Academic CV
Personal Information
| Date of Birth | 10th of June 1973 (in Bietigheim) |
Education and Academic Qualifications
| May 2001 | First State Examination, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg English and Political Science (Overall Grade: Excellent [1,0]) |
| October 1994 - May 2001 |
Undergraduate and Graduate Studies in English, Political Science, Philosophy and Pedagogy at Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg and the University of Reading (UK) |
| May 1992 | Abitur, Gymnasien im Ellental (Bietigheim) |
Academic Career
| Since April 2023 | W3 Professor of New English and American Literature, JLU Gießen |
| October 2016 - March 2023 |
W2 Professor of Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies with a Focus on Cognition, RWTH Aachen University |
|
October 2014 - |
Associate Professor and Marie Curie Fellow, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (Denmark) |
| May - October 2013 |
Interim W2 Professor of English Literary Studies, Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, TU Darmstadt |
| January 2013 | Habilitation, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg Venia Legendi in English Philology Thesis: "Unnatural Narrative: Impossible Worlds in Fiction and Drama" |
| October 2006 - September 2014 |
Academic Councilor in a temporary civil service position, Chair of Prof. Dr. Monika Fludernik, Department of English, Albert-Ludwigs- University Freiburg |
| June 2005 | PhD, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg (summa cum laude) Dissertation: "Banished Behind Bars: The Representation and Role of Prisons from Charles Dickens's Novels to Twentieth-Century Film." Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Monika Fludernik and Prof. Dr. Paul Goetsch |
Awards
| September 2013 | Prize for the best Habilitation (awarded by the German Association of English Studies) Time period: March 2011-March 2013 |
| November 2008 | Winner of the first Junior Research Group Competition, School of Language and Literature, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) and organization of a conference ("Unnatural Narratology") |
Third-Party Funding and Scholarships
| June 2023 - March 2026 |
UKRI-Project "Reading Post-Postmodernist Fictions of the Digital: Narrative, Technology, and Cognition in the Twenty-First Century" (funded by the AHRC and the DFG) |
| July 2022 - June 2023 |
ERS-Seed Fund (RWTH Aachen): "Disruptive Narratives in the Political Landscape of the United States and Germany: |
| April 2022 - March 2024 |
Conceptualization Grant for the Online-Master’s Program "Australian Studies" Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW, in collaboration with the Universities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg-Essen, Köln, and Münster |
| January - September 2018 |
ERS-Seed Fund (RWTH Aachen): "The Apocalyptic Dimensions of Climate Change in Contemporary Models and Discourses" |
| October 2014 - September 2016 |
Marie Curie Research Fellowship, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (Denmark) |
| April 2011 - March 2012 |
Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), University of Maryland and University of North Carolina (USA) |
| June 2010 | Small Research Grant, British Academy, Sheffield Hallam University (UK) |
| October 2007 - September 2008 |
DFG Research Fellowship, Project Narrative, Ohio State University(USA) |
| April 2004 - August 2008 |
Collaboration on DFG-Project "Recht, Norm und Kriminalisierung" |
| March - April 2002 |
DAAD Travel Grant, British Film Institute, London (UK) |
| October 1996 - July 1997 |
Erasmus Scholarship Universtiy of Reading (UK) |
Supervised Third-Party Projects and Scholarships
| October 2024 - September 2026 |
Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship (Humboldt Foundation) for Dr. Simona Bartolotta (Oxford): "Post-Anthropocentric Narrative" |
| August 2024 - July 2026 |
Walter Benjamin Fellowship (DFG) for Dr. Inna Livytska (Kyiv): "Aktives weibliches Handeln in englischer Erzählliteratur vom 19. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert" |
| August 2022 - January 2024 |
Scholarship for Dr. Inna Livytska (Kyiv), Philipp Schwartz Initiative of the Humboldt Foundation for Ukrainian scholars (RWTH Aachen) |
Key Memberships and Academic Roles
| since February 2026 | Member of the "Postdigital Narratives Network" |
| since May 2024 |
Spokesperson of the Research Area "Cultural Narratologies" of the JLU Gießen |
| since April 2023 |
PI at the Graduate Center for the Study of Culture (GCSC) in Gießen |
| since 2022 |
Member of the DFG-Network "Diachronic Metalepsis" |
| 2019 |
Founding Member, Aachen Center for Cognitive and Empirical Literary Studies (ACCELS), RWTH Aachen |
| 2014 - 2017 |
Member of the DFG-Network "Medieval Narratology" |
| since 2016 |
Member of the International Association of University Professors of English (IAUPE) |
| 2016 - 2022 |
Associate Member of the Research Training Group (GRK 1767) ("Faktuales und fiktionales Erzählen"), Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg |
Administrative Roles
| October 2023 - October 2024 |
Head of Department, Department of English, JLU Gießen |
| October 2022 - March 2023 |
Elected Member, Senate of RWTH Aachen |
| October 2018 - September 2020 |
Head of Department, Department of Englihs, American and Romance Studies, RWTH Aachen |
| October 2018 - March 2021 |
Elected Member, Faculty Council of the Faculty of Philosophy, RWTH Aachen |
| October 2017 - March 2023 |
Chair, Examination Board for Teacher Training, RWTH Aachen |
| January - December 2017 |
President of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN) |
| January 2015 - December 2016 |
Second/First Vice-President of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN) |