I am the head of an Emmy Noether junior research group at the University of Bonn and a cluster faculty member of ECONtribute (Universities Bonn and Cologne). My research focuses on urban sociology, social networks, and the origins and consequences of segregation. It is driven by the question of how social structures operate behind the backs of those involved. In this context, I have worked on three main topics:

Neighbourhoods and immigrant incorporation,
School segregation,
Boundary-making in local contexts and networks. Read more…

In my research group, “Sorting Decisions and Peer Processes in Schools (SPINS),” we study how school administrators’ and teachers’ decisions about classroom placement affect students’ peer processes in German secondary schools. The research group is funded by the German Research Foundation.

Theoretically, my work tries to bridge the gap between structuralist views of sorting processes and subjectivist perspectives on their consequences for people’s everyday lives. To test these ideas empirically, I usually rely on a combination of different quantitative data (e.g., survey/administrative/spatial data) and methods (e.g., network, multilevel, and panel analyses).

In the past, I worked as an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam and as a postdoc at the University of Cologne. I obtained my doctoral degree from the University of Mannheim. I have co-directed a research project on the “Structural Origins of Separate School Lives (SEPLIVES)” and was involved in the ERC project “Social Integration and Boundary Making in Adolescence (SOCIALBOND)” as well as in the “Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU).”

News

December 2023 – New interdisciplinary article published in the Journal of Orofacial Orthopedics: Together with colleagues from the University Hospital of Cologne, Clemens Kroneberg and I examined “Fixed orthodontic appliances and adolescents’ peer relations in school.”

November 2023 – New article published in Sociological Science: Together with Viktor Decker and Thijs Bol, we examine “Life-Course Differences in Occupational Mobility Between Vocationally and Generally Trained Workers in Germany.”

June 2023 – SPINS website online: We have recently launched our new project website, https://spins-study.com (in German), for participating schools and the wider public interested in the SPINS study.

August 2022 – New position: I recently joined the University of Bonn where I have the opportunity to lead an Emmy Noether junior research group for the next six years.

June 2022 – New edited volume published: I am very pleased that our edited volume on spatial inequalities in Germany is now published (accessible online at Springer VS). Many thanks to the co-editor Janna Teltemann as well as to all contributing authors.

February 2022 – New article published in the European Sociological Review: “Who Stays Involved? A Longitudinal Study on Adolescents’ Participation in Voluntary Associations in Germany” (with Kasimir Dederichs) is now openly available at the ESR website.

December 2021 – New article published in Social Networks: “Contextualizing oppositional cultures: The variable significance of gender and ethnic minority status across schools” (with Clemens Kroneberg) is now openly available at the Social Networks website.

June 2021 – New article published in the European Sociological Review. Our new article “When Ethnicity and Gender Align: Classroom Composition, Friendship Segregation, and Collective Identities in European Schools” (with Clemens Kroneberg and Andreas Wimmer) is now openly available at the ESR website.

June 2021 – Robert K. Merton Award. I feel honored that our paper “More than a Sorting Machine: Ethnic Boundary Making in a Stratified School System” (with Clemens Kroneberg, openly available here) has been awarded the Robert K. Merton Award 2021 of the International Network of Analytical Sociology.

April 2021 – New position. I joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam as Assistant Professor. I am very much looking forward to what lies ahead! At the same time, I am very grateful for the wonderful time I had as a postdoc at the ISS of the University of Cologne.

November 2020 – Associated membership in ECONtribute initiative. Recently I became an associated member of the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne. I feel honored and am looking forward to the interdisciplinary exchange.

February 2020 – New article published in Urban Studies. Our article “Neighbourhood effects on acculturation attitudes among minority and majority adolescents in Germany” (with David Kretschmer) is now openly available (online first) at the Urban Studies website.

October 2019 – New article published in the American Journal of Sociology. Our article “More than a Sorting Machine: Ethnic Boundary Making in a Stratified School System” (with Clemens Kroneberg) is now available at the AJS website.

July 2019 – AS Dissertation Award. My dissertation won the “Best Dissertation Award 2019” of the Academy of Sociology (Akademie für Soziologie). I feel very honored and look forward to present my work at the Academy’s upcoming annual conference.

October 2018 – New article published in Social Forces. My article “Between-School Ability Tracking and Ethnic Segregation in Secondary Schooling” is now available in advance (open access) at the Social Forces website.

September 2018 – The SOCIALBOND project started its fieldwork. Over the course of the next months, the SOCIALBOND team will conduct thousands of interviews at schools throughout the federal state of North Rhine Westphalia. For more information (in German), visit the new SOCIALBOND fieldwork website.