Looking back with Postdoc Nicolas Zehner
LolMyPaper. I have just published my PhD with Transcript Verlag. The book is called “Envisaging Dataist Modernity: The Construction of Edinburgh’s Innovation Apparatus” and it explores who gets to imagine what kinds of urban-regional future. It turns out that universities are not simply educational institutions but also urban planning agents!
It’s all about that space. The two spatial concepts that structure my thinking the most are ‘refiguration’ and ‘polycontexturality’. Refiguration allows me to grasp societal change by providing me with a vocabulary that emphasizes the spatial dimension of social change. The notion of polycontexturality is particularly helpful in our research on location-based technologies, such as dating apps, as it highlights the complexities that emerge from the overlapping of various spatial realities.
Looking back, if I could give my past self some advice just as I was starting my academic career, it would be this: Don’t be afraid to engage with complexity. Trust your instincts and take risks!
A day in a life. I usually work three days at the CRC office and two days from home. I start work at 8.30 am and finish by 6 pm. My day is usually organized around four key tasks: reading, writing, conducting interviews and teaching. Depending on the month, I either spend more time presenting research at conferences and workshops or working on publications and research grants.
It’s all about the spatial arrangement. My ideal writing setting is either my CRC/home office or the library.
When you know, you know. There are three key lessons from my PhD that, to this day, shape my postdoc experience. First, as important as it is to organize yourself, it is equally important to manage your supervisors! This includes documenting progress, communicating expectations and setting clear goals. Second, it’s all about people. Scientific knowledge production is an inherently social process. Therefore, it is crucial to approach people, ask for advice and share insights. Finally, we are all in this together. Not least for your mental wellbeing, it is vital to sometimes take a step back, not to take yourself too seriously and to reflect on the privileged position you hold as a PhD/postdoctoral researcher.
Back to the future. The advice I would give to new researchers starting out in the CRC is the same advice I would give to my former self: Don’t be afraid to engage with complexity! Trust your instincts and take risks!
Author Bio: Nicolas Zehner, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at the CRC 1265 at Technische Universität Berlin, as well as an associated researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute. Nicolas holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Edinburgh. His research investigates the co-constitutive relationship between science, technology, and urban development.