Heidrun Åm

Heidrun Åm is a Professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU. Her work bridges political science and sociology, focusing on governance of emerging technologies, critical policy studies, and science and technology studies. Previously, she was a senior researcher at NTNU’s Center for Science and Technology Studies and group leader for RRI at the Center for Digital Life Norway. She holds a PhD from the University of Vienna (2011) and has held visiting researcher positions in Copenhagen, Vienna, Birmingham, and Darmstadt.

Her research explores themes like democratic governance of technology, responsibility in research, and the socio-political dimensions of scientific communities. Recent work addresses health data governance, AI’s impact on democracy, and the digital economy’s policy frameworks. She has led two major RCN-funded projects and contributed to national policy reports on AI and elections. Awards include enrollment in NTNU’s Outstanding Academic Fellows Programme (2017).

Key publications include analyses of health data spaces, digital platform governance, and interdisciplinary science policies. Her work emphasizes conceptual contributions to social theory and policy design, often blending empirical research with critical theoretical frameworks.