I am the Head of the Personality Research Unit at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories in Bamberg, Germany. As of 2024, I also hold an honorary appointment at Queen’s University Belfast where I previously served as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Social and Personality Psychology.

I completed my PhD in 2013 at Humboldt University Berlin and as a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE). Prior to joining QUB in 2022, I was a Senior Researcher within the Biological Personality Psychology group at the University of Göttingen.

On the methodological side, I put an emphasis on research that is robust, transparent, and highly collaborative in nature. Employing state-of-the-art study frameworks such as the open source software formr, I am particularly passionate about the dissemination of research designs for the study of close relationships.  

I have been a teacher of psychology for more than a decade. Previously, the lion's share of my teaching focussed on interindividual differences/personality psychology, the psychology of interpersonal relationships, developmental psychology, psychological assessment, and applied research methods.

I particularly enjoy teaching research methods from a practical and highly contexualised perspective. My B.Sc. module "Research in Personality Psychology" was awarded a university-wide best teaching award at the University of Goettingen in 2016, and nominated for a state-level award, the Science Award Lower Saxony in the category “Teaching”, in 2019.

During my time at QUB, I have contributed to the following modules:

- PSY1009: Introduction to Psychological Methods