The Master’s focuses on technology and significant factors in the development of technological innovation and change in an anthropological perspective. You will work with technology on several levels where you address people's interaction with technology and the co-design, development, implementation and assessment of technology. The programme combines theory and practice on a basis of real-life cases and collaboration with companies or organisations. You will function as a link between engineers, users, decision-makers and developers – and you will have the tools to make technology more meaningful, responsible and useful.

With a Master's in Techno-Anthropology, you will have the competences to build bridges between technology and people. You will understand how technologies work in context – and how they are used in reality. You will be able to pinpoint why a technological solution might not work as intended – and how it can be improved. You will have experience collaborating with many different professional groups, and you will learn to lead projects where technology, ethics and human needs must be taken into account. Whether a problem arises in health technology, green transition or digital solutions, you can ensure the development of sustainable solutions.

As a techno-anthropologist, you can work for companies that develop new products and services, ensuring that they make sense for the end users. You can also get a job in the public sector, where you can implement new digital solutions or work with innovation in, for example, the healthcare system, the climate sector or the education sector. 

You will have a deep understanding of user needs and solid skills for facilitating collaboration across disciplines and highlighting the human and societal aspects of technology. Techno-anthropologists often work in roles such as UX designer, innovation or digitalisation consultant, technical specialist or business analyst – both in Denmark and internationally.

Our free e-course will introduce you to some of the key theoretical and methodological topics of the study programme. The course is especially designed for students who do not have a bachelor in Techno-Anthropology.

The course is organised in an introduction and 7 modules. Each module includes mandatory academic literature, video-lectures as well as quizzes and writing exercises. You should expect to spend 6 hours per week for 3 weeks in order to complete the course.

To enrol in the course, please send an e-mail to Introt-a@plan.aau.dk with the subject 'Enrol me'. Next, you will receive a link to the course and further instructions.

If you have any questions in relation to the e-course please do not hesitate to contact programme coordinators:

Copenhagen: Lars Botin at botin@plan.aau.dk

Aalborg: Maurizio Tello at maurizio@plan.aau.dk

Techno-Anthropology is a two-year Master’s programme of 120 ECTS (1 ECTS equals 27.5 hours of work) that focuses on educating students at intervening on the relationship between digital transformations and society. During the first year, each semester consists of both courses and project work and you will follow courses approximately half of the time; in the remaining time, you will work on your group semester project.  

The techno-anthropological approach is based on the Aalborg Model of Problem-Based Learning; a method where specific problems are analysed within a specific context, and potential solutions are proposed, discussed and often implemented. 

During the first two semesters, you get an overview of different theoretical, methodological, and computational approaches to the techno-anthropological understanding of the relationship between digital transformations and society. 
 
On the second year of the programme, you will conduct a major study in an external setting, e.g. in a company, a political or civic organisation, a consultancy firm, a governmental office, or a university abroad that works within your area of expertise. In particular, during your third semester, you are expected to choose your more specific domain of expertise. You will specialise in a professional environment, where your individual interests, competences and skills meet emerging digital technologies in fields such as health, welfare,  energy, and the environment. 
 
The last semester is devoted to your Master’s thesis. During this semester, you can continue analysing the empirical material gathered during your third semester project, or you can create new project. You work in groups of up to 3 people. 

Technological transformations in private, public  and community organisations

This semester takes as an outset that we are living in an age of the Techno-Anthropocene where we shape technology as technology shape us, and together we shape the world. One of the main drivers in this constant process of transformation are digital technologies, which are often hidden in black-boxes or invisible and intangible to the human eye and perception. Project work and courses in this semester will focus on how to make these processes of transformation visible and tangible, hence opening black-boxes to make embodiment possible. 

A key academic focus on this master is the sociotechnical interplay between technologies, people, and organizations. In the master’s programme, major emphasis is put on understanding this interplay specifically in relation to digital transformations. The first semester (TAN7) provides insight into the understanding of the complex technological transformations of digitalization processes.  

PROJECT

Technological Transformations in Private, Public and Community Organizations

COURSES 

• Framing Techno-Anthropological Transformation
• Digital Anthropology
• Introduction to Scripting, Data Mining, and Machine Learning

Facilitating technological transformations in private, public and community organisations

This semester focuses on “Facilitating Technological Transformations” with a particular attention to controversial technological developments and emerging technological products and practices. The semester provides concepts and methods of understanding technological controversies, practice-based descriptions of technical aspects, and methodological approaches to facilitate techno-anthropological transformations.  

Courses support your project work. 

PROJECT

Facilitating Technological Transformations in Private, Public and Community Organizations

COURSES 

• Facilitating Techno-Anthropological Transformations
• Digital Controversy Mapping
• Emerging Science and Technology

During the third semester, 30 ECTS is devoted to major project work. You have four different options: 

• you can do a project while you are physically based in an external organisation/company.
• you can do an action research project.
• you can do a digital ethnographic fieldwork-based project. 
• you can do an interdisciplinary project on sustainable development.

The project work and its fieldwork will give you the chance to go in depth researching a techno-anthropological problem and provide you with practical experience in solving complex techno-anthropological challenges. You will have to document your work in a project report, which will be the foundation for youyour oral examination. 

In connection with the project, a series of workshops are held throughout the semester to ensure that you and your fellow students are methodically, theoretically and personally equipped to handle the academic and practical challenges you face. This continuous dialogue and knowledge sharing ensures that you and your fellow students achieve optimal learning outcomes and can contribute constructively to solutions.

Moreover, you learn to formulate your techno-anthropological competences. 

The Master's programme is finished with the completion of the Master's thesis (30 ECTS). You can choose to analyse the empirical data you have collected from the field work you did on the 3rd semester, but you can also choose to work in another research area.

Find the curriculum for the programme in Copenhagen here.

Find the curriculum for the programme in Aalborg here.

As a techno-anthropologist, you work with technology and humans in situations demanding profound insight into the development and distribution of technological solutions in an ethically acceptable way. 

You contribute to design processes and technological design with knowledge, skills and competences that ensure accountable and responsible technological innovation, development, implementation, and use. 

You analyse and map the need for, and the distribution of, knowledge in the area of technology culture in an organisation. 

You conduct advanced analyses to understand user insights and experiences of technologies and involve users in interventions.

You use qualitative ethnographic methods, such as fieldwork, workshops and design games, to facilitate user involvement in the development of solutions and technology. 

You can perform implementations and evaluations of technology. You evaluate how technology can be implemented in the best way, taking context, culture and practices in society and organisations into consideration. 

You work with different types of digital mapping software to gain insights into online debates and controversies (e.g. 5G, vaccines and windmills). You contribute to a profound understanding of how communities behave online and how they might act offline. 

You bridge the professional and technological gaps between different stakeholders and actors by, for example, analysing collaboration in technological projects (e.g. cooperation between stakeholders in primary and secondary health care digitalisation). 

As a project manager, you can work with innovation and link management, designers, engineers, technicians and users. You facilitate user-driven innovation processes when developing design concepts and new technological prototypes. 

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• What you can offer an employer
• How to go about job search in Denmark – both student job, internship and full-time job

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