Biography

Maria Anna Hecher is an environmental system scientist and obtained her PhD degree at the University of Graz, Austria. In her research, she investigates regional energy transitions from a socio-technical perspective. She puts a special focus on technology adoption decisions to derive strategies and policy recommendations fostering sustainable transitions. Therefore, she pursues an interdisciplinary approach and combines environmental as well as social science methods.
After her PhD, she had the chance to put her knowledge into practice and managed a three-year programme on regional sustainability projects in an energy region in Styria, Austria. In cooperation with local decision-makers, public authorities, schools, companies and the local population, she realized projects in the field of renewable energy and sustainable mobility. Recently, she worked as a consultant in an energy agency for and in the city of Graz. She managed projects in the field of e-mobility and spatial energy planning collaborating with public authorities, energy suppliers, city planners and research institutions. 
Her work in recent years, has mostly been performed in an inter- and transdisciplinary setting integrating knowledge from different scientific disciplines and fields of practice at the interface between research, politics and society.