As a sociologist and political scientist, I have been researching and teaching for many years on topics including bio/necropolitics, stratified reproductive relations, transnational statehood, intersectional feminist theory, family and migration policies, as well as extractivism and global production chains. In various research projects, I have examined the interrelations between population and bodily politics, focusing on human genetics, racism, dis/reproductive technologies, and demographic crisis narratives. I studied and obtained my PhD in political science at Freie Universität Berlin. Later, I worked as a lecturer, researcher, and interim professor at Goethe University Frankfurt, specialising in biotechnology, nature, and society, where I subsequently completed my habilitation in sociology and continue to teach as a private lecturer. Further teaching engagements have taken me to Vienna, Graz, Erfurt, and Berlin. For many years, I have also been active in feminist and anti-racist networks in Berlin, including the Gen-ethisches Netzwerk e.V.

Research Interests

Foundational theories in sociology as well as social and cultural geography; transnational statehood; international development and health policy; bio- and necropolitics; critical race and migration studies; intersectional gender research and socio-ecological feminisms; stratified reproductive relations and dimensions of reproductive justice; extractivism and the global supply chain capitalism; social movements and human rights politics with a regional focus on Latin America; social science and technology studies; qualitative research methods including discourse analysis, dispositif analysis, and ethnographic approaches.

Regions

  • Germany, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala.

Methods

  • Discourse and dispositif analysis
  • Qualitative social research

Habilitation and Doctorate

2019 Habilitation in Sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt
2005 Doctorate in Political Science at the Otto Suhr Institute, Freie Universität Berlin

Research and Teaching Activities

since 2025 Senior Researcher in the SNSF project “Intimate Geographies of Family Fracturing” at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern
2022–2025 Professorships and lectureships at Universities of Applied Sciences for Social Work in Erfurt (FHE) and Berlin (ASH and EvB)
2023 Guest Researcher within the SNSF Scientific Exchange Programme at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern
2021/2022 Visiting Professorship in Gender Studies at the University of Graz
2021 Senior Fellow of the Mecila Programme (Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality–Inequality in Latin America)
2019–2021 Acting Professorship at Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Sociology, focus on Biotechnology, Nature and Society
2014–2018 Researcher in the DFG project “Demographisation of the Political? An Intersectional Analysis of German Family and Migration Policies since the Mid-1990s” at Goethe University Frankfurt
2015/2016 Visiting Professorship at the Department of Political Science, University of Vienna
2004–2014 Researcher in BMBF and EU projects on prenatal and preconception diagnostics and reproductive medicine

Professional Activities as Academic Advisor

2008–2013 Advisor and editor for medicine/human genetics at the Gen-ethisches Netzwerk e.V., Berlin (with interruptions)
2006–2008, 2013 Advisor for Latin America programmes at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin
1995–1999 Advisor for Latin America and public relations at the Aktionsgemeinschaft Solidarische Welt e.V., Berlin

Research Collaborations

since 2025 Collaboration with the research project “Raíces de cambio: Mujeres y paz territorial”, Universidad de Popayán and the German–Colombian Peace Institute (CAPAZ)
2020 Collaboration with the research project “Trenzando memorias. Pensamiento político y construcción de paz de mujeres afrodescendientes, indígenas y campesinas en el departamento del Cauca”, Universidad de Popayán and the German–Colombian Peace Institute (CAPAZ)
2019–2024 Member of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Advisory Board of the BMBF research group SoSciBio, University of Freiburg
2012 Co-organiser of the conference “Science and Technology Studies”, organised by the DGS, the DVPW working group “Politics, Science and Technology”, and the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), 23–24 March 2012, together with Dr Tanja Carstensen and Dr Joscha Wullweber

Reviewing Activities

  • For journals including: Gender, Place, and Culture; Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie; Women’s Studies International Forum; Public Understanding of Science; and Movements. Journal for Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies

Memberships in Scientific Advisory Boards and Civil Society Organisations

  • Member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung and the Gen-ethisches Netzwerk e.V., Berlin
  • Membership and engagement in the Network for Reproductive Justice Berlin, the Respect Initiative Berlin, Stiftung Umverteilen e.V., and Lause lebt e.V.

Current

Autumn Semester 2025: Introductory lectures and tutorials in Human Geography (Social and Cultural Geography) at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern

Previous

Visiting and acting professorships as well as lectureships at Goethe University Frankfurt, the Universities of Vienna and Graz (Karl-Franzens-Universität), Freie Universität Berlin, and Universities of Applied Sciences for Social Work (FHE Erfurt, Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin, and Protestant University of Applied Sciences Berlin)