J.A. (Anne) Beaulieu, Prof

Anne Beaulieu is Aletta Jacobs chair of Knowledge Infrastructures and Director of the Data Research Centre at Campus Fryslan, University of Groningen. She works on creating knowledge infrastructures for liveable futures and leads the major Energy, Environment, and Climate (formerly called Responsible Planet) in the programme Global Responsibility and Leadership. She also develope the minor Data Wise, together with Gert Stulp. She writes and teaches about the technological and societal aspects of climate change and biodiversity infrastructures.

Beaulieu's interest in data in context and her drive to implement more responsible approaches to data fed the development of the minor Data Wise (since Sept 2019). She coordinated the PhD training in STS for WTMC (Dutch National Research School in Science and Technology Studies) together with Bernike Pasveer and Andreas Weber (2018-2022). She co-founded the Groningen Energy Summer School for PhDs and acted as one of its scientific directors for 6 years. She was a member of the Board of Data Fryslân and of the editorial board of APRIA, ARTEZ Platform for Research Interventions of the Arts (2020-23). She served on the board of Studium General Groningen (2017-2023) and on the NIAS-Lorentz Advisory Board (2017-2022).

More information can be found on the website annebeaulieu.org

Anne Beaulieu has published widely in STS and social science journals and in a number of edited collections. Some of her key contributions have been translated and/or reprinted in major reference works. She is co-author Data and Society: A Critical Introduction (Sage) and co-editor of Smart Grids From a Global Perspective (Springer) and of Virtual Knowledge (MIT Press) and has been guest editor of special issues for the following journals: Theory and Psychology, Social Epistemology, Journal of Computer Mediated Interaction and Forum Qualitative Research.  

A dominant theme in Beaulieu’s work is the importance of images and interfaces for the creation and circulation of knowledge. Past research projects focused on data-sharing (expert panel for OECD), on knowledge networks and big data, and on visualisation and visual knowledge. Beaulieu has also done extensive work in the field of digital humanities, on new (ethnographic) research methods and on ethics in e-research. Between 2015 and 2018, she was initiator and programme manager of the project Energysense, a large-scale longitudinal study of energy with 10 000 households in the Northern Netherlands.

PhD Projects

Ongoing

·       Promotor, Matilde Ficozzi, The Cartography of Algorithmic Controversies as Knowledge Brokering, University of Groningen and Aalborg University, Second promotor Anders  Kristian Munk, co-promotor Dario Rodighiero and Mathieu Jacomy (submission 2027).

·       2^nd Promotor, Marije Miedema, PhD Thesis Rethinking the future of a common Personal Digital Archive through co-creation (Submission September 2026). First promotor: Susan Aasman, co-promotor: Sabrina Sauer

·       Promotor, Efe Cengiz, PhD thesis Rediscovering the ‘local’ in knowledge infrastructures, University of Groningen (submission February 2026. Co-promotor Carol Garzon-Lopez

·       2^nd  Promotor, Taylor Craft, PhD thesis Assessing agricultural sustainability by integrating remote sensing and animal ecology with agricultural practices, FSE, University of Groningen (submission 2025). Co-promotor: Ruth Howison, First promotor: Theunis Piersma

·       Promotor, Clarisse Kraamwinkel, PhD thesis Exploring Soil Health Across Spatial Scales: A Case of Frisian Peat Grasslands, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen (Defence 2025). Co-promotors: Ruth Howison and Sarah Feron

Completed

·      Promotor, Selen Eren, PhD thesis Mobilizing tensions for action: How to reconfigure knowledge infrastructures of data-centric ecology in a time of crises, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen (14 March 2024) Second promotor: Andrej Zwitter.

·       Promotor, Dina Friis Toft, PhD thesis Theorising Ambiguity - Telling deliberately equivocal viral stories, Leiden University (defense 22 June 2022) First promotor: Paul Wouters

·       Co-promotor Esther van der Waal, PhD Thesis Socio-technical Innovations in Local Energy Initiatives, FSE, University of Groningen (26-03-21). Promotor: Rien Herber

·       Co-promotor, Sarah de Rijcke, PhD thesis, cum laude. Regarding the Brain, Department of Theory and History of Psychology, University of Groningen (15-09-09). Promotor: Douwe Draaisma

PhD committees and PhD examinations

·       Joyce Hoek, What is a good decision in medicine regulation? Unravelling the regulatory thought process. Promotor : Prof. Don van Ravenzwaaij, University of Groningen, (defense 2025).

·       Rianne Riemens, Platform Earth, Ecomodernism in Tech-on-Climate Discourse. Supervisors: Prof. Anneke Smelik & dr. Niels Niessen (defense 2025)

·       Referee for cum laude, Chiara Carboni, Broken Glass in the Clinic: Tracing Performativity of artificial intelligence in clinical practice, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam

·              Committee member, Abe Hendriks, Imagined circularities: understanding the politics of transition to a circular economy, University of Groningnen (30 May 2024).

·       Committee member, Lise Beumeler, I See You: Unravelling pathways of recovery after critical illness. University of Groningen (10 March 2023).

·       Committee member, Marc Argeloo, Shifting Baselines, Utrecht University (2 September 2022).

·       Committee member, Liliana González Hernández, PhD thesis Factors influencing household action on climate change, University of Groningen (4 July 2022).

·       Committee member, Trix Mulder, PhD thesis The role of law in protecting personal data generated by health apps and wearables, University of Groningen (28 April 2022).

·       Committee member, Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner, PhD thesis, Reflexive Inertia. Reinventing Scholarship Through Digital Practices, Leiden University (28 May 2015).

·       Opponent, Veronica Johansson, PhD thesis, A time and place for everything: social visualization tools and critical literacies, Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås (14 December 2012).

·       Opponent, Marisa Ponti, PhD thesis, The Influence of Socio-Technical Aspects on Practice-Research Collaboration and Implications for the Design of a Collaboratory School of Library and Information Science, Goteborg University (29 April 2010).

·       Opponent, Isabelle Dussauge, PhD thesis, Technomedical Visions: Magnetic Resonance Imaging in 1980s Sweden Division of History of Science and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm (4 April 2008).

·       Committee member, Vanessa Dirksen, PhD thesis, Social Imaginaries of Technology and Work: A Connective Ethnography. Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam (September 2007).