Research Affiliate
Tanja Schneider is a former Research Fellow in Science and Technology Studies at InSIS (2008-2015) and at Green Templeton College (2011-2013). Between 2013 and 2016 she was also James Martin Fellow in the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food based at ISCA.
Tanja’s research focuses on the intersection of science and technology studies (STS) and economic sociology. Her research interests include the neuro-turn in the social sciences, food science and technology, consumer culture and advertising, food activism, digital health, and financial investments and innovation. Across these areas, she is interested in agency and accountability; re-distributions of expertise; and understanding the broader social and material dimensions that shape individual choice.
Between 2011 and 2015 Tanja Schneider was part of an interdisciplinary research network of researchers from the universities of Oxford, Mainz, Leiden and Paris, set up to examine the "neuro-turn" in European social sciences and humanities (ORA grant). This ESRC-funded UK project group (UK PI: Steve Woolgar) examined how the respecification of consumers as non-knowledgeable and the brain as the ultimate source of knowledge about consumers’ preferences is achieved in experimental practice in the field of neuromarketing.
In parallel and building on her PhD research conducted at The University of Sydney she has developed an innovative research agenda focusing on the nexus of food, health, scientific knowledge and technologies. In 2012, she co-founded the Oxford Food Governance group, which studied the ways in which new information and communication technologies shape activism and food governance in Europe. The research was supported by a three-year research grant (PI: Stanley Ulijaszek) by the Oxford Martin School’s Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food.
From 2015 until 2019, Tanja was senior lecturer in sociology at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and in the winter semester 2018/2019 she was chair and professor of sociology of technology and sustainable development (ad interim) at the University of Passau, Germany. Since 2019 Tanja is an Associate Professor of Technology Studies in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of St. Gallen.
Her current research focuses on financialisation, digitalisation and interventions, which she explores in two research projects: 1) Venture Food, in which she investigates the nature and dynamics of the uptake of venture capital in food and food-related settings and 2) FoodCoach, an interdisciplinary research project with colleagues in computer science and information studies at ETH Zürich and the University of St. Gallen, of which is the Principal Investigator and focuses on the broader societal implications of dietary monitoring and intervention.
Key publications include:
- Brenninkmeijer, J., Schneider, T. and S. Woolgar (2020) Witness and silence in neuromarketing: Managing the gap between science and its application. Science, Technology& Human Values, 65(1) 62–86.
- Schneider, T., Eli, K., McLennan, A., Dolan, C., Lezaun, J. and S. Ulijazsek (2019) Governance by campaign. The co-constitution of food issues, publics and expertise. Information, Communication & Society, 22(2): 172-192.
- Schneider, T., Eli, K., Dolan, C. and Ulijaszek, S. (eds.) (2018) Digital Food Activism. London: Routledge.
Contact:
Email: tanja.schneider[at]unisg.ch
Telephone: +41 (0)71 224 29 29
Academia
ResearchGate
