Helen Ahner

Helen Ahner is an Assistant Professor of Materialities and Material Cultures at the Institute for European Ethnology within the Faculty of History and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna, a position she has held since October 2024. Her research integrates historical and contemporary perspectives on feelings, bodies, things, and experiences, with current focus on the cultural and gender history of ambition in sports.

Her academic journey includes a doctorate (2021), MA (2017), and BA (2014) in Empirical Cultural Studies from the University of Tübingen. Her award-winning doctoral thesis, Planetariums. Wonders of Technology – Techniques of Wonder, received the Manfred Lautenschläger Prize and an Honorable Mention for the Turriano ICOHTEC Prize.

Dr. Ahner's research spans cultural history of everyday life, material culture and museum studies, emotion and sensory anthropology, technology culture, and sports history. Her work examines how technologies like planetariums shape urban nature experiences, emotional labor in sports, and the gendered dimensions of ambition, revealing intersections between embodiment, materiality, and historical context.

Her scholarly output demonstrates a cohesive trajectory exploring the cultural politics of technology, emotion, and embodiment. Recurring themes include the sensory production of knowledge in historical instruments, the gendered emotional labor in athletic contexts, and the material culture of leisure spaces like planetariums and museums.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Manfred Lautenschläger Prize of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• Honorable Mention, Turriano ICOHTEC Prize

Dr. Ahner actively contributes to academic communities as a member of the Junge Akademie (Young Academy) supported by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2024, and as spokesperson for the INSIST network (Interdisciplinary Network for Studies Investigating Science and Technology) since 2019. Her prior research roles include three years at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development's History of Emotions group and work at the Ludwig Uhland Institute for Cultural Studies in Tübingen, where she co-curated exhibitions and initiated the LUI podcast.