Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Institute of Asian and African Studies

Teaching and Research Profile

I am currently a Visiting Professor of Insular Southeast Asia at the Institute for Asian and African Studies (IAAW) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany (since summer 2025).

My engagement as an Associate Professor at the department of Transregional Southeast Asian Studies at the IAAW commenced in winter 20218/19. I received my Habilitation in Political Sciences from the Universität zu Köln, Germany, after completing my PhD at the Universität Erfurt, Germany, and my studies (Political Sciences, Psychology, European and International Law) at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität Bonn, Germany.

From 2011 to 2017, I worked as a DAAD Long-Term Guest Professor at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, and as a Visiting Lecturer at two adjacent institutes, the School of Politics and International Relations and the Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies. As a Visiting Lecturer, I also taught at the National University of Sciences and Technology (Development Studies) in Islamabad, Pakistan, and at the University of Peshawar (Political Sciences and International Relations), Pakistan.

Prior to these engagements, I held Research Fellow and Lecturer positions at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, at the Institute for Social Sciences at Universität Hildesheim, Germany, and at the Institute of East Asian Studies as well as at the Institute of Political Science at Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany. At the Universität zu Köln, Germany, I worked as a Lecturer at the Chair for Comparative Politics. In 2010/11, I served as Interim Professor of Political Science at the Universität Hildesheim, Germany. I was a HEC Visiting Professor at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan (2007), and at the Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain (2006).

Expert and Consultant

In my role as an expert and consultant, I closely collaborate with political foundations and civil society organizations, providing my expertise for workshops, training programs, civil society consultations, and action research projects with a focus on countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia. My research expertise draws on my (transregional) studies in South and Southeast Asia (Afghanistan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan) as well as in Australia and Europe (Germany, Portugal).

Research and Teaching—Activities and Focus
  • Regionally anchored in Europe and Asia (applying a transregional comparative perspective), with a particular focus on South and Southeast Asia and numerous research stays and teaching engagements (e.g., in Germany, Portugal, and Spain as well as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma/Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia).
  • Disciplinarily focused on clusters situated at the intersection of Comparative Politics & Development Studies, Peace & Conflict Research, Transformation & Mobility Research, Gender Studies, and Political Sociology—with inter-disciplinary and inter-contextual orientations.
  • Thematically centered on the core questions of (1) institution-building, processes of nation-building/state formation, citizenship, and policy-making (with a focus on intervention and transitional contexts); (2) political participation and representation; (3) changes in civil society activism and social movements; (4) socio-political inequalities and challenges to policy-making emerging from diverse forms of displacement and migration; and (5) challenges arising from multiple hegemonies and colonial legacies to (critical) qualitative social science research and methodological approaches in the heterogeneous and volatile contexts of the Global South.
Current Research Projects
Additional Engagements

Editor-in-Chief: International Quarterly for Asian Studies (IQAS) (since December 2025)