Anna Storm

Professor

My research focuses on “industrial afterlives”, that is, the lingering effects of industrial activities and their social, cultural, and environmental expressions.

How to live with ambiguous pasts in changing industrial landscapes

My research interests are centered on industrial and post-industrial landscapes and their transformation, comprising both cultural and "natural" environments, in physical and imaginary sense. Such landscapes challenge the way we understand ecology, aesthetics, memory and heritage, and trigger concerns about power relations.

I hold a PhD in the History of Technology from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and am Associate Professor (Swedish “Docent”) in Human Geography from Stockholm University. Previously I have had positions at KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment), Stockholm University (Department of Human Geography) and Södertörn University (Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, CBEES, and the Institute of Contemporary History, SHI). Since 2019 I am Professor of Technology and Social Change at Linköping University.

Video presentation

Anna Storm, professor of Technology and Social Change

The professor installation is usually part of the academic festival that takes place once a year. As a result of Covid-19, the 2020 holiday was postponed and held on 4 September 2021 in the Student House. In connection with this, this short video presentation was produced.

Publications

For a list of publications and other relevant experiences, see CV on LinkedIn.

2025

Karin Edberg, Anna Storm (2025) "It Will Feel Empty, but I Am Not Sure Why": Belonging and Future Change in Children's Engagement with Decommissioning Nuclear Energy Infrastructures Heritage & Society, Vol. 18, p. 82-108 (Article in journal)

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Thomas P. Keating, Anna Storm (2025) Key Information File: Essential Information on the Spent Nuclear Fuel Repository in Forsmark, Sweden

2024

Karin Edberg, Yvonne Magnusson, Anna Storm (2024) "Should I ask our photographer to come?" Logics of collaboration between museums and universities Beyond academic publics: Conversations about scholarly collaborations with cultural institutions, p. 17-28 (Chapter in book)

Kristine Krumberga, Anna Storm (2024) Cold war heritage dissonance and disinheritance as a heritage alternative: the case of soviet military remnants in the Baltic states International Journal of Heritage Studies (IJHS), Vol. 30, p. 739-752 (Article in journal)

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Thomas P. Keating, Anna Storm (2024) 100,000 years and counting: how do we tell future generations about highly radioactive nuclear waste repositories?

Media appearances

Media appearances in English, since 2019

Annica Hesser ”Their mission: Warning future humanity about buried nuclear waste” LiU Magazine, nr 2/2022, interview together with Thomas Keating, s. 4–6.
The Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology, Ågesta R3: A ripple in time, 35 min, produced by New Story Space, interviewed for the film, 2022. Available on vimeo.com and at the Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology (Tekniska museet) in Stockholm.

Research

An exhibition booth on nuclear diplomacy

Nuclear Diplomacy? Strengthening Civil Society in Nuclear Waste Governance

This project considers the role of civil society and non-governmental diplomatic actors in shaping and scrutinising Swedish plans for a final repository for nuclear waste.

Nuclear Natures

“Nuclear natures” is a key category of environments, connected to active and closed nuclear power plants, as well as to radioactive waste storages, influencing the liveability of numerous areas in the near and distant future. (2021-2026, VR)

Radioactive hotspot marked with a warning sign, Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Nuclear Memory

How are we to transfer information to future generations about nuclear waste repositories? What is the key information to be provided and who will be able to understand the message? (2021-2023, SKB).

Nuclearwaters

Is nuclear energy in fact to be conceptualized as a hydraulic form of technology, with much deeper historical roots than we use to think? If so, how will the writing of nuclear history be affected? (2018-2022, ERC)

NuSPACES

Cultural heritage processes are currently gaining traction in relation to the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Who are the key actors in these processes and what stories are taking shape? (2021-2024, JPI/VR)

Cold War Coasts

Coastal landscapes on opposite shores of the Baltic Sea have for long been “co-produced” as ideas about “the others’” military capacity influenced infrastructural development and local livelihoods. (2019–2022, Formas)

Photo credits

Nuclear Natures. Dounreay nuclear power station in northern Scotland. In the foreground grazing sheep, in the background the North Sea. Photo: Anna Storm
Nuclear Memory. Radioactive hotspot marked with a warning sign, Chernobyl, Ukraine. Photo: Jorge Franganillo from Barcelona, Spain, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Nuclearwaters. The reactor hall with the reactor basin at Barsebäck nuclear power plant in southern Sweden. Photo: Anna Storm
NuSPACES. Exhibition on nuclear power and history connected to Barsebäck nuclear power plant in southern Sweden. Photo: Anna Storm
Cold War Coasts. Decaying military remnants at the Baltic Sea coast at Karosta in Latvia. Photo: Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Atomic Heritage. Control panel in the control room at Barsebäck nuclear power plant in southern Sweden. Photo: Anna Storm

Teaching

Graduate and undergraduate teaching

I am involved in teaching at Linköping University with individual lectures and seminars in first, second and third cycle.

Doctoral supervision and mentorship

Doctoral students at other universities

Achim Klüppelberg (since 2018, at KTH)
Siegfried Evens (since 2018, at KTH)
Alicia Gutting (since 2018, at KTH)
Emmeline Laszlo Ambjörnsson (PhD 2021, at Stockholm University)
Karin Edberg (PhD 2018, at Södertörn University)

Mentees

Karin Skill (2021 at LiU)
Andrei Stsiapanau (2020–2021 at KTH and LiU)
Kasia Keely (2016 at Södertörn University)
Natasha Webster (2015–2016 at Stockholm University)

News

Thomas Keating at a table with a computer in front of him.

Highly radioactive nuclear waste – how to keep it from oblivion

Sweden’s radioactive nuclear waste will be stored in a sealed bedrock repository for 100,000 years. How can we ensure that it is not forgotten? Researchers at Linköping University have come up with a proposal.

Diplomatic talks focusing on nuclear waste and climate

Do the environmental organisations still have a role to play in Swedish nuclear waste final repository design? And is it possible to reach understanding between oil producer Saudi Arabia and the island nation of Fiji?

Anna Storm shakes hands with the Vice-Chancellor at the professor's installation in September 2021.

Anna Storm inaugurated as professor

Anna Storm was officially inaugurated as professor on Saturday 4 September. It is a position that in Anna’s case has brought more chances to make a difference and build new research environments. “It was much better than I had dared to hope.”

Organisation

STRIPE

STRIPE stands for Socio-technical research of infrastructures, politics and the environment. It gathers researchers with an interest in the political and environmental dimensions of infrastructures such as energy, transport and waste.

Drone image of the Tema building at Campus Valla

Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA)

In an increasingly complicated world, there is a need for researchers that can handle both breadth and depth, and can collaborate across disciplinary borders. Major societal questions are studied from an interdisciplinary perspective at TEMA.

Studenthuset on Campus Valla in Linköping

About LiU

Linköping University, LiU, offers innovative education and boundary-crossing research. The students are among the most desirable in the labour market and international rankings consistently place LiU as a leading global university.