Dr. Alena Kottova

Alena has taught Technology and Society (ENGR 297) at the University of Victoria since 2015, and under the Department of Philosophy since 2016. She studied physics and philosophy at Charles University in Prague, focusing on theory of time and special theory of relativity. She holds a PhD from the University of Victoria in the philosophy of science and technology in education; her dissertation developed filmmaking as a method for exploring how students understand the nature of science, and received the Science Education Research Group's 2016 Dissertation/Thesis Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Education.

Her work concerns the impact of digital technology on society — on privacy, on what counts as knowledge, and on the professional responsibilities of the people who build the technology. Before entering academia she spent a decade as a software developer and IT consultant, and she remains active in the information security community; she sits on Island Health's Health Research Ethics Board.

Publications: Alena is the author of Technology and Society: The Nexus of Homo Faber — Critical Foundations for Engineers (Kendall Hunt, 2026), a textbook written for the engineering students she has taught since 2015. She has also published a chapter in Talk about Careers in Science (Sense Publishers) and a co-authored review in the International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, and has presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education and at a number of the annual Privacy & Security Conferences in Victoria.