Kathrin Ottovay

Kathrin Ottovay is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Popular Cultures, University of Zurich, focusing on the CHANSE network project Redistributive Imaginaries: Digitalization, Culture, and Prosocial Contributions. She completed her PhD at Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2023, examining food activism through the lens of societal transformation and self-care. Her research spans food justice, social inequalities, digitalization, and crises of social reproduction.

• Education: Magistra Artium in European Ethnology with Sociology and Gender Studies (Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Sussex); PhD in Sociology (Friedrich Schiller University Jena).

Her work integrates practices of justice, food policies, and digitalization in everyday economies, with a focus on somatic turn and planetary health. Publications include analyses of food activism, aging populations, and integrated healthcare systems. She has held roles in civil society organizations related to trade, climate, and urban policy.

• Scientific Awards: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation PhD Scholarship (2012–2015).

Kathrin has contributed to critical medicine and health sciences as an editor and researcher, with affiliations to the German Sociological Society, International Society for Ethnology and Folklore, and City Projects e.V. Her academic career bridges theoretical inquiry with practical engagement in social reproduction and transformation conflicts.