I am studying what I believe to be important questions concerning our collective future: How can we reconcile planetary boundaries with human self-determination? What keeps us from transitioning to a climate-friendly, just, and sustainable economy? And what ideas about ourselves, our identities, and our environment shape our politics?

In my view, these questions require thinking in terms of societal challenges and broad research questions, rather than within narrow disciplinary boundaries. Accordingly, over the years, I have engaged with a variety of social science disciplines, and I've built a wide repertoire of theories and methods I use in my research projects. 

Currently, I work at the Department of Social Sciences, at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Together with my colleagues in Michael Brüggemann's group, I study different aspects of public discourse about socio-ecological transformations: media coverage, discussions on social networking sites, opinion polling. I am particularly interested in how ideas about identity and social justice shape how people engage with climate change and other societal challenges. 

In 2021, I finished my doctoral studies in climate change communication. Focusing on Germany and the United States, my research investigated what drives public discourse about climate science and politics and what needs to happen to move our conversation forward. In my dissertation, I argue that Germany has moved beyond a societal tipping point, and the rapid exit from greenhouse gas emissions is now a quasi-consensus position. What's left to be done is to push policymakers to put this commitment into action.