About

I am a social scientist working at the intersection of environmental data, digital infrastructures, and public engagement. I hold a PhD in Anthropology from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, and am an independent researcher affiliated with UC Irvine’s EcoGovLab. Alongside my academic work, I design and develop digital media projects focused on open-access research, curriculum development, and advocacy.

My research and teaching examine how data moves across scientific fields, becomes evidence in legal and regulatory contexts, and operates as a shared reference point in social movements. I focus on how data practices evolve, the infrastructures and epistemic commitments that shape them, and the conditions under which data acquires analytical and political power.

My dissertation project, Archival Designs and the Informating of Environmentalism, explores the role of data and digital archives in the context of expanding plastic and petrochemical production in the United States, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Since 2020, I have co-developed the Formosa Plastics Global Archive, a digital research platform that supports a transnational network of researchers and advocates engaging the operations of the Formosa Plastics Group.

Beginning in summer 2026, I will join the IT University of Copenhagen’s Center for Climate IT as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow. My research will examine how PFAS (“forever chemicals”) are turned into environmental data and knowledge infrastructures in Denmark, with particular attention to how climate change reshapes their mobility, detection, and governance.

I grew up in Germany and studied Media, Communication, and Cultural Research in Bremen and Istanbul (BA), followed by Science and Technology Studies in Frankfurt (MA). I also completed a European Voluntary Service in Reykjavík, Iceland, and carried out two years of field research in Taiwan.

My work has been supported by the Fulbright Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), and the Environmental Data Justice Fund (Windward Foundation).

I am a member of the Design Group for the Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography (PECE) and served as Open Data Editor for the journal Engaging Science, Technology, and Society (until 2026).

You can reach me at tschuetz@uci.edu.