dr. K.E. Konrad (Kornelia)

Associate Professor
BMS-TPS-KiTeS
Ravelijn 5101
k.e.konrad@utwente.nl
+31534893906
Business card

I am Associate Professor of Anticipation and Assessment of Emerging Technologies. As one of my core research interests, I study the role of anticipation in innovation, reaching from an analytical interest in the role of expectations and socio-technical futures in research, innovation and its governance, to intervention approaches, such as foresight and socio-technical scenarios. The latter are a typical element of Constructive Technology Assessment, an approach that combines socio-technical analysis, stakeholder involvement and the use of socio-technical scenarios, as a means to feed knowledge on the socio-technical context and stakeholder assessments into the development and societal embedding of innovations. Further fields of research are socio-technical change, socio-technical transitions, innovation ecosystems, and the role of use and users in innovation. I have developed tools for facilitating responsible research and innovation (RRI) in technology research and development and studied conditions for RRI in different modes of innovation.

I serve as chair of the faculty research theme Emerging Technologies and Societal Transformations. I am associate editor of the journals 'Futures' and 'Engineering Studies', and a member of the teaching committee of the Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC).

I received a M.A. degree in sociology, physics and mathematics from the University of Freiburg i.Br., and my PhD from the University of Darmstadt. Before joining the UT in 2009, I worked at EAWAG, a research institute of the ETH domain, Zurich (CH).

Expertise

  • Computer Science

    • Innovations
    • Roles
    • User
    • Emerging Technology
    • Application
    • Process Innovation
    • Embedding
    • Contexts

Organisations

Research interests

  • anticipation in innovation processes
    • sociology of expectations
      • dynamics of collective expectations, hype cycles
      • anticipatory practices and modes of future-orientation
      • discursive analysis of promises and concerns
    • constructive technology assessment
    • foresight
    • responsible research and innovation
  • Socio-technical transitions
  • sectoral dynamics in innovation
  • innovation ecosystems
  • technology use
    • use practices
    • demand articulation
    • scenarios of use
  • nanotechnologies, energy technologies, eHealth

Publications

2023
Making a difference?: Nanotechnology and the quest for Responsible Innovation. University of Twente. Walhout, B.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036558778Burgerwetenschap voor preventieve zorg en welzijn: Inzicht in behoeften en mogelijkheden van burgers om met technologie aan hun gezondheid te werkenIn Veldboek burgerwetenschap voor gezondheid: Praktijkervaringen in regio Twente (pp. 100-106). TOPFIT Citizenlab. ter Huurne, E., van der Zwart, J., Konrad, K. & Kloek, G.Engaging older adults with a migration background to explore the usage of digital technologies in coping with dementia, Article 1125834, 1125834. van Leersum, C. M., Konrad, K., Siebrand, E., Malik, Z. & den Ouden, M.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1125834
2022
Constructive Technology Assessment: Linking TA to Innovation Processes . University of Twente. Konrad, K. E.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.2589-2169.2022.01
2021
Innovation ecosystem strategies of industrial firms: A multilayered approach to alignment and strategic positioning, 619-631. Visscher, K., Hahn, K. & Konrad, K.https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12429Constructive Technology Assessment ā€“ TA als konstruktives Element im InnovationsprozessIn TechnikfolgenabschƤtzung: Handbuch fĆ¼r Wissenschaft und Praxis (pp. 209-219). Nomos Verlag. Konrad, K.https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748901990-209
2019
Knowledge bases and responsibility within regional innovation systems: reflections from the Twente region, 2491-2509. Benneworth, P., Schulze-Greiving, V. & Konrad, K.https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1635086Technology Assessment of Socio-Technical Futures: A Discussion PaperIn Socio-Technical Futures Shaping the Present: Empirical Examples and Analytical Challenges (pp. 285-308). Springer. Loesch, A., Boehle, K., Coenen, C., Dobroc, P., Heil, R., Grunwald, A., Scheer, D., Schneider, C., Ferrari, A., Hommrich, D., Sand, M., Aykut, S., Dickel, S., Fuchs, D., Kastenhofer, K., Torgersen, H., Gransche, B., Hausstein, A., Konrad, K., ā€¦ Wentland, A.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27155-8_13The role of user-led regional innovation networks in shaping responsible innovation in eHealth: lessons from the East of the NetherlandsIn Responsible Innovation in Digital Health: Empowering the Patient (pp. 162-182). Edward Elgar. Konrad, K., Schulze Greiving, V. & Benneworth, P.https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788975063.00018

Research profiles

I teach in a number of social and technical programmes on master and bachelor level, in particular on topics related to my research, such as the role of futures and anticipation in innovation, societal embedding and technology assessment. I coordinate the minor ā€˜Governance of Innovation and Socio-Technical Changeā€™ and I am member of the teaching committees of the master programme Philosophy of Science, Technology & Society and the Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC).

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2022/2023

Current projects

Socio-technical pathways and material choices for a responsible electrification of the production of chemicals and fuels

funded by NWO-MVI, 2022-2025

Releasing the power of users

Articulating user interests to accelerate new innovative pathways in digital health and welfare sector

2020-2024, funded by the Norwegian Research Council

Synergia

NWO Crossover project, 2021-2027

DIRECT - Diffuse Irradiance Redirector for Efficient ConcenTration

funded by NWO, 2022-2027, the project works on solar power plants for which buildings, nature, and agriculture surrounding the solar panels play an important role in the solar energy collection. The project aims to develop a new type of nanophotonic material and to design surfaces which collect direct and diffuse sunlight and send invisible infrared light towards solar panels. The multidisciplinary team investigates technical and business possibilities, as well as environmental and societal impacts.

SepsPIC

Highly multiplexed photonics integrated circuit (PIC) sensors for the rapid diagnostics of sepsis

funded by NWO, 2024-2028

Finished projects

Theatrical Technology Assessment

Experiencing stakeholder perspectives and societal implications of quantum and nanotechnologies

funded by NWO - NWA QuantumNanoRoute

TopFit Citizenlab

Digitalize or Die – Dynamic Drivers of Responsible Innovation in Health and Welfare Services

funded by the Norwegian Research Council and the Province of Overijssel

Safe and Societally Robust Innovative Materials and Products

funded by NWO – NWA Startimpuls ‘Spearheads of the Quantum/Nanorevolution’

Joined project with Saxion and RIVM

Industrial Innovation in Transition (IIT) (EU-H2020)

Research and Innovation Futures

funded by EU FP7

NanoNextNL

Anticipating on technological developments and their embedding in society

Nanotechnology for Safety and Justice

funded by the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice

Towards a common research agenda on the socio-technical aspects of net-zero, sustainable data centers

VU-UT collaborative project, 2022-2023

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