Britta Oertel

The person

Britta Oertel studied Information Science and Geography at the Free University of Berlin (MA, 1995).

She has worked at the IZT since 1993, as a research associate since 1995 and as head of research since 2001. She currently heads the research fields "Public Spheres & Communication" and "Technology Assessment, Participation & Evaluation" (the latter together with Michaela Evers-Wölk).

Her research work focuses on future studies and analysing new technologies in business and society. The assessment and evaluation of opportunities and risks as well as the economic, social and political consequences take centre stage. She also evaluates funding initiatives and programmes to promote new technologies and the energy transition on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the European Commission, the WWF and the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg, among others. Since 2013, she has been working on and managing projects as part of the IZT's consortium membership with the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB).

Its clients include the German Bundestag, federal and state ministries (BMBF, BMWL, BMELV), federal agencies such as the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, and well-known companies.

At the end of 2014, she was appointed to the Science Committee of the German Commission for UNESCO. In 2023, she was elected to the German Commission for UNESCO.

Expertise

• Service development
• Policy advice
• Applied futurology
• Technology assessment, technology evaluation
• Evaluations, accompanying research, social science surveys and impact analyses