emma dowling

Working across sociology and political economy my research has sought to understand the dynamics of crisis and change in welfare and social care systems, political economies of service work and changing delineations between paid and unpaid labour. I also have a longstanding interest in how emotions are put to work and affects are valorised contemporary capitalism. One of my central concerns has been to understand the effects of austerity and financialisation on social reproduction. More recently I have focussed on forgeing stronger connections between social and ecological sustainability and on examining the role of social infrastructures for just transition. I am currently writing a book about feminist political economy.

Having held academic positions in the UK and Germany, I am currently Associate Professor of Sociology with a focus on sociologies of social change at the University of Vienna, where I am also the Deputy Director of Doctoral Studies in Social Science and Vice-Speaker for the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Science.

In addition, I work internationally with civil society organisations on social, economic and environmental justice. I carry out collaborative projects and offer trainings on topics across organisational development and political education. Together with colleagues at the TU Vienna and WU Vienna, I co-founded the Competence Centre for Infrastructure Economics, Public Services and Social Provisioning.

After studying Politics & International Studies at the University of Birmingham, I obtained a Masters degree in Global Ethics from the University of Birmingham and a Masters degree in Social & Political Theory from Birkbeck, University of London. In 2010, I completed my PhD in Politics at Birkbeck, University of London. In 2019, I was awarded the Venia Legendi & Docendi (Habilitation) in Sociology by the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena.

For my work on the care crisis, I received a Kaethe-Leichter-Prize in 2022 (outstanding research on gender equality) and a Kurt-Rothschild-Prize in 2023 (outstanding public engagement research). Also in 2022, my book The Care Crisis was shortlisted for the annual book prize of the British International Studies Association International Political Economy Group.

I speak English, German and Spanish, and in 2009, I qualified as a Certified Translator for English and German in the Social Sciences (Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family).