- Postdoctoral Researcher -

I am the digital humanities postdoc in the ERC project "Network Epistemology in Practice." Here I combine and utilize methods of network analysis and AI-based language modeling to investigate the structure and dynamics of communication networks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). I also apply these methods more broadly to compare field-specific vocabularies in particle physics and astrophysics.

My previous research interests include public science communication in traditional and new media, particularly Wikipedia, as well as the perception of biomedical translation among researchers and clinicians in Germany. Additionally, I have made fundamental contributions to the theoretical description of "Policy Instrument Constituencies," a central concept in contemporary policy theory.

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a Master's degree in Science Studies from Universität Bielefeld. In 2016, I earned my Ph.D. from TU Berlin with a dissertation on the discursive construction of emissions trading as a "working" policy instrument.

• 2023: Schmidt M, Kircheis W, Simons A, Potthast M, and Stein B. "A diachronic perspective on citation latency in Wikipedia articles on CRISPR/Cas-9: an exploratory case study". Scientometrics. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-023-04703-8.
• 2021: Simons A and Schniedermann A. "The neglected politics behind evidence-based policy. Shedding light on instrument constituency dynamics". Policy & Politics 49(4): 513–529. DOI: 10.1332/030557321X16225469993170
• 2020: Simons A, Riedel N, Toelch U, Hendriks B, Müller-Ohlraun S, Liebenau S, Ambrasat J, Dirnagl U, and Reinhart M. "Assessing the Organizational Climate for Translational Research with a New Survey Tool". Science and Engineering Ethics 26: 2893–2910. DOI: 10.1007/s11948-020-00234-0.
• 2020: Simons A, Hendriks B, Reinhart M, and Ahmed F. "How practitioners between bench and bedside evaluate biomedical translation". Science and Public Policy 47(4): 561–570. DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scaa035.
• 2019: Hendriks B, Simons A, and Reinhart M. "What are Clinician Scientists Expected to do? The Undefined Space for Professionalizable Work in Translational Biomedicine." Minerva 57: 219–237. DOI: 10.1007/s11024-019-09367-4.
• 2018: Simons A and Voß J-P. "The concept of instrument constituencies: Accounting for dynamics and practices of knowing governance". Policy and Society 37(1): 14–35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2017.1375248.
• 2018: Voß J-P and Simons A. "A novel understanding of experimentation in governance: co-producing innovations between 'lab' and 'field'". Policy Sciences 51(2): 213–229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-018-9313-9.
• 2015: Mann C and Simons A. "Local emergence and international developments of conservation trading systems: Innovation dynamics and related problems". Environmental Conservation 42(4): 325–334. DOI: 10.1017/S0376892914000381.
• 2014: Simons A, Lis A, and Lippert I. "The political duality of scale-making in environmental markets". Environmental Politics 23(4): 632–649. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2014.893120.
• 2014: Voß J-P and Simons A. "Instrument constituencies and the supply side of policy innovation: the social life of emissions trading". Environmental Politics 23(5): 735–754. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2014.923625.
• 2007: Simons A. "140 Jahre chemische Gesellschaften in Deutschland". Nachrichten aus der Chemie 55(11): 1099–1100. DOI: 10.1002/nadc.200751956.

• 2023: Simons A and Schniedermann A. "Preprints in the German news media before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic. A comparative mixed-method analysis". In: Broer I, Lemke S, Mazarakis A, et al. (eds) The Science-Media Interface: On the Relation Between Internal and External Science Communication. De Gruyter Saur.
• 2022: Schniedermann A, Blümel C, and Simons A. "On Top of the Hierarchy. How Guidelines shape systematic reviewing in Biomedicine". In: Ehlers S and Esselborn S (eds) Evidence in Action between Science and Society. Constructing, Validating, and Contesting Knowledge. New York: Routledge.
• 2017: Simons A and Voß J-P. "Policy instrument constituencies". In: Howlett M and Mukherjee I (eds) Handbook of Policy Formulation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 355–372.
• 2018: Voß J-P and Simons A. "Instrument Constituencies. Promoting Policy Designs". In: Howlett M and Mukherjee I (eds) Routledge Handbook of Policy Design. Routledge, pp. 180–200.
• 2015: Simons A. "Fact-making in permit markets: document networks as infrastructures of emissions trading". In: Voß J-P and Freeman R (eds) Knowing Governance. Palgrave, pp. 177–192.
• 2015: Simons A and Voß J-P. "Politics by other means. The making of the emissions trading instrument as a ‘pre-history’ of carbon trading". In: Stephan B and Lane R (eds) The Politics of Carbon Markets. London & New York: Routlege, pp. 51–68.
• 2015: Robaey Z and Simons A. "Responsible management of social experiments: Challenges for policymaking". In: Koops B-J, van den Hoven J, Romijn H, et al. (eds) Responsible Innovation Volume 2: Concepts, Approaches, Applications. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 87–104.
• 2009: Legewie J and Simons A. "Zur Rationalität von Selbstmordattentätern. Kritische Überlegungen zur Anwendung von Rational-Choice Theorien". In: Shikano S, Behnke J, and Bräuninger T (eds) Theorien Der Verfassungsreform. Wiesbaden, pp. 245–274.

