Hanna Meissner

Hanna Meissner is Professor for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies at Technical University of Berlin, serving as Head of Department at the Center for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies (ZIFG) within Faculty I - Humanities and Educational Sciences. Appointed to her professorship in January 2020, she has maintained an active research and teaching profile with significant contributions to feminist theory and social philosophy.

Her academic credentials include:

• Doctorate (2009) from Humboldt University of Berlin with dissertation on "Conditional Contingency: On the Social Constitution of Subjectivity and Agency"
• Diplom-Soziologin (1998) from Freie Universität Berlin

Professor Meissner's research spans critical intersections of feminist theory, social philosophy, and political economy. Her work examines subjectivity through new materialist and critical theoretical frameworks, while exploring work-life balance as a systemic crisis of capital reproduction. She has developed significant scholarship on commons theory from feminist perspectives and collective subjectivity in communal living arrangements. Her theoretical contributions bridge classical social theory with contemporary gender issues.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trajectory from theoretical foundations toward practical applications of feminist thought. Her 2024-2025 work increasingly focuses on counterhumanist assemblages, precarious subjectivity, and feminist approaches to commons, demonstrating evolution from earlier work on new material feminisms and historical materialism. This progression shows deepening engagement with collective action models and alternative social organization.

Her scholarly contributions have been supported by:

• Volkswagen Foundation funding for international summer school in Nigeria
• DAAD support for research in Sudan
• Hans Böckler Foundation projects on women's career advancement

Professor Meissner has supervised numerous students and collaborated extensively across disciplinary boundaries. Her teaching has spanned multiple institutions including TU Berlin, University of Vienna, and University of Duisburg-Essen, with notable international engagement in Nigeria and Sudan. During the pandemic, she co-authored research on the abrupt transition to online teaching.

As leader of ZIFG at TU Berlin, she fosters collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. Her team engages with national and international partners on projects addressing contemporary gender issues through theoretical innovation and practical application, particularly focusing on collective action models and feminist approaches to social organization.