Employee Interview #1 Christoph Lutz

What has been your career path leading up to your current position?

- I have a background in sociology and did my master’s in Zürich, Switzerland. During the course of my master’s degree I noticed I enjoy research, reading and engaging with academic topics. After an internship in Madrid for 9 months I was offered a position as a PhD at the University of St.Gallen. During this time I enjoyed a steep learning curve, which I have been very thankful for in hindsight. A fully funded scholarship allowed me to do one year abroad at the Oxford Internet Institute.

I used 4 years to finish my PhD, and decided to do a paper-based thesis. Luckily, at the time when I was finishing my PhD, one of my former mentors, Christian Fieseler, was looking for a postdoctoral fellow at the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society at BI. I had never been to Norway before and thought “why not?”. I moved to Norway in 2016 and received lots of responsibility and freedom in the position from the very beginning. After 3-4 years I applied to become Associate Professor. Recently I also became co-director of the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society with Christian Fieseler.

Could you tell us about your current research projects?

- Currently, the main research project I am involved in is “Future Ways of Working in the Digital Economy”. It is a four-year research project funded by the Research Council of Norway. We are looking into new ways of work that are happening online, for example through labour platforms. I am interested in different aspects of that, for instance the aspect of privacy and of inequality. In addition, I also have some side projects related to social robots and the privacy implications of AI.

Why is your research meaningful to you?

- People spend so much time engaging with technology, which makes it an important part of life. This brings both challenges and opportunities, so I find it important to study it and reflect on it. This research can also lead to more mindful policies. Other than the societal relevance, I find it personally fulfilling to be in a team of great colleagues and I enjoy the intellectual collaboration.

Could you tell us about the courses you are teaching this semester?

- “GRA 6843 - Doing Digital Business” is a master’s course I do together with Christian Fieseler, where we look at startups, digital businesses and business model innovation. “ELE 2766 - Social Networks and Communities” is a bachelor’s course which is about social media and its role in business and society. One thing I particularly like about this course is that part of the assignment is for the students to be social media strategy consultants for an NGO or a public institution.

Lastly, what is a fun fact about you?

- As far as I know, I am the tallest employee at BI!