• 2023: Kircheis W, Schmidt M, Simons A, Stein B, and Potthast M. "Mining the History Sections of Wikipedia Articles on Science and Technology". In: 23rd ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL 2023), June 2023.
• 2022: Allein L, Cimiano P, Habernal I, Potthast M, Simons A, and Stein B. "Towards Operationalizing Frames through Axiomatization". In: Framing in Communication: From Theories to Computation (Dagstuhl Seminar 22131), Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, November 2022, pp. 136–139.
• 2021: Schmidt M, Kircheis W, Simons A, Potthast M, and Stein B. "Does Wikipedia Cover the Relevant Literature on Major Innovations Timely?" An Exploratory Case Study of CRISPR/Cas9. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Scientometrics & Informetrics (ISSI 2021), 2021, pp. 1021–1026. International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (I.S.S.I.).

• 2018: Simons A, Hendriks B, Riedel N, Tölch U, Ahmed F, Dirnagl U, and Reinhart M. "Wo und wie gelingt Translation?" Forschung und Lehre 25(10): 868.
• 2016: Simons A. Documented Authority. The Discursive Construction of Emissions Trading in the Expert Literature. Dissertation. Technische Universität Berlin.
• 2016: Simons A, Petschow U, and Peukert J. "Offene Werkstätten – nachhaltig innovativ? Potenziale gemeinsamen Arbeitens und Produzierens in der gesellschaftlichen Transformation". Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung.
• 2015: Vogelpohl T and Simons A. "Kontroversen ums Teilen. Ein Überblick über das online gestützte Peer-to-Peer Sharing als gesellschaftliche Innovation und eingehende allgemeine und spezifische Kontroversen". Peer Sharing Arbeitsbericht 2. Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung.
• 2014: Mann C, Voß J-P, Simons A, Amelung N, and Runge T. "Challenging futures of biodiversity offsets and banking. Critical issues for robust forms of biodiversity conservation", 19 April 2013. Technische Universität Berlin.
• 2014: Mann C, Voß J-P, Amelung N, Simons A, Runge T, and Grabner L. "Challenging futures of citizen panels. Critical issues for robust forms of public participation", 26 April 2013. Berlin. Technische Universität Berlin.
• 2013: Simons A. "A politics of inevitability. The privatization of the Berlin Water Company, the global city discourse, and governance in 1990s Berlin, by Ross Beveridge". Critical Policy Studies 7(1): 92–95. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2013.766028.

• Since 2023: Research associate in the ERC project "Network Epistemology in Practice (NEPI)".
• 2018-2022: Research associate at the German Center for Higher Education and Science Studies (DZHW). Projects on the role of review literature and preprints, text mining in STS, and evidence-based policy.
• 2017-2018: Research associate at the Institute of Social Sciences at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Department of Science Research. Project on the perception of biomedical translation among researchers and clinicians in Germany (continuation).
• 2016: Research associate at the German Center for Higher Education and Science Studies (DZHW). Project on the perception of biomedical translation among researchers and clinicians in Germany.
• 2015: Research associate at the Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW). Projects on open workshops (Maker Spaces) and the sharing economy.
• 2009-2014: Research associate and PhD at the Technische Universität Berlin in the junior research group "Innovation in Governance."
• 2008-2009: Student assistant at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). Project on the restructuring of the datasets of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
• 2007: Intern at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in the group "The Virtual Laboratory."
• 2005-2006: Statistics tutor at the Institute of Social Sciences at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.