Leonhard Plank

Principal Investigator

Leonhard Plank is the Principal Investigator for the Fairwork project in Austria and Senior Scientist at the Center of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, TU Wien. He is also part of the Foundational Economy Collective, a transdisciplinary research network promoting the renewal of the infrastructure of everyday life.

His PhD focused on socio-economic development potentials within global production networks of electronics and clothing industries and was funded by the DOC-team fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He’s been a visiting scholar to the University of Manchester, UCL, Institute of Human Sciences, University of Cape Town and the Berlin Social Science Center and conducted research for international institutions, including the ILO and the World Bank.

His main research interest is focused on global production arrangements and their socio-economic consequences as well as on critical infrastructure research and financialisation.

His recent publications include:

• Krisch, A., Plank, L. (forthcoming) Plattform-Munizipalismus für digitale Infrastrukturen des Alltagslebens. In: Kogler, R., Hamedinger, A. (Eds) Interdisziplinäre Stadtforschung: Themen und Perspektiven. transcript Verlag.
• Kadi, J., Plank, L., Seidl, R. (2019) Airbnb as a tool for inclusive tourism?, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2019.1654541
• Krisch, A., Plank, L. (2018) Internet-Plattformen als Infrastrukturen des Digitalen Zeitalters, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte Wien, Wien, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-7063-0758-1.

For the Fairwork project, Leonhard leads the research strategy in Austria. This includes adapting the Fairwork principles, identifying Fairwork thresholds for the Austrian context, ranking platforms, and disseminating the results.