Dr Sophie Elixhauser a social anthropologist interested in human-environmental relations, climate change, mobility, the senses and perception, interpersonal communication, and tourism, regionally focussing on the Arctic, in particular Greenland, and the European Alps. Moreover, she is passionate about transdisciplinary and decolonising and co-creative research approaches. Sophie has conducted long-term field research in Greenland over the past 20 years, particularly the east coast, added up by fieldwork in the European Alps and the Philippines. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology (2011) from the University of Aberdeen, and a master’s degree in Social, Cultural & Physical Anthropology and Intercultural Communication (2004) from the University of Munich.
Sophie is currently a Senior Researcher (University of Vienna) in the citizen science project Snow2School, involving social anthropologists from the University of Vienna, climatologists from the University of Graz and students from two schools in Uummannaq (Greenland) and Eisenerz (Austria). The collaborative project aims at a better understanding of the changing snow cover in both regions and how it affects people’s lives. Moreover, Sophie is a Research Associate in the ERC Advanced Grant Project InfraNorth with a particular interest in the social and political dynamics concerning plans for new airports in East Greenland.
