Uta Renken joined the chair as a research associate in 2009. She graduated from the University of Passau with a Master in intercultural studies (major: sociology) and business administration (Dipl.-Kulturw.). During her studies she spent time in Japan, Spain, and New Zealand gaining practical experience at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Engel & Völkers and the German Embassy in New Zealand. After her studies she was a Heinz Nixdorf Programme fellow and spent eight months in Japan, improving her language skills and working for the Delegation of the European Commission to Japan (Science & Technology Section). Before joining the team in Nuremberg she had been a founding member of a start-up company developing an online-based application software. Uta's research focuses on new ways of doing research and examines factors of technology and software adoption by integrating sociological points of view.
Contact
uta [dot] renken+49 (0) 911 5302-458
Room 4.252
Upcoming Events
Publications
03. Journal Papers
04. Conference Papers
07. Book Chapters
Dissertation Topic
The paradigm of interdisciplinary work, global collaboration and an increased virtualization of work have also had an impact on the way research is done. At the same time the ubiquity of broadband Internet access and an increasingly participative Internet (i.e., Web 2.0) allow researchers to establish borderless research projects. In her dissertation Uta deals with these “Researchers Without Frontiers” and examines the meaning and adoption of social research network sites. Her work discusses the potential impact of web-based social network sites to starting and conducting collaborative research projects. Furthermore, she examines the factors influencing the adoption of these sites. If we have 6 million full-time researchers worldwide how are they managing their collaboration endeavors if time differences and geographical dispersion require virtualized work? And how does the social environment influence the adoption of these sites by individual researchers whose different project partners require various technologies? What roles does user resistance play in the adoption process?
Can research overcome these boundaries and will it in the end become boundariless due to the global accessibility of resources, information and potential partners?
These questions are answered by applying a multi-method approach using qualitative and quantitative approaches.



