Britta Oertel
Research Director

Information Scientist (M. A.)
Research field
Communication and publicityResearch field
Technology Assessment and ParticipationThe person
Britta Oertel has worked at the IZT since 1993. She heads the research fields "Public Sphere & Communication" and "Technology Assessment, Participation & Evaluation" and is a member of the IZT's supervisory board.
Together with Michaela Evers-Wölk, she leads the IZT's work as part of its consortium membership with the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag. Her focus is on participation and online citizen involvement.
At the end of 2014, she was appointed to the Expert Committee on Science of the German UNESCO Commission.
Britta Oertel's research focuses on future studies and the analysis of new technologies and innovative services in the economy and society. The focus is on the assessment and evaluation of opportunities and threats as well as the economic, social and political consequences. She also evaluates funding initiatives and programmes to promote new technologies and the energy transition, for example on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the European Commission and the WWF.
Its clients include the German Bundestag, federal and state ministries (BMBF, BMWi, BMELV) and well-known companies.
Britta Oertel studied Information Science and Geography at the Free University of Berlin.
Expertise
- Service development
- Policy advice
- Applied futurology
- Technology assessment, technology evaluation
- Evaluations, accompanying research, social science surveys and impact analyses
Selected projects and publications
Projects
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2020 - 2023
Citizens' dialogue on nuclear energy (1974-1983) - State action in the debate on nuclear waste disposal and its significance for today's site selection procedure
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2021 - 2022
Investigation into the usability of Citizen Science to obtain data on indoor radon concentrations
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2013 - 2022
Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag
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2021
Use of digital technologies in energy communities
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2019 - 2020
Petitions to the German Bundestag - Awareness and use of the right to petition
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2019
Guidelines for humane work in the digital world
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2019
Real-Time Delphi for the CAIS Research Incubator "Prospects for Digitisation Research
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2018 - 2019
Potential benefits of innovative and participatory methodological procedures for the German Bundestag
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2018 - 2019
Evaluation of the BfS messages and texts from the area of electricity grid expansion
Publications
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2023
Investigation into the usability of Citizen Science for obtaining indoor radon concentration data - Project 3621S12230
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2023
Is targeting the solution? Evidence from an experiment on radon risk communication
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2022
Algorithms in digital media and their influence on opinion forming
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2022
Futures of a Sustainable Bioeconomy. Communication and participation in new economies.
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2022
The interpretation of the bioeconomy and biobased products
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2022
Introduction. Future of sustainable bioeconomy.
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2020
Evaluation of the BfS messages and texts from the area of electricity grid expansion
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2019
Who knows and uses complaints to the German Bundestag?
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2019
How are health apps used and evaluated?
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2018
Online citizen participation in parliamentary work