Welcome to my website! I am a political scientist with a strong passion for research and academic teaching. I work at the Department of Political Science at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, where I am affiliated with the Chair of Comparative Politics. Since April 2026, my work has been funded through a three-year DFG “Eigene Stelle” for the project GLOBID – “Identity and the Globalization Cleavage: How Citizens Form Identities and Vote under the Conditions of Identity Leadership”. Previously, I served as interim professor at the University of Bamberg (Political Sociology) and at JGU Mainz (Comparative Politics).
My research examines political processes in established democracies, with a particular focus on the political attitudes and behaviour of citizens. It is motivated by real-world challenges confronting established democracies, including the impact of globalization on domestic politics, the evolution of political competition and cleavages, as well as the rise of populist sentiment and voting behaviour. With a strong interest in understanding the interplay among macro-, meso-, and micro-level factors, I investigate questions at the intersection of public opinion & voting behaviour, party politics, and political economy. My research follows a theory-guided approach and primarily employs quantitative methods.
I am currently involved in two third-party funded research projects supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG). I am co-PI, together with Matthias Mader, of GLOBID – “Identity and the Globalization Clevage: How Citizens Form Identities and Vote under the Conditions of Identity Leadership”. GLOBID examines how globalization-related social identities are articulated by political elites, internalized by citizens, and activated in electoral politics across Western Europe, drawing on content analysis, comparative surveys, panel data, and embedded survey experiments. In the project “False Consensus Beliefs in Politics and Their Effects on Legitimacy”, part of the DFG Research Group “Big Structural Change” (BISC), I work with Claudia Landwehr and Yanick Gutheil on the political consequences of citizens’ misperceptions of public opinion, with a particular focus on democratic legitimacy, institutional trust, and populist attitudes. The project combines longitudinal survey data with survey and laboratory experiments to study how false consensus beliefs emerge, how they affect legitimacy perceptions, and whether they can be corrected. Together, these projects extend my research agenda on political conflict, public opinion, populism, and the legitimacy challenges facing established democracies.
I earned a Diplom (equivalent to a Master’s degree) from the University of Hamburg in 2009 and completed my Ph.D. at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2015. My articles have been published in renowned peer-reviewed journals such as the British Journal of Political Science (BJPS), Electoral Studies, European Journal of Political Research (EJPR), European Union Politics (EUP), Journal of European Social Policy (JESP), Journal of European Public Policy (JEPP), Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS), Party Politics, Politische Vierteljahresschrift (PVS), Political Studies, and West European Politics (WEP).
Beyond my research endeavours, I find great fulfilment in academic teaching and am honoured to have recently received the JGU teaching award.
Additionally, I currently serve as one of the three speakers of the “Arbeitskreis Wahlen und politische Einstellungen” (Working Group on Elections and Political Attitudes) within the German Political Science Association (DVPW). In this capacity, I co-edit a book series on elections and political attitudes published by Springer. Since 2025, I also serve as Associate Editor of the Politische Vierteljahresschrift (PVS), where I am responsible for submissions in comparative politics, political sociology, empirical social research, and methods.
Within these pages, you will find a list of publications, a comprehensive CV, reproduction materials for my published research, and information on some of my current working papers. Additionally, you can explore my Google Scholar page and my ORCID profile or follow me on Bluesky. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions about my research—I am always eager to engage in discussion and answer your inquiries.