Dr. Nina Brandau

• Participatory design of digital technologies/ critical co-design
• EdTech/ educational technologies in the school context
• School development in the culture of digitality
• Ethnographic research in hybrid educational environments

• Since 2025: Postdoctoral Researcher and Project Coordinator, Helmut Schmidt University, dtec project “Smart Schools – SMASCH” (Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Sigrid Hartong)
• 2021 – 2024: Doctoral Researcher, Helmut Schmidt University, dtec project “Smart Schools – SMASCH” (Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Sigrid Hartong)
• 2019 – 2021: Education Policy Officer, Bitkom e.V.
• 2017 – 2019: M.A. in Euroculture: Society, Politics and Culture in a Global Context, University of Göttingen and University of Groningen
• 2016 – 2017: Student Research Assistant, a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities, University of Cologne
• 2015 – 2016: Erasmus Exchange, Uppsala University, Sweden. Focus: Sociology of Language and Linguistics
• 2013 – 2017: B.A. in Media Culture Studies and Scandinavian Studies, University of Cologne

“Project Smart Schools (SMASCH).” (since January 2021)

OPAL research project (duration 48 months) to accompany and support schools in the development of sustainable, pedagogically meaningful and demand-oriented digitalization concepts that have an appropriate and target-adequate effect in the medium and long term.
Funded by the Center for Digitalization and Technology Research of the German Armed Forces (dtec.bw).

In funding phase I (2021-2024), schools were supported in developing sustainable, pedagogically meaningful, and needs-based digitalisation concepts that have an appropriate and targeted effect in the medium and long term.

In funding phase II (2024-2025), a transnational school development platform for a self-confident and critical-reflective approach to digital topics will be developed together with schools from five European countries.

Brandau, Nina & Tierens, Toon (2026) Tracing technological obstinacies in critical educational platform design. In: Learning, Media and Technology, 1-17. Link.

Hartong, Sigrid & Brandau, Nina (2026) Participation and co-design in digital education research: Navigating between instrumental and critical approaches. In: Journal of Education Policy (online preprint). Link.

Brandau, Nina & Hartong, Sigrid (2025) Die Macht graphischer Datenvisualisierungen. Eine “Einstiegstür” in die kritisch-partizipative Auseinandersetzung mit Bildungsplattformen. In: Hofhues, S. & Schütz, J. (eds.), Plattformen für die Bildung. Bielefeld, transcript Verlag, 243-259.

Decuypere, Mathias; Brandau, Nina; Hartong, Sigrid; Joecks, Lucas; Ortegon, Carlos; Loft-Akhoondi, Anja; Vanermen, Lanze (2025) Tracing the infrastructural unfolding of (edtech) events through hybrid team ethnography. In: Learning, Media and Technology, 1-15. Link.

Brandau, Nina (2024) Partizipative und kritisch-reflexive Gestaltung von Lernmanagementsystemen im individuellen Schulkontext. Dissertation thesis. Link.

Brandau, Nina & Hartong, Sigrid (2024) Visualising the school: a critical study on co-designing a Moodle-based learning management system. In: Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. Online first. Link.

Decuypere, Mathias; Hartong, Sigrid; Brandau, Nina; Joecks, Lucas; Loft-Akhoondi, Anja; Ortegón, Carlos; Tierens, Toon & Vanermen, Lanze (2024) Maneuvering constellations of valuation: a critical investigation of the edtech startup sector. In: Critical Studies in Education, 1-20. Link.

Brandau, Nina (2024) Was steckt in Lernmanagementsystemen und welche Implikationen ergeben sich hieraus für die digital-mündige Schulentwicklung? Eine Studie zu LMS.lernen.hamburg. In: Hartong, S. & Renz, A. (eds.), Digitale Lerntechnologien. Von der Mystifizierung zur reflektierten Gestaltung von EdTech. Bielefeld, transcript Verlag: 63-85. Link.

Hartong, Sigrid; Loft-Akhoondi, Anja; Brandau, Nina; Junne, Barbara; Czarnojan, Izabela & Scheytt, Tobias (2023) Auf dem Weg zur Digitalität in Schule. Zwischenbericht über Interventionen und Explorationen im Rahmen des Projekts „SMASCH – Smarte Schulen“. Working Papers of the research cluster OPAL at the Helmut Schmidt University. Link.

Cafantaris, Karola; Brandau, Nina & Hartong, Sigrid (2023) Suchbewegungen und Ansätze nachhaltiger digitaler Schulentwicklung am Beispiel des Projekts ‚Smarte Schulen‘ (SMASCH). In: MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie Und Praxis Der Medienbildung 52 (gerecht – digital – nachhaltig), 129-48. Link.

