I am a political scientist working at the intersection of political science, medical sociology and anthropology and science and technology studies. I am particularly interested in interpretive policy analysis and health governance. My research examines how public policies unfold in everyday practices, with a current focus on the governance of childhood vaccination.
My current work is based on a qualitative study of vaccination decision-making in Austria, combining observations of paediatric consultations, qualitative interviews with parents and healthcare professionals, and additional interviews in early childhood education settings. I am interested in how vaccination policies are interpreted, negotiated, and contested in interactions between parents and paediatricians.
Conceptually, my work engages with questions of governance, risk, valuation, and professional discretion. I study vaccination not as a purely individual decision or a matter of information deficits, but as a socially and institutionally embedded process shaped through interaction, uncertainty, and competing understandings of care and responsibility.
My research is part of the VALUE VACC project at the University of Vienna (PI: Katharina T. Paul), where I contribute to a work package on primary care and childhood vaccination governance.
Nora Hansl 