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Department of Communication and Culture

Employee Interview #1 Christoph Lutz

Christoph Lutz is an Associate Professor at BI Department of Communication and Culture and at the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society. He has been working at BI since 2016.

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.

"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"

Christoph Lutz

Associate Professor - Department of Communication and Culture

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!