Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology

Dr. Lukas Griessl

Post doctoral researcher

Contact
Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft | Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen | Burgsteige 11, 72070 Tübingen
lukas.griesslspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Main Areas in Research and Teaching

  • Science and Technology Studies
  • Digital Anthropology
  • Cultures of Artificial Intelligence
  • New Materialism
  • Qualitative Research Methods

Academic Profile

Since February 2024, I have been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute at the University of Tübingen. As part of the project "Hybrid Epistemic Practices: Generative Artificial Intelligence and the Transformation of Academic Assemblages in the Qualitative Social Sciences and Humanities", I am ethnographically investigating how generative AI systems transform and reshape research practices and research cultures in the social sciences and humanities. My current research thus focuses on the conceptual and empirical investigation of AI assemblages at the University of Tübingen. More broadly, I am interested in the philosophy of science, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and the history of empirical social research.

After my undergraduate studies at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, I pursued an MA in "Philosophy and Sociology of Science" at the University of Exeter and an MSc in "Philosophy of the Social Sciences" at the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 2020 to 2023, I completed my doctoral studies at the University of Essex with a thesis on the sociology of public opinion polling titled "Polling, Power, and Legitimacy: The Politics of Representation and the Making of Publics" and supervised by Prof. Dr. Linsey McGoey and Prof. Dr. Nick Allum. During my doctorate, I also worked as a lecturer at the Hessische Hochschule für öffentliches Management und Sicherheit (HöMS).

CV

Since February 2024: Postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig Uhland Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Tübingen
January 2024: Defense of the dissertation "Polling, Power, and Legitimacy: The Politics of Representation and the Making of Publics" at the University of Essex
March 2023: Visiting research stay at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada
February 2021 – April 2021 and December 2021 – April 2022: Visiting research stay at the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig
September 2021 – February 2024: Lecturer at the Hessische Hochschule für öffentliches Management und Sicherheit (HöMS)
January 2020 – October 2023: PhD at the University of Essex. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Linsey McGoey and Prof. Dr. Nick Allum
March 2020 – May 2023: Holder of a doctoral scholarship by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes)
December 2018 – May 2019: Holder of the Exposé scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes)
October 2017 - October 2018: Studies of MSc in "Philosophy of the Social Sciences" at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE), United Kingdom. Title of thesis: “Materialising Social Ontology: A symmetrical perspective on the difference-thesis”
2017 – 2019: Member of the Social Science Collegium of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) in the working group "Exposure. The Political in Times of Radical Uncertainty"
October 2016 – October 2017: Studies of MA in "Philosophy and Sociology of Science" at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Title of thesis: “Understanding emotions towards virtual objects. An ANT-informed analysis of emotions elicited in Virtual Reality”
August 2015 – December 2015: Erasmus stay at SciencesPo - Institut d'études politiques de Rennes, France
February 2016 – October 2018: Scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes)
September 2013 – July 2016: Study of the "Interdisciplinary Bachelor program" with the combination of subjects Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Title of thesis: "Compatibility of Systems Theory and Phenomenology. An Analysis of Schütz, Parsons, and Luhmann"

Academic Memberships

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS)
European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
European Sociological Association (ESA)
International Studies Association (ISA)
European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
European Survey Research Association (ESRA)

Publications

Articles and chapters

Griessl L (2023) From Skopein to Scraping: Probability, Agency, and the Politics of Public Opinion Research. Parallax 28(04). Routledge: 396–410. DOI: 10.1080/13534645.2023.2206239.
Griessl, L. (2023). The Power of Secret Knowledge: The RAND Corporation, Ignorance Studies and Sociology. The American Sociologist. DOI: 10.1007/s12108-023-09567-2.
Griessl L (2023) Zwischen Konsens und Kontroverse: Grenzarbeit in der Geschichte der Stichprobe. In: Engelschalt J, Lemberg J, Maibaum A, et al. (eds) Wissenskrisen – _Krisenwissen: Zum Umgang mit Krisenzuständen in und durch Wissenschaft und Technik. 1st ed. Science Studies. Bielefeld, Germany: transcript Verlag, pp. 35–50. DOI: 10.14361/9783839461600-004.
Griessl L (2022) (Dis)Assembling Predictive Stability: On the History and Culture of Survey Sampling for Election Forecasts. Conference Proceedings of the STS Conference Graz 2022 Gethinger G, Jahrmacher M, and Häller F (eds). Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz: 109–127. DOI: 10.3217/978-3-85125-932-2.
Griessl, L. (2020). Urban Politics on the Fault Line: Istanbul's Exposure to Seismic Risks. In C. Hentschel & S. Krasmann (Eds.), Social theory (pp. 35-44). transcript Verlag. doi: 10.14361/9783839451106-004
Book Reviews
Griessl, L. (2022). The promise of access: Technology, inequality, and the political economy of hope. D. Greene, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2021. 272 pp. $30.00 (paperback). The British Journal of Sociology, 73(2), 467-469. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12926

Presentations

Vorträge

The Forging of Futures: Notes on the Dynamics between Polls, Prediction and Power - STS Graz Conference, 9 May 2023, Graz, Austria
Monopolising Public Opinion: Secrecy and Knowledge Inequalities in Public Opinion Polling - 2023 ISA Convention, 17.03.2023, Montreal, Canada
The fascinating thing is that they find lunatics who believe that: On the Controversy around Probability vs Non-Probability Sampling - Survey Climate and Trust in Scientific Surveys - Recent Developments and Controversial Issues", 5 October 2022, Kassel, Germany
Knowing Public Opinion: Polling, Absence and Performativity - European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST), 8 July 2022, Madrid, Spain
Predictive Stability and Ceremonial Closure: On the History and Culture of Survey Sampling for Election Forecasting - STS Graz Conference, 3 May 2022, Graz, Austria
Social Facts Between Representation and Legitimacy - Autumn Forum of the German National Academic Foundation, 10 November 2021 (Online)
The Fragility of Social Facts: On the History and Culture of Survey Sampling - European Sociological Association (ESA), 2 September 2021 (Online)
Statistical (Non)Knowledge as Matter of Concern - Annual Meeting of the INSIST Young Researchers Network, 13 November 2021 (Online)
Statistical Controversies and the Indeterminacy of Inference - Indeterminate Futures / The Future of Indeterminacy, University of Dundee, 13 November 2020 (Online)

Organization of conferences, panels, and workshops

Griessl, Lukas; Gross, Matthias; Kubicki, Pawel; McGoey, Linsey; Mica, Adriana, Pawlak, Mikolaj: Revolutionary Epistemology: New Directions in Ignorance and Failure Studies, Workshop at the University of Essex (11.03.2024), Colchester
Allum, Nick; Griessl, Lukas: Historical and philosophical reflections on survey sampling, Organisation of a panel at the ESRA 2023 Conference (17.-21.07.2023), Milan
Griessl, Lukas; Kleinberg, Reid Rautenberg, Niclas: Knowledge and Power: Epistemic Conflicts in Democracy, Organisation and execution of a graduate conference at the University of Essex ( 29.-30.07.2021), Online
Griessl, Lukas; Ohlrogge, Carsten: Aktuelle Herausforderungen in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften, Organisation and execution of a conference within the framework of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (22-23.01.2021), Online