Dan Podjed: Working to grow a vibrant community of applied anthropologists in Europe; (applied) events, projects, symposiums; re-thinking (business) ethnography; barriers and opportunities for the applied sector

Dan Podjed is an applied anthropologist with 15+ years' experience in ethnographic research, project management, and university teaching. He is a founder of EASA Applied Anthropology Network and Why the World Needs Anthropologists event, annually organised since 2013.

He is devoted to developing people-centred and environmentally responsible services, products and solutions. Amongst his fields of interest are applied and public anthropology, people-centred development, organisational cultures, human-technology interaction, sustainable lifestyles, and nature conservation, altruism and volunteering.

In today’s episode we talk to Dan about his work in the applied anthropology sector both as one of its research members as well as one of the supporters of the community as (amongst others) the founder of Why the World Needs Anthropologists event. We talk about his research in the sustainable mobility space and smart buildings.

We put our attention to the barriers and opportunities of anthropologists accessing the business world and the tension between applied and academic approaches to doing ethnography. We discuss in depth the various projects, conferences and events he is involved in that bridge and promote the value of applied anthropology such as the PEOPLE and MOBISTYLE Projects, Ethnography 2.0 symposium and the 2018 edition of Why the World Needs Anthropologists.

Mentioned in Podcast:
Why the World Needs Anthropologists - 2018 edition, titled Designing the Future, focused on Design will happen in Lisbon, Portugal (26-27th October 2018).
Registrations open 1st June 2018 here: https://www.applied-anthropology.com/

PEOPLE Project - http://people-project.net
Telematics Conference - http://www.telematics-conference.com

Ladner, S. (2014). Practical Ethnography: A Guide to Doing Ethnography in The Private Sector. Leftcoast Press: Thousand Oaks, California. ttp://www.practicalethnography.com/
Ethnography 2.0 (FB event, Slovenian only) https://www.facebook.com/events/184039152248956/

Dan’s (most current) work:

Applied Anthropology in Europe: Historical Obstacles, Current Situation, Future Challenges (our article, open access, published in Anthropology in Action, provides an overview of applied anthropology in Europe ): https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/aia/23/2/aia230208.xml

TripleA-reno (a new EU Horizon 2020 project, starting in May 2018, which will also include anthropological approaches to support people-friendly renovation of buildings): https://www.cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/213564_en.html

Social media or other links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.podjed
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpodjed/
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dan_Podjed
Twitter: @dandanko
ZRC SAZU: https://isn2.zrc-sazu.si/en/sodelavci/dan-podjed-en#v
WWNA: https://www.applied-anthropology.com/speaker/dan-podjed/