チェリア・シュポーデン　

I am a social scientist and philosopher using qualitative methods to approach bioethical issues and investigate the social impacts of digital transformation. My main research interests include concepts as autonomy, quality of life, the self and the other, the Japanese term shakaijin, social participation, body, technology and cyborgs. At the DIJ, I am part of the research focus Digital Transformation – Discourses, Strategies and Processes. In my project, I analyze how cyber-physical spaces are discursively constructed and what chances and risks cybernetic avatars offer or pose on individuals and society in already existing hybrid forms of virtual and physical spaces.

Before joining the DIJ, I worked as a research associate at the Institute for Ethics, History and Philosophy of Medicine at Hannover Medical School (2018-2021) and the Modern Japanese Studies Department of Dusseldorf University (2008-2018) in Germany. At Dusseldorf University, I worked on Okinawan identity (Magister thesis 2008), Living Wills and end-of-life decision-making in Japan (doctoral dissertation 2014, book publication 2015), and dementia and local care networks (book publication 2018). At Hannover Medical School, I worked on a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on the preferences and needs of patients who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) concerning life-sustaining treatments and options of hastening death (2018-2021).