Michael J. Bernstein
Biography
Scientist and Research Field Leader at the Center for Innovation Systems and Policy, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Michael Bernstein (Ph.D., he/him) is a scientist at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Associate Professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. He applies descriptive and participatory social science research methods to
align research and innovation with long–term societal interests, like sustainability. He currently leads the Societal
Futures research group at the Center for Innovation Systems and Policy, whose portfolio includes conducting
foresight for policy and integrating social and ethical concerns in development of policies and technologies
(TechEthos). He as developed foresight and strategic planning tools to support business innovation for social value (The Global KAITEKI Center). From 2017–2019 he served as a work–package leader of an EC–funded project to assess
and advance responsible research and innovation across European R&I funding (NewHoRRIzon). He has supported transdisciplinary urban sustainability; staffed a participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) to inform U.S. Department of Energy decision–making about siting nuclear waste (ECAST); and evaluated science policy STEM
education programs (SOtL). He has experience collaborating with formal and informal science and engineering educators, researchers, policy makers, businesses, and civil society organizations at local, national, and international levels, and has contributed to policy and evaluation initiatives on climate preparedness, resilience, and
adaptation for the U.S. White House Council on Environmental Quality and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Open to contact in relation to
Peer learning / Mentoring / Work or consultancy / Research collaboration / Sharing experience and expertise
Interests in
Sustainability, transdisciplinary research, science policy, R&I policy, innovation governance, “do no significant
harm” principle, environmental law, competition polic
