I am a sociologist specializing in the sociology of work and labour markets and institutional theory. My general interest is in the informal side of processes of labour market deregulation and institutional change and its implications for social integration.
I carried out my dissertation research both as a doctoral Fellow at the International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy in Cologne, and as a visiting doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Research on Inequalities and the Life Course at Yale University. I received my D.Phil. in 2009 (summa cum laude) from the University of Duisburg-Essen. It was awarded two best dissertation awards, by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI), Essen (Dissertationspreis Kulturwissenschaften 2010) and by  the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Duisburg-Essen (Sparkassenpreis für herausragende Dissertationen der Universität Duisburg-Essen 2010). Prior to joining the European University Institute as a Max Weber Fellow I was a Post-doctoral researcher at the Sociology Department of the University of Duisburg-Essen (from where I am now on leave).