Felix Gnisa

Felix Gnisa serves as a Scientific Assistant at the Research Group 'Digital Technologies and Social Change' within the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, while simultaneously pursuing his doctorate at the Department of Labor, Industrial and Economic Sociology at Friedrich Schiller University Jena under Prof. Klaus Dörre's supervision. His dual institutional affiliation bridges empirical technology assessment with critical sociological theory.

His educational trajectory includes a BA in History from the University of Leipzig (2010-2014) and an MA in Social Theory from Friedrich Schiller University Jena (2015-2018). This foundation supports his reconstructive-hermeneutic approach to analyzing digital transformation's impact on labor relations, workplace democracy, and technological design processes.

Gnisa's research program critically examines how digital platform technologies reshape labor processes, with particular focus on worker perspectives in technology design. His publications reveal a consistent thread connecting Frankfurt School critical theory with contemporary analyses of digital capitalism, platform cooperatives, and strategic co-determination mechanisms. The recurring themes across his work include the subsumption of communication by digital platforms, class positioning of tech workers, and historical continuities between 1970s industrial alternative movements and current digital transformation initiatives.

His scholarly contributions demonstrate methodological versatility across conceptual framework development, empirical case studies of platform cooperatives like CoopCycle, and critical policy analysis of technology governance. The interdisciplinary nature of his work positions him at the intersection of sociology of work, science and technology studies, and critical political economy.

Key recognition includes:

• Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung doctoral fellowship (2020-present)
• Membership in the Center for Emancipatory Technology Research

Gnisa actively contributes to academic discourse through conference presentations at venues including the International Labour Process Conference and STS conferences. His collaborative work with Philipp Frey and Linda Nierling has produced influential analyses of democratic technology design in workplace contexts. While currently focused on completing his dissertation on 'socio-structural aspects in the technological visions of artificial intelligence developers,' his research program consistently advocates for worker-centered approaches to technological development.

His institutional engagement spans multiple research ecosystems, from the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society to the DFG Research Group Post-Growth Societies, demonstrating commitment to both theoretical innovation and practical applications for workplace democracy in the digital age.