Dr Daniela Gandorfer

Daniela is a lecturer at University of Westminster and an affiliate of the Ethics Institute at Northeastern University. 

Before joining Westminster University, Daniela held postdoc positions at Princeton University and UC Santa Cruz, California. She received her PhD from Princeton University. In addition, she studied and attended programs at UC Berkeley, Utrecht University, Kent Law School, University of Klagenfurt, University of Vienna, NYU, and The New School. 

Daniela’s research focuses on scientific and technological frontier spaces — such as quantum physics,  blockchain technology & Web3, and psychedelics — and their implications for emerging modes of normativity and governance. Special interest lies on the possibilities for an ethics of sensing and sense-making (synaesethics) attentive to these phenomena. 

She is the recipient of the 2021 ASciNA Young Scientist Award, and has co-edited the Research Handbook in Law and Literature (Edward Elgar Publishing, with Peter Goodrich and Cecilia Gebruers) as well as the Theory & Eventspecial issue "Matterphorical" (Johns Hopkins Press, with Zulaikha Ayub). Her book Matterphorics: On the Laws of Theory is forthcoming with Duke University Press. 

Daniela is co-editor of the "Discourses of Law" book series (Routledge), editorial board member of the "Law and Literature Journal (Taylor & Francis), and deputy director of the Westminster Law and Theory Lab. 

Daniela is the founder and director of the Logische Phantasie Lab, a non-profit organization dedicated to decentralized and ethical approaches towards normativity at the intersection of climate change, political reorganization, and digital technologies. Award winning initiatives directed and supervised by Daniela include "de.RtB - A Decentralized Right to Breathe" and "de.WRs - Decentralized Water Rights."

Her work has received numerous accolades, including the World Omisiroi Award, the ASciNA Young Scientist Award, and three honors at the Vienna Blockchain Award: Overall Winner, Best Smart Technology, and Best Sustainable Technology. Additionally, she has been recognized with the Vienna Content Award, and her projects have secured funding from universities, industry, and government organizations.

In addition to teaching at various institutions, Daniela has a record of interdisciplinary and international projects and collaborations, chief among them the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Yale University, UC Berkeley, Harvard University, Columbia University, Cardozo Law School, Northeastern University, Sciences Po Paris, UC Santa Cruz, University of Amsterdam, Tilburg University, The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, the Austrian Embassy in NY and London, Slought Foundation, MCS Data Labs, DeCeuvel, and more than sixteen programs, departments, and centers at Princeton University.

Currently, Daniela is also pursuing a MSc in Finance at the London School for Economics and Political Science.