. 1
03046 Cottbus

georg.hausladen(at)b-tu.de
www.georghausladen.de

Office Hours

Only by appointment

Research Fields

Technology as Epistemic Culture

• Ecology as Technology
• Ecosystem Theories
• Cybernetics

Environmental Anthropology

• Eco-Technologies
• Industrial Ecology
• Green Infrastructure
• Nature and Environmental Protection
• Conservation and Care as Forms of Action
• Gardening Practice

Images as Instruments

• Ecological and Eco-Technological Utopias

Francesc Rodríguez’s research draws on the notion of imaginaries to elucidate the co-creation of environmental knowledge and policies in manifold human and non-human contexts. His primary case, reflected in his dissertation research, is the reception of Environmental Impact Assessment reports in rural communities involved in environmental conflicts over dam-building projects. His research is both an attempt to decenter received imaginaries of knowledge embedded in the sustainable development governance framework and to imagine a less anthropocentric position to face the consequences of the climate crisis and other sustainability threats.

After graduating in Sociology at the University of Barcelona in 2008, Francesc Rodríguez obtained a Master’s Degree in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science at Bielefeld University. In 2011, he entered into the Graduate Programme in Science and Technology Studies at York University in Canada. While there, he completed a PhD with the title: Knowing Water Worlds: a postphenomenological approach to socioenvironmental imaginaries in Costa Rica.

Francesc Rodríguez has international experience in research in various academic contexts. In Spain (2006-2008), he was research assistant with the INCLUD-ED project of the 6^th Framework Programme (European Commission). In Canada (2011-2013), he used both discourse and quantitative analysis to explore thousands of articles about epidemic encephalitis published in the 20^th century. He did this analysis in the context of the Epidemic Futures Project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. During his PhD work and in collaboration with Las Nubes Project Conservation, he conducted his own advocacy research approach in rural communities within and adjacent to the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor in Costa Rica (2013-2015). And lastly, during a two-year period as a research associate at the Rhine-Waal University in Germany (2018-2020), he conducted a stakeholder analysis in a circular water project of the ICT4Water Cluster (European Commission).

During his academic career, Francesc Rodríguez has had the opportunity to teach several courses about science, society, and the environment at the undergraduate level and to publish articles in several journals. Francesc Rodríguez is member of the Science and Democracy Network, the Society for Social Studies of Science, and the Las Nubes Alumni Chapter.

Dr. Francesc Rodríguez
Lehrgebäude 10, Room 114b
Erich-Weinert-Str. 1
03046 Cottbus

f.rodriguezmansilla(at)b-tu.de
http://drfrarod.wordpress.com

Office Hours

Only by appointment

Research Fields

Technology as Epistemic Culture

• Knowledge practices and co-creation of local contestation to extractivism in Latin America
• Socio-technical imaginaries of Environmental Impact Assessment approaches

Environmental Anthropology

• Resilient water worlds
• Multispecies encounters and their implications for knowledge practices
• Advocacy Research

Images as Instruments

• Visual cultures of natures, social and environmental justice

Anca Claudia Prodan studies and worked in Romania, Germany and Latvia; and she holds degrees in Philosophy-Anthropology (B.A.), World Heritage Studies (M.A.) and Heritage Studies (Ph.D.). Her current research lies at the intersection of cultural, information and technical sciences, and it engages critically with the impacts of digital technology on the intergenerational transmission of culture. Her interest is animated by what she sees as a paradox, namely the attempt to ensure cultural continuity by using a technology known for its rapid obsolescence, as well as by the need for analytical and methodological approaches tailored to the characteristics of a technology-mediated world.

For more than ten years, Anca has actively contributed to the theorization and development of Heritage Studies as an interdisciplinary field and she initiated academic research on the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme (MoW). She published intensively on this subject, opening a new direction of research in Heritage Studies, and she supported the drafting of the Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form, adopted by UNESCO in 2015. Anca is now corresponding member of the Sub-Committee on Education and Research of the MoW Programme, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Heritage Studies Series, a member of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, and a consultant at the Institute Heritage Studies.

Next to research, Anca has strong pedagogical interests and substantial experience in teaching and in curriculum development. During a previous appointment at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, she supported the heritage-related study programmes as member of the PhD Committee, thesis advisor, lecturer and mentor. Most recently, she contributed to the setting-up of a master’s programme in “Cultural Heritage Governance and Communication” at the Latvian Academy of Culture in Riga, where she has been a guest lecturer since 2020. Her experience covers basic and advanced courses at master and doctorate levels on subjects such as heritage, culture and nature, globalization or international law as well as on theories, methodologies and the basics of interdisciplinary research.

Anca Claudia Prodan, PhD

Lehrgebäude 10, Room 130b
Erich-Weinert-Str. 1
03046 Cottbus

Anca.Prodan(at)b-tu.de

Office Hours

Only by appointment

Research Fields

Technology as Epistemic Culture

• Theories of Digitality, Software Studies and Critical Code Studies
• Technology-based forms of knowledge
• Impacts of digitization on cultural transmission

Environmental Anthropology

• Theorization of nature-culture dualism
• Technology as environment
• Politics of heritage preservation
• Digital information ethics

Images as Instruments

• Critical analysis of digital data

• Visual representations as documentary heritage

Future Narratives

• New ontologies and heritage research
• Heritage Studies as interdisciplinary discipline
• Transformative and transformation research

Lora Koycheva, PhD is an anthropologist and technologist, working at the intersection of anthropology, STS, innovation, entrepreneurship, and robotics, with research projects and interests often crossing disciplinary boundaries.
She received her doctorate in anthropology from Northwestern University (USA) in 2012 and has since researched and lectured at the University College London and the Technical University of Munich.  She is the founder of Robots, actually! – an initiative to rebuild the human condition with robots Most recently, she was a visiting researcher at the Rachel Carson Center at the Ludwig-Maximillians- Universität in Munich. In 2023, her work on robotic systems was featured by UNESCO and the LIIV Center in their Living ToolKit for Digital Anthropology, and she is a co-editor, together with Matt Artz, of the forthcoming book “EmTech Anthropology: Careers at the Frontier” (Routledge).

Lora Koycheva, PhD

Erich-Weinert-Str. 1
03046 Cottbus

koycheva(at)b-tu.de

Office Hours

Only by appointment

Research Fields

Technology as Epistemic Culture

•  Form of experimentation with anthropology and technology
• Speculative anthropology
• Cybernetics and cyber-physical systems
• Innovation as sociotechnical phenomenon
• Human – robot interaction, cultures, and worldmaking

Environmental Anthropology

• Infrastructure, resilience, and sustainability
• Robots for climate change mitigation

Images as Instruments

• Representations of living with/as robots
• Public imaginaries of robotics and future worlds