Henriette Rutjes

Dr. Henriette Rutjes is a Research Associate in the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany. Her work focuses on the intersection of environmental governance, resource management, and social practices, with particular emphasis on participatory research methods and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainability challenges.

Her educational background includes a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Potsdam and Free University Berlin, and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences and Philosophy from the University of Leipzig. She completed her doctoral dissertation in 2024 at Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena titled "Technologieentwicklung und Verwaltung: Praktiken und Strategien in der sekundären Rohstoffgewinnung" (Technology Development and Management: Practices and Strategies in Secondary Raw Material Extraction).

Rutjes' research spans several key areas including participatory research methodologies, theories of social practices, raw material technology governance, and the social dimensions of extractivism in the context of energy transition. Her recent work examines municipal implementation of education for sustainable development, transparency in participatory processes, and political support for sustainability initiatives at the local level. She employs qualitative methods to investigate how environmental practices impact technology development, particularly in secondary mining contexts.

Her publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on environmental sociology, with recent articles addressing sustainable resource management, transdisciplinary research methods, and the social aspects of raw material extraction. She has developed methodological toolkits for transdisciplinary raw materials research and has contributed to understanding how environmental legacies transform into secondary resources.

• European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
• European Sociological Association (ESA) Research Network Environment and Society (RN12)
• International Sociological Association (ISA) Research Committee 24 on Environment and Society (ISA-RC24)
• Junior Research Group Environmental Sociology (NGU)

Rutjes actively contributes to advancing environmental sociology through conference presentations and collaborative research projects. Her current projects include GeRohTrans (Social Inclusion in Raw Materials Research in the Ore Mountains) and BiNaKom (Structural integration of education for sustainable development into municipal educational landscapes), reflecting her commitment to bridging research with practical sustainability challenges.