Mikkel Bille

Primary Research Area

My research focuses on people's practices with material culture, particularly the way cultural ideals shape the transition from one type of technology to another. I have a particular interest in architecture, home culture, and atmosphere.

My PhD from University College London, UCL, focused on the Bedouin in Jordan, while further studies have been a comparative study of uses of light in Jordan and Denmark

Current research

My current research concerns the experience and design of lighting in urban spaces, as director of the Velux project Living with Nordic Lighting

Previous research concentrated on the transition from incandescent light to energy saving light bulbs in Denmark and Jordan. Particularly focusing on its reception and use in orchestrating spaces of hospitality and cosyness. The research addresses concepts such as atmosphere, materiality, technology and ethics.

Previously I have also focused on cultural heritage among the Bedouin in Jordan

2018 - Project leader: Velux project Living with Nordic Lighting

2017 Chairman of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters - The Young Academy

2017 - International Visiting Fellow, Department of Sociology. London School of Economics, May

2016 - International Visiting Scholar, Demand Centre, Lancaster University, March-May

2014 Associate Professor, Roskilder University

2014 Vice head of Danish censor corps for anthropology

2013-2018 Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters - The Young Academy

2010 Assistant Professor, Institute for Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen

2009 Deputy Director Qatar Islamic Arhcaceology and Heritage Project, University of Copenhagen

2006-2009 Ph.D. student Material culture, University College London, Department of Anthropology

2005-2006 Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in Social Anthropology, University College London, Department of Anthropology. 1st year of PhD

2004-2005 Master of Arts (MA) in Material & Visual culture, University College London, Department of Anthropology

2003-2004 Teacher in archaeology, Carsten Niebuhr Institute, University of Copenhagen

2001-2003 Cand. Mag. (MA) Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Copenhagen

2001-2003 Higher Business Diploma (HD) part 1, Copenhagen Business School

1998-2001 Bachelor Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Copenhagen

• Light
• Materiality
• Technology
• Atmosphere & Sensory studies
• Urban studies, architecture, home culture
• Cultural heritage, UNESCO
• Anthropology

Phd supervision: 

• Jeremy Frank-Payne (PhD student)
• Eva Johanne Mailund Jensen (Industrial-Phd)
• Jason Falkenburg, University of Oslo (co-supervisor)
• Stine Louring Nielsen, Aalborg University (Co-supervisor)