Since 2012, I have been Professor of European Integration and European Politics at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen. I am also Vice-Dean for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Early-Career Researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) (since 2016) and a member of the University of Duisburg-Essen’s Research Committee.

In addition to Visiting Fellowships at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht and the Centre for International Relations at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), I have been Director of Studies of the Department of European Political and Governance Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges since June 2024. Furthermore, I taught at the Turkish-German University in Istanbul between 2015 and 2024 and am an Honorary Board Member (from 2016 to 2019 Chairman) of TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association), as well as a member of the Scientific Board of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin. From September 2024 to June 2025, I was a Simone Veil Fellow and Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) at the EUI in Florence.

Following the successful completion of the Horizon Europe project ActEU (in collaboration with my colleague Daniela Braun from Saarland University), I am currently coordinating another Horizon Europe collaborative project with Funda Tekin (InvigoratEU, IEP). The NRW-wide, cross-university debating format “NRW debattiert Europa“, which I initiated, will enter its 12th round in 2026/27. As co-editor of the “Future of Europe” book series, I am always keen to hear interesting proposals.

My aim is to critically and constructively accompany and explain the process of European integration, the shaping of European policy and Europe’s influence on the member states.