Karen Kastenhofer is a scholar in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and a technology assessment (TA) practitioner. She is senior scientist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Technology Assessment. Her area of work encompasses the reconstruction of (techno)epistemic cultures, the analysis of public controversies and the discussion of potential governance approaches in the realm of the life sciences and biotechnologies.
Previous to her engagement with STS and TA, she studied biology and human ecology at the University of Vienna and at the Free University of Brussels. As a post-doc, she worked at the University of Augsburg and at the University of Hamburg. In 2010, she was visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, and in 2016, she held a guest professorship at the University of Vienna.
Karen Kastenhofer’s work has been funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and the City of Vienna. She is founding member of STS Austria (board member 2015-2020) and editorial board member of TATuP – Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice.