After studying art history, ethnology and classical archaeology at the University of Cologne, Nina Zschocke received her doctorate in 2004 with a thesis on the aesthetics of effect on the subject of 'irritation'. Nina Zschocke then worked as a DFG visiting researcher at University College London and Columbia University in New York.

From 2005, she worked as a research assistant and lecturer at the Institute of Art History at the University of Zurich and subsequently as a senior research assistant and lecturer at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich until 2023. She has also held teaching positions at the University of Fribourg, the University of the Arts Bremen and the Bern University of the Arts.

From 2008-2014, Zschocke co-conceived and supervised the joint SNSF doctoral program 'ProDoc Art&Science' of art and science history institutes at the Universities of Zurich, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva and Lausanne, as well as the 'Doctoral Program in the History and Theory of Architecture' at ETH Zurich, 2012-2015. Book publications: 'Der irritierte Blick. Kunstrezeption und Aufmerksamkeit' (Wilhelm Fink 2006), 'Autorität des Wissens' (diaphanes 2012, co-edited with Anne von der Heiden), 'Diversität' (Königshausen & Neumann 2015, co-edited with. Andre Blum, Dario Gamboni, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger) and 'Productive Universals - Specific Situations' (Sternberg 2019, ed. with Anne Kockelkorn).