Christian Kerschner
Short Bio
Christian holds a master’s degree in business and economics from the University of Vienna and a masters and a doctorate from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He studies the phenomenon of Peak-Oil and the respective vulnerabilities of economies, attitudes towards technology, alternatives to the paradigm of economic growth. His paper proposing a connection between the steady state economy and economic degrowth has been widely cited in his field and he has just finished co-editing a long awaited special issue on Degrowth & Technology.
Projects
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i-CONN: Interdisciplinary connectivity: Understanding and managing complex systems using connectivity
The goal of this ITN is to train a new cohort of researchers specialized in the developing field of connectivity science who will be capable of developing interdisciplinary approaches to connectivity across a range of disciplines and real-life applications in the next five to ten years. Our overarching aim is to overcome barriers to progress in using connectivity science to understand and manage complex systems by learning from transdisciplinary perspectives to produce new insights into the behavior of complex systems across diverse disciplines (Astrophysics, Computer Science, Ecology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Neuroscience, Systems Biology, and Social Science) and synthesize them into a common set of theories and approaches.
Organisations: MODUL University Vienna, Department of Sustainability, Governance, and Methods
Author: Christian Kerschner, Ivo Ponocny, Sabine Sedlacek, Mario Diaz Munoz
Date: 01.10.2019 - 30.09.2023
Managed By: MODUL University Vienna
Research Output
- 2019
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"Unlocking wise digital techno-futures: Contributions from the Degrowth community"2019 in: Futures. Volume: 114.
Author(s): Mario Pansera, Melf-Hinrich Ehlers, Christian Kerschner
Publication date: 2019
Volume: 114
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"Decoupling Debunked - Evidence and arguments against green growth as a sole strategy for sustainability"2019
Author(s): Timothée Parrique, Jonathan Barth, François Briens, Christian Kerschner, Alejo Kraus-Polk, Anna Kuokkanen, Joachim H. Spangenberg
Publication date: 2019
Publisher: European Environmental Bureau
- 2018
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"Degrowth and Technology: Towards feasible, viable, appropriate and convivial imaginaries"2018 in: Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume: 197. Pages: 1619-1636
Mainstream sustainability discourses are firmly built on the mantra that more technology leads to more economic growth, which in turn leads to more welfare and sustainability. With economic growth becoming ever more difficult and undesirable, and sustainability challenges ever more pressing, alternative post-growth and Degrowth discourses have gained momentum in the last decade. However, the role of technology on the path towards a ‘Degrowth Society’ is far from clear and subject to intense debate between enthusiasts and sceptics of technology. This editorial to the special issue on ‘Degrowth and Technology’ represents the first in-depth analysis of the multiple perspectives on technology present in the Degrowth community. Using an artistic analogy, we illustrate four main areas of exploration for a future Degrowth and Technology research agenda: 1) theoretical and conceptual approaches, 2) case studies of innovative socio-technical arrangements, 3) evaluation of technologies according to their feasibility, viability, appropriateness and conviviality and 4) governance approaches. Moreover, we identify and discuss reoccurring themes in the texts such as energy, agency and democratisation of technology and introduce new concepts such as ‘Degrowth Technology’ and 'Degrowth Society’. Finally, we offer guidance for future research and for the development of a shared socio-technological imaginary of the Degrowth community.
Author(s): Christian Kerschner, Petra Wächter, Linda Nierling, Melf-Hinrich Ehlers
Publication date: 2018
Volume: 197
Pages: 1619-1636
Electronic version(s), related files and links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.147
- 2017
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"Peak-Oil and Ecological Economics - Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics: Nature and Society"2017
Author(s): Christian Kerschner, Iñigo Capellán-Pérez
Publication date: 2017
Place of Publication Volume: London
Publisher: Routledge
Host publication editor(s): C. Spash
- 2016
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"A framework of attitudes towards technology in theory and practice"2016 in: Ecological economics. Volume: 126. Pages: 139-151
A trend analysis of Eurobarometer data shows that attitudes towards science and technology are diversifying in the EU, with enthusiasm clearly losing out to more ambivalent stances. In the past any diversion from unquestioned optimism was interpreted as a bad sign and attributed to the public's ignorance. Today it is often welcomed as a sign of an increasingly emancipated public. In the sustainability sciences, including Ecological Economics, attitudes towards technology also cover a wide spectrum, the formalisation and exploration of which are the goals of this paper. Drawing on social and philosophical studies of technology and insights from Ecological Economics and related fields, we develop a framework of attitudes towards technology consisting of four main categories: Enthusiasm, Determinism, Romanticism and Scepticism. We illustrate the empirical relevance of our framework with a qualitative content analysis of Ecological Economics lecture material. The analysis uncovered and mapped a diversity of views, which co-exist without an open debate. It suggests difficulties of scholars to consistently articulate their techno-attitudes, except for enthusiasm. Our framework could help to amplify underlying vocabularies and visions of research and teaching in Ecological Economics and beyond. It could be applied in both deeper qualitative and broader quantitative analysis.
Author(s): Christian Kerschner, Melf-Hinrich Ehlers
Publication date: 2016
Volume: 126
Pages: 139-151
Electronic version(s), related files and links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.02.010
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