CV

My research is located at the intersection of international relations and historical political sociology. Eastern and southern Africa are my areas of geographic specialization.

I am presently conducting research on transnational processes impacting social policies and state formation in South Africa and Tanzania. This research is part of the CRC 1342 on Global Dynamics of Social Policy, and more specifically contributes to a comparison of “The rise, decay and renaissance of welfare politics” in Africa.

On the Democratic Republic of Congo, I have conducted several research projects. My doctoral dissertation analyses the interplay of humanitarian military intervention, armed groups, and local structures of rule in this country. I also direct a project on international efforts to combat sexualised violence in the DR Congo.

My teaching and research interests furthermore include topics like development cooperation, sovereign debt politics, the dynamics between collective contentious action and internationalized authority, conflict studies, and post-conflict state formation. Before joining the InIIS at the University of Bremen in 2011, I have been a researcher at Humboldt-University Berlin, University of Magdeburg and University of Bielefeld. From September 2013 to February 2014, I have been a visiting fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.

Academic Positions
Studies and Degrees
International research

Academic Positions

since 2019

"Akademischer Rat" (Senior Lecturer) at the Institute for Intercultural and International Studies

Co-Director "Transnational Welfare. The Rise, Decay and Renaissance of Social Policies in Africa" (DFG-CRC 1342, Project B9)

since 2016

Director of the research project  "International Interventions against sexualised violence. Intended and unintended outcomes" (DFG)

October 2020 - March 2021

Interim professor at the University of Marburg, Center for Conflict Research

September 2013 - February 2014

Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) Florence

2011 - 2019

Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS) at the University of Bremen

2009 - 2011

Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute for interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at the University of Bielefeld
 
2008

Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute for Political Science, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg
 
2004 - 2008

Research and Teaching Assistant in the Junior Research Group "Micropolitics of Armed Groups" (funded by Volkswagen-Foundation), Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt-University at Berlin