People | Science | Leadership
I'm an experienced population scientist, migration expert, passionate communicator, regular policy advisor, creative thinker and inspiring leader. I'm currently based in Wiesbaden, Germany, where I lead the research division on migration and mobility at the Federal Institute for Population Research.
I have an academic background in migration, population geography and demography. In my current job, I combine scientific insight with my passion for data visualisation and communication to give evidence-based policy advice and to inform the general public about demographic change and migration. I enjoy to lead an interdisciplinary team, and I pay special attention to supporting women in their career development. Being a creative thinker, I like to perceive the world in new ways, and to look beyond the obvious in solving problems and generating new ideas.
I grew up in Germany, studied geography in Regensburg and Tuebingen, and completed my PhD in population geography/migration at the University of Queensland, Australia in 2010. I moved from Australia to Austria, where I worked as a research scientist on international migration and population projections at the Vienna Institute of Demography until 2016. My next stop was the Netherlands, where I held a position as Assistant Professor in Population Geography at the University of Groningen. In 2017, I moved to Germany to take on a position as Research Director at the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB).
My strengths and experiences
- Research management
- Strategic planning
- Team leadership
- Quality assurance
- Creative problem solving
- Policy advice
- Science communication
- Data visualisation
My research foci
- Population geography
- Internal migration
- International migration
- Demographic change
- Population projections
- Regional population change