Brandau, Nina & Alirezabeigi, Samira (2022) Critical and participatory design in-between the tensions of daily schooling: working towards sustainable and reflective digital school development. In: Learning, Media and Technology. Link.

Hartong, Sigrid; Brandau, Nina (2025) Postdigital EdTech Design – Moving towards Planetary Dimensions, Power, and Care. Symposium organization in the context of the European Conference of Education Research (ECER), Belgrade, 09.-12.09.2025.

Brandau, Nina (2025) Critically Co-Designing EdTech. (In) how (far) can sociotechnical environments be designed in a reflexive and participatory manner? Presentation at the European Conference on Critical Edtech Studies, Zürich, 18.-20.06.2025.

Brandau, Nina (2025) Vorstellung der SMASCH-Labcademy. Further training as part of the series “Medienkompetenz zwischen Theorie und Praxis”, Flensburg, 27.05.2025.

Brandau Nina (2024) Visualising the school?! A critical study on co-designing data-based interfaces of learning management systems. Presentation at the Datapower Conference, Graz, 04.-06.09.24.

Brandau Nina (2024) Critical and Participatory Design in-between the tensions of daily schooling. Working towards inclusive and reflective digital school development from an STS perspective. Presentation at the annual congress of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), Amsterdam, 16.-19.07.24

Hartong, Sigrid; Brandau, Nina; Loft-Akhoondi, Anja & Decuypere, Mathias (2024) Schulentwicklung in der Digitalität – Einblicke in das Projekt SMASCH (Smarte Schulen). Panel „Ich krieg die Krise – Professionalisierung in der Digitalität zwischen Routine und Revolution“, annual congress of the German Society for Educational Science (DGfE), Halle, 10.-13.03.2024.

Brandau, Nina & Hartong, Sigrid (2023) Visualising the school?! A critical study on co-designing a Moodle-based learning management system. presentation at the annual conference of the Educational Research Association (EERA) 2023 (ECER), Glasgow, 22-25.08.23.

Brandau, Nina (2023) How can a more reflected and democratic engagement with educational technology be achieved by reflexive, participatory and context-based design processes? Poster presentation at the Summer School of the Educational Research Association (EERA), Porto, 26.-30.06.23.

Cafantaris, Karola & Brandau, Nina (2023) What is ‚sustainable‘ digital school development? SIIVE Jahreskonferenz 2023, Berlin, 09.03.2023.

Brandau, Nina (2022) Using Critical and Participatory Design for sustainable and reflective digital school development? SMASCH in-between the tensions of daily schooling. Network meeting of the Technical Democracy Network as part of the Australian Association for Education Research Annual Conference, Adelaide, 01.12.22.

Junne, Barbara & Brandau, Nina (2022) Nachhaltige Digitalisierung in Schulen aus Sicht der Forschung. Herausforderungen und Chancen. 12th local education conference in Sasel/Wellingsbüttel „Unser Stadtteil smart – Sasel und Wellingsbüttel im digitalen Zeitalter”, online, 06.10.22.

Cafantaris, Karola & Brandau, Nina (2022) Suchbewegungen und Ansätze nachhaltiger digitaler Schulentwicklung am Beispiel des Projekts ‚Smarte Schulen‘ (SMASCH). Contribution in the context of the conference „Gerecht, digital, nachhaltig! Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Lehr- und Lernprozesse in der digitalen Welt“, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 20.05.2022.

Brandau, Nina (2021) Critical design as a tool for comparative school development research? Developing sustainable digitisation strategies in Germany and Belgium. Contribution to the winter school „International and comparative education science goes digital?! (Pandemische) Herausforderungen und (neue) Möglichkeiten der Digitalisierung für die (Nachwuchs-)Forschung“, Commission for Comparative and International Educational Science at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft, online, 9.-10.12.2021.

Brandau, Nina (2019) Cultural Transfers between German and Swedish Theatre in the early 20th Century. Contribution in the context of the 4th U4 Network Workshop „Concepts and Tools in Cultural Transfer. Research Case: Travel Writing“, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 16.-17.05.2019.

Brandau, Nina (2018) Region vs. Nation – Regional actors‘ voice in the public debate on the reintroduction of border controls between Denmark and Germany. Paper presentation in the context of the Euroculture Intensive Programme „Where is Europe“, Jagiellonen University Krakow, 24.-30.06.2018.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaften (Section Medienpädagogik & Sektion Interkulturelle und International Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft)

Member of the network KriDiFoSch – Netzwerk Kritische Digitalitätsforschung im Kontext Schule

Fall trimester 2024: Seminar Wer steuert das Bildungssystem? – Einblicke in Educational Governance“ (together with Lucas Joecks)

Fall trimester 2024: Seminar Quantified Self – soziologische Perspektiven auf (digital überwachte) Selbstoptimierung (together Prof. Sigrid Hartong)