I am a political scientist currently working as senior lecturer (Privatdozent) in the Department of Political Science at Leibniz University Hannover. I previously held positions at University College London and Canterbury Christ Church University, and was visiting lecturer at Charles University Prague, the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) in Tbilisi, and Georg-August-University Göttingen.

My research focusses on comparative political institutions, presidential politics, political parties, and issues of gender and representation, specifically (but not only) in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, I am interested in comparative university policies and student publishing.

I completed my PhD at University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies. My thesis on presidential activism in Central and Eastern Europe won the ECPR Jean Blondel PhD Prize for the best thesis in politics and was published by Palgrave in 2017. My second monograph “Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution” (with Allan Sikk) was published by Oxford University Press in 2023.

I am an experienced science communicator and regularly comment on political events in Germany, Europe and beyond for a variety of national and international media outlets.