Dagmar Schäfer is trained both as a sinologist and historian of science and technology. At the heart of her research stand technology as both a topic and an analytical category, while  historical Chinese cultures of knowledge, their views of knowledge, artefacts and action, „things and affairs“ inform her approach to the history of science. She has researched and published on the politics of silk manufacturing, practices, concepts and philosophies of knowing in seventeenth century Ming-China and as of lately, Qing court strategies of communicating craft know-how. Currently she is working on a study of the materiality and role of managerial practices and ideals for scientific and technological developments.