Personer
Daniël Bank
I am a curious bridge-builder and interdisciplinary researcher working across the social, technical, and environmental dimensions of development and innovation. My interests gravitate towards the ethics and sociotechnical governance of emerging technologies and innovations, particularly in relation to sustainability transitions, rural transformation, and social justice. More broadly, I am interested in how people, technologies, institutions, places, and environments mutually shape one another, and in how knowledge, values, power relations, communication, and competing visions of desirable futures influence processes of change. My work aims to reflect perspectives from development and innovation studies, Science and Technology Studies, human geography, political ecology, strategic communication, and related approaches to environmental and societal change.
I currently contribute to the interdisciplinary ERC-funded project Blockchain4Biodiversity, at Hanken School of Economics. My work within this co-creative innovative process focuses on developing and evaluating ethical guidelines and governance models for the conservation, responsible use, and innovation of Indigenous Seed Knowledge (ISK) and agrobiodiversity. Within this broader aim, I explore how potential digital marketplaces and innovation chains can be designed and governed responsibly, with particular attention to voluntary and meaningful participation, data governance, democratic decision-making, trust, socio-cultural context, and unintended or undesirable consequences.
I hold a BSc in Future Planet Studies from the University of Amsterdam, with a major in Human Geography, and an MSc in Development and Rural Innovation from Wageningen University & Research, where I graduated with a thesis in Strategic Communication. These interdisciplinary programmes shaped my interest in complex challenges including food systems, human–nature relations, responsible innovation, inclusive and just development, rural innovation, knowledge politics, and quality of life.
My previous research has focused on sociotechnical, environmental, and spatial imaginaries, environmental discourse, and the ways in which knowledge, power, participation, trust, and competing visions of the future shape contested sustainability transitions. Methodologically, I have worked primarily with qualitative and interpretive approaches, including discourse analysis, interviews, and case-study research, and I am currently expanding towards mixed-methods research.