PhDs

Recruiting…

“Between nuisance and survival: understanding value and spaces from an interspecies perspective”

We currently have a PhD scholarship open for applications (deadline 31 July) Please see the UG website for more information https://www.rug.nl/phd-scholarships?details=00347-02S0009BWP.

Developing Research Lines and Careers

Presentation to Campus Fryslân (ResearchSeminar.Talent.Beaulieu.2022)

Advice on writing grant proposals from Joe Dumit (5 essential tips on getting a grant)

Campus Frylsân guidelines on the application process

Current PhD Supervision

• Promotor, Efe Cengiz, PhD thesis. Worlding Zeytinlikler: Knowledge infrastructures and multispecies futures of Aegean olive orchards, University of Groningen (submission 2026). Co-promotor Carol Garzon-Lopez
• Promotor, Farzaneh Taskibi, PhD thesis Modelling atmospheric pollution and aerosol-cloud interactions, University of Groningen (submission 2025). Co-promotor Tabish Ansari
• Promotor, Taylor Craft, PhD thesis Assessing agricultural sustainability by integrating remote sensing and animal ecology with agricultural practices, FSE, University of Groningen (submission 2025). Co-promotor: Ruth Howison, First promotor: Theunis Piersma
• Promotor, Xiaoyao Han, PhD thesis Valuing Big Data, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen (submission 2024). Co-promotor: Oskar Gstrein, Second promotor: Ronald Stolk
• Promotor, Clarisse Kraamwinkel, PhD thesis Resilience of Frisian soils to droughts and salinization, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen (submission 2024). Co-promotor: Ruth Howison, second promotor: Andrej Zwitter
• Promotor, Selen Eren, PhD thesis Knowledge Infrastructure for Biodiversity, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen (submission 2023) Second promotor: Andrej Zwitter

Past PhD Supervision

Supervision, completed

• Promotor, Dina Friis Toft, PhD thesis Theorising Ambiguity – Telling deliberately equivocal viral stories, Leiden University (22-06-2022) First promotor: prof. Paul Wouters. Laudatio
• Co-promotor Esther van der Waal, PhD Thesis Socio-technical Innovations in Local Energy Initiatives, FSE, University of Groningen (26-03-21). Promotor: prof. Rien Herber
• Co-promotor, Sarah de Rijcke, PhD thesis, cum laude. Regarding the Brain, Department of Theory and History of Psychology, University of Groningen (15-09-09). Promotor: prof. Douwe Draaisma

PhD committees and PhD examinations

• Committee member, M. Argeloo, Shifting Baselines, Utrecht University (2 September 2022).
• Committee member, Liliana González Hernández, PhD thesis Factors influencing household action on climate change, University of Groningen (4 July 2022).
• Committee member, Trix Mulder, PhD thesis The role of law in protecting personal data generated by health apps and wearables, University of Groningen (28 April 2022).
• Committee member, Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner, PhD thesis, Reflexive Inertia. Reinventing Scholarship Through Digital Practices, Leiden University (28 May 2015).
• Opponent, Veronica Johansson, PhD thesis, A time and place for everything: social visualisation tools and critical literacies, Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås (14 December 2012).
• Opponent, Marisa Ponti, PhD thesis, The Influence of Socio-Technical Aspects on Practice-Research Collaboration and Implications for the Design of a Collaboratory School of Library and Information Science, Goteborg University (29 April 2010).
• Opponent, Isabelle Dussauge, PhD thesis, Technomedical Visions: Magnetic Resonance Imaging in 1980s Sweden Division of History of Science and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm (4 April 2008).
• Committee member, Vanessa Dirksen, PhD thesis, Social Imaginaries of Technology and Work: A Connective Ethnography. Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam (September 2007).

PhD training

National Graduate School Science and Technology Studies

As scientific coordinator of PhD training of the Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC), between 2018 and 2022, I coordinated and developed curriculum for PhDs in the field of Science and Technology Studies together with Bernike Pasveer and Andreas Weber. See the Series on Teaching and Learning STS and the links below

Interdisciplinary approaches to energy

Between 2011 and 2017, I co-directed 5 editions of the Summer School.The book Smart Grids from a Global Perspective (Springer) is the outcome of two editions that focused on smart grids.

Energy transition is a complex topic which requires expertise and insights from different perspectives. It is a matter of national and international importance, with significant implications for economic, ecological, societal and political welfare.

The Groningen Energy Summer School for PhD students takes an interdisciplinary approach to energy transition. By bringing together and combining a broad range of disciplines, this summer school will offer a unique opportunity to PhD students to become aware of different aspects of the energy transition, to develop novel insights and to create synergy in approaches to energy transition. The summer school is the opportunity to connect to new networks, to learn from experts in the field including practitiners, and to discuss one’s own work. Group work on a case study further ensures an interdisciplinarity experience.

Developing Research Lines and Careers

Presentation to Campus Fryslân (ResearchSeminar.Talent.Beaulieu.2022)

Advice on writing grant proposals from Joe Dumit (5 essential tips on getting a grant)

Campus Frylsân guidelines on the application process

Past projects

• DATA Theme: During the academic year 2017-2018, Energysense engaged in a collaborative project with the University of Lund on the theme “DATA: enabling us to better store, observe and understand what we measure”. As International Visiting Research Fellow at the Pufendorf Institute, I contributed to the DATA theme. Together with a number of colleagues from Lund and abroad, the theme harnessed a broad range of expertise in order to find solutions to challenges of data curation, visualisation, discovery and prediction, as well as reflect on cross-disciplinary collaboration, including reflexivity in data research, trust and reliability. In the course of the year, exchanges and visits between the participants will took place, culminating in a closing 3-day conference entitled “Opportunities and Challenges in the Future Use of Data”.. More details.
• STS, University of Vienna: In March 2018, I joined the University of Vienna as a visiting professor, to contribute to the Master of Arts ‘Science – Technology – Society’. My contribution focused on the The Informational Turn in Energy and Sustainability.
• Energysense, was a large-scale socio-technical infrastructure for energy data. Energysense served research, innovation and engagement purposes. I developed and lead the implementation of this flagship project at the Energy Academy Europe and the University of Groningen.
• Picturing the Brain: Perspectives on Neuroimaging. PhD co-supervision, Rita Elmkvist Nilsen. Project description.
• The ‘Neuro-turn’ in European Social Sciences and Humanities: Impacts of neurosciences on economics, marketing and philosophy–NESSHI. NESSHI is an European ORA project.

• Enhancing Scholarly Publishing in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Innovation through Hybrid Forms of Publication.
• Virtual Knowledge. Edited collection. Paul Wouters, Anne Beaulieu, Andrea Scharnhorst and Sally Wyatt (eds), published  with MIT Press.
• Network Realism: making knowledge from databases of images on the web. See project blog.
• Alfalab: digital humanities and VREs at the KNAW. See project blog.