We warmly invite you to the next meeting of the Capturing Invisible Seminars series, taking place on Thursday, 26 March 2026, 18:00–19:30 CET.

This time we are delighted to host Nina Klimburg-Witjes (University of Vienna), who will present research conducted within her ERC Starting Grant project — a fascinating and ambitious project on the relationships between outer space, Europe, technology, and visions of the future.

Towards a Topography of Earth–Space Relations: European Dis/Integration and Future Visions in the New Space Age

How does European cooperation in space shape visions of the future — and how do those visions, in turn, reshape European integration? FutureSpace traces the intricate relations between space infrastructures, the underlying values and tensions of European integration practices, and imaginaries of European futures in outer space. The project conducts a multi-sited ethnography to follow the rocket across Europe to policy negotiations, engineering workshops and industry conferences.

Building on insights from STS, Social Studies of Outer Space, Futures Studies and Engineering, the project develops a topography of Earth–Space relations — a way of mapping how space becomes meaningful through political, material and imaginative practices. Investigating how different actors imagine outer space futures, the frictions and debates that shape European space cooperation and their geopolitical dimensions, doing topography becomes a way to understand the scaling practices and shifting boundaries that make outer space a place in relation to Earth.

About the Speaker

Nina Klimburg-Witjes is an Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Vienna and Principal Investigator of the ERC Starting Grant Project FutureSpace: Negotiating Practices of European Integration and Europe’s Future in Outer Space (2023–2028). Her work examines the dynamic relationships between infrastructures, imaginaries and shifting geopolitical landscapes, with a special focus on outer space governance, militarization, innovation and environmental justice. Nina co-founded the international network for the Social Studies of Outer Space (SSOS) and is a management committee member of the COST Action “Future-Oriented Governance of Outer Space.”

More information: futurespace-project.eu