I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science with the European Politics research group at the Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS), ETH Zurich. In the academic year 2021-22, I am a Visiting Assistant in Research at the Department of Political Science, Yale University. I have taught undergraduate and graduate courses on international relations and European politics at the University of Lucerne and ETH Zurich.

My dissertation analyzes the interactions between citizens and elites in processes of democratic backsliding. I study how public opinion on democratic governance affects political actors’ behavior towards democratic institutions and vice versa. Methodologically, I combine large-n analyses based on cross-country data, survey experiments, and qualitative case studies.

I am also interested in German politics, particularly party organizations, electoral system change, and federal politics. I have examined revenues and expenses of regional party branches based on party finance data, offering insights into how subnational dynamics shape donation income and campaign expenditure. My work on democratic backsliding and German politics has been published in Party Politics, Democratization, and Regional & Federal Studies.