Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture

Participant short name: 
IFZ
Country: 
Austria

Homepage: www.ifz.aau.at

Gender Equality Plan: PDF

The Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture (IFZ) was established in 1988 and is the Graz unit of the Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies (IFF) of the University of Klagenfurt. Working within the critical areas of debate between science and policy, reflection and intervention, the prime objective is to contribute to socially, sustainable and gender-equitable technology design. In the IFZ research unit „Women – Technology – Environment“ main emphasis is put on questions of gender equality in engineering education/technology organisations. Beside various national research projects this research unit was member of several EC funded projects like "WomEng - Creating Cultures of Success for Women Engineers" (FP 5), "PROMETEA - Empowering Women Engineers Careers in Industrial and Academic Research" (FP 6), “Advance – Advanced Training for Women in Scientific Research” (FP 6), MOTIVATION - „Promoting positive images of SET in young people“ (FP7) and most recently HELENA Higher Education Leading to ENgineering And scientific careers (FP7). 

The head of the institute Jürgen Suschek-Berger  and Sandra Karner as ombudsperson are transfer agents for IFZ.

Dr. Anita Thaler is researcher at IFZ, heads the research area “Women – Technology – Environment” and the working group “Queer STS”. She is a certified work psychologist, has many years of experience as a consultant and seminar trainer and is a lecturer at the Universities of Graz and Klagenfurt. She has studied Psychology, Education Science and Women’s and Gender Studies. 2007 she received the “Gabriele Possanner"-award from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research. Her research focuses on comparative studies of gender aspects in technical universities and organisations and technology learning. Currently she manages a research project which analyses careers of women scientists and engineers in industrial research.

  • Käfer, Jenny Maria; Thaler, Anita & Wächter, Christine (2011). More and ‚other’ students! How interdisciplinarity influences students’ populations in IT study programmes in Austria. In: Arno Bammé, Günter Getzinger & Bernhard Wieser (eds.). Yearbook 2010 of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society. München/Wien: Profil-Verlag, 21-40.
  • Thaler, Anita (2010). Career perceptions of women in industrial technology research. In: Anne-Sophie Godfroy-Genin (ed.). Women in Engineering and Technology Research, Proceedings of the PROMETEA international conference, October 26-27 2007. Zürich: Lit Verlag. pp. 63-84.
  • Thaler, Anita (2009). „Und danach?“ Berufliche Perspektiven für TechnikabsolventInnen. In: Anita Thaler & Christine Wächter (eds.). Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Technischen Hochschulen – Theoretische Implikationen und Erfahrungen aus Deutschland, Österreich und Schweiz. [Gender equality in technical universities. Theoretical implications and experiences from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.] München, Wien: Profil Verlag. pp. 233-250.
 
Thomas Berger received his degree in Sociology at the University of Graz and is currently working on his PhD on science and technology studies at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt/Wien/Graz. Since 2010 he is a research assistant in the research units Ecological Product Policy and Women-Technology-Environment at the IFZ.
  • Berger, Thomas & Hofstätter, Birgit (2014): Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Intersektionalität in der technologischen Zivilisation (Editorial). In: Soziale Technik 4/2014, 2-4.
  • Berger, Thomas; Hofstätter, Birgit; Thaler, Anita; Freitag, Daniela (2014): Youth interests as vehicles for the acquisition of technological competence: Insights from two participatory projects, conference paper, EDUCON2014 – IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, http://www.educon-conference.org.

Magdalena Wicher studied psychology at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz and is researcher at the IFZ in the research unit Women – Technology – Environment. Since 2008 she is working in different projects at the IFZ, on one hand on gender aspects in science and technology education as well as gender and technology in the media (MOTIVATION – „Promoting positive images of SET in young people“, Evaluation of GISAlab – Laboratory for Art and Science), on the other hand on sustainable office buildings and user satisfaction (Build to Satisfy).

  • AG Queer STS (2014). Queer Science and Technology Studies - Technik- und Wissenschaftsforschung 'queer' betreiben. IFZ Electronic Working Papers IFZ-EWP 4-2014. ISSN 2077-3102.
  • Hofstätter, Birgit, Thaler, Anita & Wicher, Magdalena (2014).  „Eigentlich war alles lustig.“ Evaluation des GISAlab_MädchenLaborfürKunstundWissenschaft. IFZ Electronic Working Papers IFZ-EWP 2-2014. ISSN 2077-3102. [12.02.2014]
  • Anslinger, Julian; Hofstätter, Birgit; Käfer, Jenny; Kink, Susanne; Scheer, Lisa; Thaler, Anita & Wicher, Magdalena (2012). Queer perspectives on psychological studies on the relationship between sex and intelligence. In: Thomas Berger & Günter Getzinger (Hg.). "Proceedings of the 11th Annual IAS-STS Conference on Critical Issues in Science and Technology Studies", 7th-8th May 2012, (CD-ROM), IFZ Eigenverlag, Graz, ISBN Nr. 978-3-9502678-3-9. [26.8.2013].