My research centers on questions related to democracy and social justice in the EU and has been published widely in leading outlets. Earlier research focused on the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in the field of social inclusion, and other forms of soft law. I then became interested in electoral and non-electoral forms of political representation, on the one hand, and the norms that should be underlying the institutional design of representative institutions in the EU, on the other. More recently, I have become interested in differentiated integration in the EU, and how it could be institutionalised in a democratic and fair way. My most recent research develops some of the earlier questions further by investigating the ethics of politics as well as questions linked to digital democracy and dataethics. Finally, I have most recently conducted focus groups on how smartphones support and undermine student wellbeing.

Since 2021, I am the Director of the Centre for European Studies and since 2023, I am a Dignity and Respect Advisor at UoE.

Biography

A Marie Curie fellowship first brought me to Exeter (2011-2013). I started as lecturer in 2014 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2016 and to Associate Professor in 2021. I hold degrees in social science (Humboldt-University Berlin, Paris VIII) and Interdisciplinary France studies (University Freiburg). I did my PhD as part of the graduate programme ‘The Future of the European Social Model’ (supervisors: Prof. Ilona Ostner and Prof. Claus Offe). The dissertation, which I defended in 2008, addressed the Open Method of Coordination in the field of social inclusion and its implementation in France, Germany, and at the EU-level. Between 2006-2008, I was a teaching fellow at the Georg-August University Göttingen and the Humboldt University Berlin before becoming a lecturer at the Jean Monnet Centre for European Studies,University of Bremen (2008-2011). I have held fellowships at the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg (Delmenhorst, 2013/14), the European University Institute in Florence (2018/19), and at the Hertie School in Berlin (2023).