Maja Van Der Velden

Image of Maja Van Der Velden
Norwegian version of this page
Phone +47 22852816
Room 7163
Username
Visiting address Gaustadalléen 23B 0373 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1080 Blindern 0316 Oslo

Short bio

I am the leader of the Regenerative Technologies research group and director of the associated Sustainability Lab. My field of research is Technology, Sustainability, and Society and I am particular interested in the design and use of digital technologies and infrastructures and the practices and impacts they help shape.

Informed by critical informatics, feminist technoscience (science and technology studies), and socioecological systems thinking, I pursue research topics around sustainability and digitalisation. Just transitions, democratic participation, intersectionality, and cognitive justice are values that guide my research.

These interests and values are also reflected in my teaching, in which I work with a critical constructivist learning methodology, actively involving students in exploring the social and ethical effects of technology design and use. Prior to joining the University of Oslo, I worked for a number of years advising civil society organisations in Africa and the Middle East on the adaptation of information and communications technology, in particular in contexts of economic development and social change.

Research

I have implemented fieldwork in Canada (teenage patients and privacy), Ghana (repair and recycling), India (digitalisation of local health knowledge of traditional healers), Kenya (global knowledge sharing in a Masai community), Netherlands (repair), Norway (repair, sustainable business models, health tech for teenage patients), and the Middle East (gender, human rights). In terms of social sustainability, I have implemented research in the field of privacy, repair, and AI. Research on environmental sustainability includes sustainability analysis of electronic products, repair, and sustainable digitalisation. My research on cultural sustainability focused on Indigenous knowledge and database design.

I am at the moment active in three funded projects:

  • Workpackage leader in EMPOWER, a UiO:Energy financed convergence milieu focusing on the role batteries in the transition towards a sustainable transport future (2022-2026).
  • Leader of Circular Energy, a UiO:Energy financed project, in the form of a thematic research group, focusing on the role of design, maintenance, and repair in energy conservation in digitalisation technologies (2021-2023).
  • Deputy leader of Futuring Nordics, a UiO:Nordic financed project, in the form of a thematic research group, focusing on the transition towards sustainable business models of Nordic companies (2019-2022). My research focus is repair and sustainable business models.

Past projects

Teaching

I teach IN5010/IN9010 Design, Technology & Society, a master/PhD course in which we look at different theoretical perspectives on the relations between design, technology, and society. We explore these relations 'hands-on' in discussions, design and deconstruction workshops, visualisations, and written work. Some of the topics we explore are sustainability, autonomous systems, privacy/surveillance, gender, and regenerative technologies. It is a five-week intensive course (90 contact hours). In addition, I give several guest lectures in other IFI courses, focusing on the social and ethical aspects of informatics.

Supervision

PhD candidates (main supervisor):

PhD candidates (co-supervisor):

Post-doc

  • Arian Mahzouni - Sustainable electric vehicle batteries (2023-2027)
  • Tigist Fetene Adane - Life cycle assessment of digital technologies for energy conservation (2021-2023)

Master students:

Thirty-six of my master students have successfully finished their master exam. I am currently the supervisor of the following master student:

  • Emma Tvinnereim - Low-energy website design with Vortex

Other positions (past en present)

Tags: circular economy, critical informatics, design justice, ethics, feminist technoscience, gender, intersectionality, repair, sustainability, sustainable digitalisation, systems thinking, e-waste, doughnut economics

Publications

  • Van Der Velden, Maja; Maitre-Ekern, Eléonore & Katland Wanja, Deborah (2023). The Role of Independent Repair in a Circular and Regenerative Economy. Circular Economy and Sustainability. ISSN 2730-597X. doi: 10.1007/s43615-023-00304-y. Full text in Research Archive
  • van der Velden, Maja & Sjåfjell, Beate Kristine (2023). ‘Thinking with Care’: Exploring interdisciplinarity in a global research project. In Sjåfjell, Beate Kristine; Russell, Roseanne & van der Velden, Maja (Ed.), Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Business: Perspectives of Women Business Scholars. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783031069239. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-06924-6_2.
  • van der Velden, Maja; Russell, Roseanne & Sjåfjell, Beate Kristine (2023). Interdisciplinarity for Sustainable Business. In Sjåfjell, Beate Kristine; Russell, Roseanne & van der Velden, Maja (Ed.), Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Business: Perspectives of Women Business Scholars. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783031069239.
  • Wilson, Christopher Ben & Van Der Velden, Maja (2022). Sustainable AI: An integrated model to guide public sector decision-making. Technology in society. ISSN 0160-791X. 68. doi: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.101926. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Sjåfjell, Beate Kristine; Russell, Roseanne & van der Velden, Maja (2023). Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Business. Springer. ISBN 978-3-031-06924-6. 252 p.
  • Sjåfjell, Beate Kristine; Russell, Roseanne & van der Velden, Maja (2023). Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Business: Perspectives of Women Business Scholars. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783031069239. 266 p.

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  • van der Velden, Maja; Halverson, Sandra Louise; Rommetveit, Kjetil; Skjeggedal, Terje; Myong, Lene & Walton, Stephen John [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2023). Derfor trenger vi en akademisk boikott av Israel. Klassekampen. ISSN 0805-3839.
  • Årsand, Siv; Van Der Velden, Maja & Gasparini, Andrea Alessandro (2023). A Materials Library as a Method to Explore the Conditions for Regenerative Technologies and Systems.
  • Sætra, Henrik Skaug; Borgebund, Harald; van der Velden, Maja; Danaher, John; Coeckelbergh, Mark & Selinger, Evan (2023). En KI-milliard for din tekno-optimisme. Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847.
  • Sætra, Henrik Skaug & van der Velden, Maja (2023). En minister for tekno­logi­op­ti­mister. Klassekampen. ISSN 0805-3839.

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Published Oct. 25, 2011 11:03 PM - Last modified Sep. 22, 2023 11:32 AM