Kerstin Plank joined IHS in 2018 and works as a Researcher in the research group Social Sustainable Transformation. After pursuing a Bachelor's degree from the Johannes Kepler Universität (JKU) Linz in Social Economics she graduated in Socio-Economics (MSc) from the Vienna University of Business and Economics (WU) in 2020.

In her research, she focuses on economic and sociological questions related to the Green Transition—particularly the energy transition, mobility transition, and just transition—as well as various aspects of sustainability. Another key area of her work involves assessing macroeconomic effects, such as the impact of investments in renewable energy, using (ecologically-extended) input-output analysis at an international, national, or regional level. She applies a mix of qualitative (e.g., interviews, workshops, surveys) and quantitative methods (e.g., IO analysis, evaluation of secondary statistical data, agent-based modeling) from the social and economic sciences.