My research is concerned with the interactions of people, 'technology', and the environment and combines insights from science and technology studies, sociology, geography, and systems sciences. Currently, I am interested in the implications of digital infrastructure (AI, ML, big data, algorithmic decision making, etc) on environmental governance processes.
At SLU, I teach and contribute to courses in the MSc Environmental Communication and Management degree programme. I am responsible for the courses Communication theory and strategy, Engaging critically with environmental governance practices, and Internship in environmental communication.
I am currently involved in three research projects:
Creating meaning on the climate crisis: An investigation of commercial algorithms as communication participants which investigates the role of algorithms in societal meaning making on the climate crisis.
Communication between hope and ambiguity: on the implications of Circular Economy as an empty signifier.
Environmental communication in (social) media and the arts (part of the MISTRA Environmental Communication project, WP5) on transformative discourses, information and knowledge practices, and hegemonic discourse in digital worlds.
My collective work on algorithms is summarised here: slu.se/algorithms
since 2020: Researcher – Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
2019 – 2020: Postdoctoral Research Associate – Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI), The University of Manchester, UK
Education
PhD Business and Management (Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies) at the Sustainable Consumption Institute, The University of Manchester
MSc Industrial Ecology – Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Leiden University, The Netherlands
I regularly supervise theses for the MSc Environmental Communication and Management programme at SLU, and have also supervised a few individuals from other MSc programmes in Sweden.
For a complete and recent list of my publications, please look at my profile on ResearchGate.
Haider, J., & Rödl, M. (2023). Google Search and the creation of ignorance: The case of the climate crisis. Big Data & Society, 10(1), 20539517231158996. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231158997
Haider, J., Rödl, M., & Joosse, S. (2022). Algorithmically embodied emissions: The environmental harm of everyday life information in digital culture. Information Research, 27(Special issue with conference proceedings from CoLIS11), paper colis2224. https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2224
Rödl, M. B. (2022). Book Review: Airoldi Massimo (2022) Machine Habitus: Toward a Sociology of Algorithms. Science & Technology Studies, 35(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.23987/sts.120879
Rödl, M. B., Åhlvik, T., Bergeå, H., Hallgren, L., & Böhm, S. (2022). Performing the Circular economy: How an ambiguous discourse is managed and maintained through meetings. Journal of Cleaner Production, 360, 132144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132144
Rödl, M. B., Boons, F., & Spekkink, W. (2022). From responsible to responsive innovation: A systemic and historically sensitive approach to innovation processes. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121231
Spekkink, W., Rödl, M., & Charter, M. (2022). Repair Cafés and Precious Plastic as translocal networks for the circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 380, 135125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135125
Rödl, M. B. (2019). What’s new? A History of Meat Alternatives in the UK. In D. Bogueva, D. Marinova, T. Raphaely, & K. Schmidinger (Eds.), Environmental, Health, and Business Opportunities in the New Meat Alternatives Market (pp. 202–217). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7350-0.ch011
Rödl, M. B. (2018). Marketing Meat Alternatives: Meat Myths and Their Replication in Advertising for Plant-Based Meat. In D. Bogueva, D. Marinova, & T. Raphaely (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Social Marketing and Its Influence on Animal Origin Food Product Consumption (pp. 327–343). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-4757-0.ch022