Katja Müller

Prof. Katja Müller holds the Heisenberg Professorship for Technology, Ethics and Society at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences' Department of Social Work.Media.Culture. Her research focuses on Energy Humanities, Environmental Anthropology, and Digitization of Cultural Heritage with regional emphases on India and Eastern Germany. She has held visiting professorships at the University of Technology Sydney (2021) and postdoctoral positions at institutions like the IASS Potsdam and University College London.

Education: Magister Artium in Cultural Studies, Indology & Philosophy from Leipzig University (2008), followed by doctoral studies at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (2011–2014). She completed her Habilitation in Social & Cultural Anthropology at MLU Halle-Wittenberg (2021).

Research interests include the socio-cultural dimensions of energy transitions, postcolonial digital archives, and material culture studies. Recent work examines solar energy land conflicts in Eastern Germany and low-carbon energy policy advocacy. Over 50 peer-reviewed publications span journals like Energy Research & Social Science, Cambridge Journal of Regions, and Visual Anthropology.

Her projects include collaborative research on global energy futures with Australia/India-Germany comparisons and curatorial work on colonial ethnological collections. She co-edited landmark volumes on digitization and energy transitions (2021–2023), and has contributed to public policy discussions via media articles in The Conversation.

Professional roles include Partner Investigator at UTS Sydney (2018–2021) and Research Fellowships at institutions like the Grassi Museum Dresden. Her work bridges academic research with applied sustainability initiatives through interdisciplinary collaborations.