Transformation, participation and public policy
My research covers social identifications, mostly expressed in everyday activites, and their implication for political behaviour. In the past decade, I have been studying student and trade union activism, party membership, football fandom, mobilisation and participation of citizens in public infrastructures and mobility behaviour. The recurring theme in these works is the question of identity and political behaviour: How does identity shape political behaviour in post-modern societies? And how does political behaviour play back on individualised identifications? As a political scientist, I follow these questions with the aim to understand how such mechanisms on the individual level influence the political system as a whole, its institutions and organisations.
Individuals are embedded in rapid disruptures of societies. The concurrent mega trends digitization and ecological transformation sincerely influence our daily lives: The way we work, travel, eat, or consume are vastly changing. While some consider these changes as opportunities for improvement, many people feel threatened by such ruptures and become alienated from political institutions and practices. Similarly, politics and public administration are not always fit for purpose given the massive transformation: They lack money and staff, their procedures seem too bureaucratic and intransparent. I am thrilled by the question how political decision making and public administration can be reformed to meet the demands of an open, individualised society.
My regional focus has been in the European countries. I take the European integration as background of my work. Broadly summarised, I study how the meta-trend of Europeanisation of everyday life and the successive reduction of manifest borders within Europe (though only for European/Western citizens) influences people on the individual level. I would like to know how vibrant democratic societies across Europe deal with the pitfalls of change and transformation from a very individual level of their citizens.
I currently work at the German Centre for Rail Traffic Research in Bonn. The institute is a research facility of the German Federal Government. Its aim is to provide applied research in the area of rail transport and sustainable mobility, including public consulting based on academic knowledge. My research focus is on transport and mobility politics as well as on citizen participation in relation to mobility and transport.
During my Postdoc (2018-2021), I managed the GRF-sponsored research project The identity effect of Europeanised lifeworlds: Becoming European through football? (EUFoot). The project aimed to understand how the accelerating Europeanisation of competitions and governance structures in football left an imprint on identifications and activities of football fans. It analysed a mainstream leisure activity – football – and its relevance for the formation of a European identity. I follow up on these activities as scientific advisor to the follow-up project FANZinE - football as basis for social cohesion in Europe.
My PhD project (2012-2017) at the Institute for Political Science (University of Duisburg-Essen, Prof. Dr. Achim Goerres) focused the motives and activities of young party members in the context of greater societal trends and organisational changes within political parties. The empirical case of my thesis was the German social democratic party (SPD). The study used a mixed method design with semi-structures interviews and a total population survey among the young members in this party.
Past research projects and activities covered the development of political organisations such as student self-government organisations and party youth organisations, as well as trade unions with a regional/country focus on Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Israel and Palestine. Additionally, I was involved in several projects in the area of higher education research, student orientation and individual career development of students, predominantly from marginalised groups (see Publication).