Managing Director, Finance & Administration
Alumnus of the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton, USA
Alumnus of the "Global Young Faculty" of the UA Ruhr

by appointment

I started my academic career in social and cultural anthropology and the study of religion at the UNIVERSITY OF MÜNSTER, where I was trained both in fieldwork and qualitative social research as well as sociological and anthropological theories of religion and culture. In my PhD research, I focused on the relation of human bodies and religion, analyzing the case of Evangelical body images and body practices in the United States (“devotional fitness”), being affiliated with the Department of Religion at COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK. Working within a branch of research discussed as the “body turn,” I developed an interest in “material religion” more generally, i.e. the physical matter of religion and how it relates to religious ideas and practices. Atmospheres as my post-doc focus are situated at the crossroads of physicality, sensual perception, and religious beliefs and practice, and present a promising field of scholarly innovation. Historically and contemporarily, my research focuses primarily on Christian traditions, taking into account the entanglements with non-Christian traditions and movements. I have also done research and published on religion and art, the history of the academic study of religion, dignity and/in space, and methodological questions in the study of religion and space.

Academic Career

06/2021: Lindsay Jones Memorial Research Fund, Grant Award 2021; Project “Dignified Spaces: Religious Minorities’ Aspirations in Diverse Urban Environments” (Award: 3.590 USD).

01/2021–05/2021 Fellow at the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton, USA, in the Research Workshop "Religion & the Built Environment"

since 01/2015 Post-Doctoral research project „Atmospheres.Matter: Catholic Youth Initiatives in Germany – Change through Athmosphere?"

10/2010–07/2014: Doctoral studies at the Department of Religion, Muenster University (Dr. phil.)

09/2011–12/2011: Research and studies at Columbia University, New York, Department of Religion (Prof. Dr. Courtney Bender).

10/2007–09/2010: Studies in cultural- and social anthropology and study of religions at Münster University (Bachelor of Arts).

Professional Career

since 04/2021: Managing Director, Finance & Administration, CERES, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

04/2018–03/2021: Stand-in Professor for Prof. Dr. Volkhard Krech (Chair for Religious Studies), CERES, Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

01/2015–03/2018: Research Associate, CERES, Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

10/2014–12/2014: Research assistant at the Department of Religion, Muenster University.

01/2011–03/2014: Research assistant at the Department of Religion, Muenster University.

04/2009–12/2010: Undergraduate research assistant at the Department of Religion, Muenster University.

Memberships and Activities in Scientific Committees

since 11/2014: Founding member and speaker of the working group "Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements" of the DVRW.

since 10/2012: Member of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR).

since 09/2012: Member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).

since 08/2011: Member of the media and information services in the study of religion (REMID); member of the board 09/2014–09/2017. 

since 04/2011: Member of the German Association for the Study of Religions (DVRW).

Peer Reviewing

Journal for Young Studies of Religion (ZjR)

Entangled Religions (ER)

Poetics

Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Summer 2019

Winter 2018/19

Lecture (BA): Introduction to the Study of Religion (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): From Olympia to Yoga: Religious sports and athletic religions (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (MA): Semiotic Approaches to the Study of Religions (with Jens Schlamelcher) (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (MA): Berger and Luckmann on Religion (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): Introduction to Methods of Image Analysis (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): Methods of Data Collection in the Study of Religion (Department of Religion, Münster)

Summer 2018

Lecture (BA): Introduction to the Study of Religion (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (MA): Religion and Space (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): Introduction to Methods of Empirical and Historical Study of Religion (with Jonna Mäder) (CERES, Bochum)

Summer 2017

Seminar (MA): On the Ambivalence of Images in Art and Religion (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (with Jonna Mäder) (CERES, Bochum)

Winter 2016/17

Seminar (BA): Methods of Data Collection in the Study of Religion (Department of Religion, Münster University)
Seminar (BA): Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (with Jonna Mäder) (CERES, Bochum)

Summer 2016

Seminar (MA): From Olympia to Yoga: Athletic Religions and Religious Sports (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (with Jonna Mäder) (CERES, Bochum)

Winter 2015/16

Seminar (MA): Religion and/in Museums (with Sabrina Weiß) (CERES, Bochum)
Seminar (BA): Space, Body, Religion (CERES, Bochum)

Summer 2015

Seminar: Introduction in Qualitative Research on Religion (CERES, Ruhr University Bochum)
Student-Research-Project: Devotional Fitness (CERES, Ruhr-University Bochum)
Seminar: Devotional Fitness in US Evangelicalism (CERES, Ruhr-University Bochum)

Summer 2014

Seminar: Space, Religion, and Body (Department of Religion, Leipzig University)

Summer 2013

Seminar: Devotional Fitness in North American Evangelicalism (Department of Religion, Muenster University)

Summer 2012

Teaching/Learning-Project: “100 years study of religions” – Festschrift (with J. Stander) (Department of Religion, Muenster University)

Summer 2011

Seminar: Esotericism as a field in the study of religions (with M. Möller) (Department of Religion, Muenster University)

Final report on the project "Dignified Spaces: Religious Minorities’ Aspirations in Diverse Urban Environments"