Research

My main research area is Global Political Economy, with particular attention to the regional manifestation of these structures and processes in the context of Europe and European integration. I’m interested in the changing nature of capitalist restructuring and how these developments affect social power relations.

Empirically, my work has analysed the regulation of corporate governance and corporate accountability in the EU and beyond; the nature of the emerging European state formation; the question of which role organized labour can play in the (re)formulation of economic and social policies at the EU level, as well as a broader examination of left strategies and alternatives in the context of the challenges posed by the financial, economic, social and environmental crisis.

My work is situated within a historical materialist tradition. I'm eager to participate in theoretical debates; at the same time I maintain an empirical grounding for my work - following Marx and Engels' insight that 'philosophy and the study of the actual world have the same relation to one another as masturbation and sexual love.' (The German Ideology)

I have a strong interest in social reproduction theory, as well as (Marxist) discussions of science fiction and future imaginaries.  

I'm part of the Steering Committee of the EuroMemorandum group. I have been a member of the Executive Committee of the European Sociological Association for two terms (2015-2019). Prior to this I have been a board member of the ESA Critical Political Economy Research Network for many years. I participate in meetings of an ETUI expert group on corporate governance. 

Background

Prior to my position as Associate Professor at the Department of Social Science and Business, I have been working at the Department of Political Science at the VU University Amsterdam, first as doctoral researcher, then as Assistant Professor International Relations, and finally, having successfully secured funding, as postdoctoral researcher. 

My academic background is mainly in Global Political Economy; I have an MA in IPE from the University of Newcastle (2003, with distinction). Prior to this I have studied politics, history and English at the University of Freiburg. 

Teaching

I teach a wide range of courses, within Global Studies, Political Economy, International Relations, EU politics and political/social science more broadly.

Specific courses include e.g. Global Political Economy, International Politics, International Public Economics, Labour in the Global Political Economy, Gendering Global Studies, Interview methods, Philosophy of Social Science, Analytical Strategies in Social Science, Crises in the Eurozone, the voluntary German language profile at RUC etc. I was also the convenor of the summer school Repoliticising Capitalism at RUC. 

I am happy to supervise BA and MA projects in the areas of Global Political Economy, International Relations and European Integration. 

I would also be interested in supervising PhD projects focusing on e.g. 

• corporate governance and corporate accountability
• transnational corporations, regulation and the state
• critical political economy perspectives on European integration 
• the role of experts in the policy-making process
• (organised) labour and European integration 
• imaginaries of capitalism and alternatives to capitalism