Helen Vaaks

Helen Vaaks is a Research Fellow (Praedoc) at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna. She specializes in audiovisual anthropology, focusing on themes of care, human-nature relationships, nature conservation, and cycling equity. Her work bridges transdisciplinary collaboration with community engagement.

• Education: Holds BSc and MSc degrees (institutions unspecified)

Her research explores marginalized groups' access to sustainable mobility through the Enabling Migrants to Cycle project (EMCY), funded by FEMtech. She also investigates care dynamics through ethnographic films like Zwischen uns Arbeit (2024), co-produced with Ludwig-Boltzmann-Gesellschaft, and environmental conservation via her MA thesis on endangered mussel species in Estonia (CONTOURS project, ERA-NET Rus Plus funding).

Her films critically examine intersectional barriers to mobility and conservation ethics, using visual methods to amplify underrepresented voices in transdisciplinarity.

• Grants: FEMtech (2023), CONTOURS (ERA-NET Rus Plus)

Collaborates with stape e.U., Vienna University of Technology, klarFAKT, and Sanderien Verstappen's team on cycling empowerment initiatives for female migrants.