Research Interests:

  • Sociological Theory, esp. Actor-Network Theory, Posthumanism, Pragmatism, Phenomenology, Theories of Practice, Neo-Materialisms.
  • (Queer) Science and Technology Studies (STS)
  • Energy Sociology and Infrastructure Research
  • Political Ecology and Environmental Sociology
  • Critical Consumer Research
  • Sociology of Participation and Design

12/2023-03/2024
Visiting Fellowship at the Department for Technology and Social Change (TEMAT) at the Linköping University, Sweden.

since 07/2023
Research assistant in the BMUV-project "Agenda Zukunftsorientierte Verbraucherforschung" ("Agenda future oriented consumper policy")

since 06/2021
Doctoral studies in Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences as well as member of the doctoral program "Sozio-technische Gestaltungskompetenz in der digitalen Gesellschaft" ("Socio-technical Design Competence in the Digital Society") of the Research Center for Information System Design at the University of Kassel.

since 04/2020
Research assistant in the Research Unit Sociological Theory at the University of Kassel.

2017-2020
Studies of Sociology and Computer Science at the University of Kassel, degree M.A. Sociology.

2017-2018
Research assistant at the Institute for Participative Design in Oldenburg, Germany.

2016-2017
Training as a mediator according to the standards of the Bundesverband Mediation e.V. (German Mediation Association) in Hannover

2013-2017
Studies of Sociology, Politics, Public Law and Administrative Sciences at the University of Münster, graduated with a B.A. in Sociology/Political Science.

Functions

– Mid-level representative in the faculty council of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Kassel (10/2021-09/2023)
– Member of the board of directors of the Research Center for Information System Design at the University of Kassel (12/2020-10/2022)

Memberships

– Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS) (German Sociological Association)
– Doing STS in and through Germany (stsing)
– Bundesnetzwerk Verbraucherforschung (Federal Network for Consumer Research)
– Fachverband Bürgerbeteiligung (fvbb) (Professional Association for Public Participation)
– Deutsche Gesellschaft für Designtheorie und -forschung (dgtf) (German Association for Design Theory and Research)

    Dissertation Project: Response-able Design / Designing Response-ability - Patterns of Responsible Design of Intelligent Energy Systems

    In my PhD thesis, I want to learn more about the process of designing smart energy infrastructures and their social conditions and consequences.

    In a historical reconstruction of the development of energy infrastructures over the last 35 years and the social arenas in which this development takes place, I have worked out how the idea of "smart electrification" is becoming accepted as a hegemonic design principle. By smart electrification, I understand the electrification of energy infrastructures, the increased importance of power grids as "infrastructures of infrastructures," and the digital interconnection of generation, distribution, and consumption facilities in a cybernetically expanding "internet of energy."

    I am particularly interested in the role that consumers (citizens as well as non-human facilities and institutions), on the one hand, and energy and infrastructures themselves, on the other hand, play in the design. In my analysis, I reconstruct patterns of response-able (Barad 2003; 2007) design of smart energy infrastructures: Are there alternative versions of energy beyond a cybernetic logic of expansion and the idea of smart electrification? And can these alternatives be reconstructed through a different involvement of consumers and energies in the design?

    The project is divided into 3 subprojects:

    – A reconstruction of the emergence and genesis of smart grids and their design with the help of a social-world mapping, an interpretive pattern analysis of the smart grid discourse (1990-2015) and in-depth expert interviews,

    – an ethnography and interpretive pattern analysis of the design of permaculture and passive energy systems

    – and a social theoretical examination of the concepts of social form (Gestalt), social design (Gestaltung) and responsibility as responsiveness in human engagement with the environment and technology, especially in new materialism, posthumanism, actor-network-theory, sociology of practice, Gestalt theory, schema theory, process philosophy, and pragmatism.

    Texts:

    Lamla, Jörn/Roschka, Jakob (2021): Konsum. In: Endreß, Martin/Rampp, Benjamin (Hg.): Handbuch Politische Soziologie. Baden-Baden: Nomos (forthcoming).

    Lectures/Workshops:

    Roschka, Jakob: „Historische Situierung smarter Elektrifizierung als infrastrukturpolitisches Paradigma“ (“Historical Situating of Smart Electrification as Infrastructural Paradigm“). Presentation at the 62nd German Congress for Geography at the Panel „Geopolitisation of digital infrastructures", Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 22.09.2023.

    Roschka, Jakob: "Each World Has its Participation." - Mapping the Social Worlds of Energy System Design in Germany as Contexts of Participation. Panel presentation. STS Conference Graz, Session: "The context-dependency of conflict and participation issues in the energy transition", Graz, 02.-04.05.2022.

    Roschka, Jakob: Methods as In/Formation of Practice, Patterns of Response-Ability in the Case of Agile Software Engineering. Workshop presentation. The Un/Making of Forms, Formographic inquiries into practice, accountability, and infra-critique. International workshop organized by Ingmar Lippert and Susann Wagenknecht, Dresden, 02.-03.09.2021.

    Kocksch, Laura/Laser, Stefan/Pittroff, Fabian/Roschka, Jakob/Sørensen, Estrid: Inquiring the digital interstice through a data sprint: Ethnographic research where front and back end meet, Workshop. Materialist Informatics Conference. Kassel, 23-25.03.2020.

    Research Center for Information System Design (ITeG)

    The Unit of Sociological Theory has been part of the Research Center for Information System Design (ITeG) at the University of Kassel since 2015. For many years, the ITeG has been engaged in interdisciplinary research into the design of socially desirable information and communication technology from a socio-technical perspective.

    Jakob Roschka is part of the ITeG doctoral program "Socio-technical Design Competence in the Digital Society" and was a member of the ITeG Board of Directors from 2020 to 2022.

    Research Center for Information System Design (ITeG): More Infos

    Agenda "Zukunftsorientierte Verbraucherforschung" ("Future-oriented consumer research")

    The Agenda "Zukunftsorientierte Verbraucherforschung" ("Future-oriented consumer research") process brings together scientists from various disciplines who conduct research in the fields of consumption, consumer protection, consumer policy and consumer work in order to intensify the existing exchange on the further development of consumer-related research. Six specialist events will be held as part of the project, in addition to a kick-off conference on topics such as sustainability, digitalization, professionalization, social rights and normative issues. The aim is to produce a white paper.

    Jakob Roschka is a research assistant in the project and is responsible for organizing and preparing the events as well as coordinating the content of the work.

    Agenda "Zukunftsorientierte Verbraucherforschung" ("Future-oriented consumer research"): Read More
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