Social scientist with an interdisciplinary background. Employing ethnographic and community-based participatory research methods, Nicola’s research interests lie at the intersection of digital technology, policy, and social practices, looking at how experiences of technological transitions are negotiated against a backdrop of historic and contemporary inequalities. Nicola obtained her PhD from the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway, University of London where she conducted ethnographic research on the societal implications of digitalisation in Greenland, focusing on gendered notions of security.
Academic qualifications
- PhD in Information Security/Political Geography, Royal Holloway University of London (2020)
- MA in European Studies, Uppsala University/University of Strasbourg (2014)
- BA in International Relations, University of Groningen (2012)
Languages
- English
- Swedish
- German
- French
- Basic Dutch
Prior positions
- Research Associate and Research Team Leader at German Aerospace Centre, Bremerhaven
- Teaching and Research Assistant at Royal Holloway, University of London
- Assistant to the Foreign Correspondent at ARD (German TV), Studio Stockholm
- Intern at the Swedish Red Cross
- Intern at the German Embassy in Stockholm
Publications
Arich-Gerz, B. and Wendt, N.S., 2021, October. Resilience, Acceptability and the Postcolonial Moment: Towards a Culture-Sensitive Approach to Security Research in Maritime Contexts. In European Workshop on Maritime Systems Resilience and Security (MARESEC 2021).
Barnes, S., Stephan, M., Sill Torres, F., Gabriel, A., Wrede, C.P., Wendt, N.S. and Nickel, V., 2021. The COSMICS (Container Scanning by Muon-based Imaging using Cosmic rayS) Project; an introduction and preliminary results. Proceedings of the MARESEC 2021.
Wendt, N., 2020. Digital Self-Determination – Everyday Security through Digitalisation and Identity Formation in Greenland. PhD Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Wendt, N., Jensen, R.B. and Coles-Kemp, L., 2020, April. Civic empowerment through digitalisation: The case of Greenlandic women. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13).
Jensen, R.B., Coles-Kemp, L., Wendt, N. and Lewis, M., 2020, April. Digital liminalities: Understanding isolated communities on the edge. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14).
Nicola Wendt-Lucas‘s spatial story
“Where are you from?” This is often one of the first questions one gets when meeting a new person – may it be at a party, the coffee machine at the new office or the passport control when crossing a border. “Germany” is my simple, one-worded answer. Yet, the simplicity of this reply sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable. I do hold a German passport; I was born there and so were my parents. I prefer being at the airport hours in advance, love bread, sauerkraut and Fischbrötchen and Christmas time without a Christmas market or wishing someone a happy birthday in advance feels like criminal offenses to me.
What the answer does not reveal, however, are the numerous pieces that have equally become a part of me. These pieces include habits, memories, quirks and even one or two skills that I picked up along the way while studying, working and living in different parts of the world. Like it is impossible to unlearn a language once you have spent years on grammar books, subtitled movies and reading-comprehension exercises, it is also impossible to erase these imprints of lived experiences from places other than the one printed in golden letters on your passport.
Today, the smell of cardamom and cinnamon signals happiness to my brain, I have learned to make decent vegan scones, praise my dog with “bon chien” and like to put chocolate sprinkles on my toast in the morning (and manage for them to stay on the toast). Of course, I am far from alone with these small complexities that we all carry with us. Depending on the person, the context, they can be both a blessing or a curse, obvious or hidden, come with obligations and/or rights, privilege or disadvantage.
As a social scientist I have learned to embrace these complexities that make us human and that form our societies. I am glad that my spatial story brought me to Nordregio, where I will be able to pick up some new habits, memories, quirks and skills while further exploring the complexities that follow in the wake of the digital transition in the Nordic region and beyond.
Related Research Projects
Related Publications
- Implementing Electric Aviation: Critical Factors and Relevant Policy Instruments
- The Role of 5G in the Transition to a Digital and Green Economy in the Nordic and Baltic Countries: Analytic Report
- National Digital Inclusion Initiatives in the Nordic and Baltic Countries
- Ten-year Regional Outlook: Future Perspectives for Electric Aviation in the Nordic Region
