Team and members

Research areas

Professor Sascha Münnich is the director of the Viadrina Institute for European Studies (IFES) and holds the Professorship of Sociology of Economy. His research focuses on economic sociology and sociological theory, with particular attention to financial and labor markets, critiques of capitalism, and social policy in European countries and North America from a comparative historical perspective. Beyond his extensive academic publications, Sascha Münnich is also active in the media, offering sociological insights into the economy, culture, and politics of European societies. More information about Sascha Münnich can be found on the website of the Professorship of Sociology of Economy.

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Dr Estela Schindel is associate professor and the scientific managing director of the Viadrina Institute for European Studies. Her teaching and research interests include urban memory, theories and representations of violence, (im)mobility regimes, border- and (im)mobility regimes, and biopolitics. Her current research engages with the Anthropocene crisis and decolonial critique as well as with ‘Nature’ and Water as objects of sociological inquiry.

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Professor Claudia Weber's research interests include the history of violence and dictatorships in the 20th century, the cultural history of the Cold War, the history of war in the modern era, historical Europeanisation processes and the history of European concepts. Further information on Claudia Weber can be found on the website of her Professorship for European Contemporary History.

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Professor Timm Beichelt is Dean of the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences and holds the Chair of European Studies. From April 2017 to May 2022, he was Director of the IFES. His research interests include democracy and autocracy in Central and Eastern Europe, the European Union, emotions in politics as well as culture and politics. More information about Timm Beichelt can be found on the website of his Professorship for European Studies.

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Aleksandra Belozerova is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences with the dissertation project "The Liberals in Post-Soviet Russia: Dynamics of Self-Representation and Image in Society (1991-2022)“. Aleksandra is also a research assistant at the Viadrina Center B/ORDERS IN MOTION. 

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Dr Gautam Chakrabarti is an associate member of the IFES. His research and teaching interests intersect literary, cultural, social, and intellectual history, including world literature, global literary knowledge, "maverick cosmopolitanism/s" during the cultural Cold War, and the literary and cultural history of (post-)colonialism, with a particular focus on Southern Asia. Gautam is also interested in the cultural politics of the former Yugoslavia and Indo-Jewish literary and cultural history.

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Professor Theresa Gessler is junior professor of Comparative Politics. Her research focus encompasses democracy, populism, digitalisation and gender issues in Europe. Further information about Theresa Gessler can be found on the website of her Junior Professorship of Comparative Politics.

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Dr Anja Hennig focuses on the comparative analysis of the relationship between religion and politics in contemporary Europe, as well as transnational resistance to gender equality as an example of illiberal reactions to liberal policies. Her research also pays particular attention to Poland. More information about Anja Hennig can be found on the website of the Professorship for Comparative Politics.

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Dr Amelie Kutter initiated the Peripheries Research Group at IFES. Her research engages with political legitimacy and EU-induced social change, with a particular focus on public discourses and the political economy of European integration. Further information about Amelie Kutter can be found on the website of the Master's program European Studies.

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Jens Lowitzsch is a honorary professer at the European University Viadrina. He conducts research on legal and social policy, privatisation and transformation as well as on the economic law of Central and Eastern Europe and the shaping of law.

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Within the framework of the Institute's research fields, Professor Michael Minkenberg focuses on questions of Europeanisation and the politics of its opponents, especially ultra-nationalism in ideology and political practice. More information about Michael Minkenberg can be found on the website of his Professorship for Comparative Politics.

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Jürgen Neyer is Professor of European and International Politics at the European University Viadrina. His most recent projects focus on the links between technological innovation and international conflicts and on the development of an AI-based search engine for political argumentation.

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Professor Oksana Mikheieva is an associate member of the IFES, a historian and sociologist. Her research interests lie in the field of external and internal forced migration, (im)mobility, paramilitary motivations, and everyday life under occupation in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Further information about Oksana Mikheieva can be found on the website of the Master's program European Studies.

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Dominik Paul-Diehl is a junior researcher and doctoral candidate at the Professorship of Sociology of Economy. His research interests include the topic of sustainability and its social negotiation processes, particularly in the economy. His doctoral project deals with the field structures of sustainability assessments and ratings of a large financial market. You can find more information about Domink Paul-Diehl on the website of the Professorship of Sociology of Economy.

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Dr habil. Chiara Pierobon is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Master's programme European Studies. Her research focus includes the EU's promotion of civil society in Central Asia, the strengthening of democracy, human rights and sustainable development, the prevention of violent extremism (PVE), public diplomacy and the study of social capital and resilience. Further information about Chiara Pierobon can be found on the website of the Master's programme in European Studies.

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Dr Sonja Priebus is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of European Studies. Her current primary research interest is the dismantling of democracy and the rule of law in EU member states such as Hungary and Poland. In this context, Sonja is primarily concerned with the development and application of the EU's rule of law instruments. She also works on the political systems of the Visegrád states, in particular Hungary's political system, and on constitutional policy.

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Jonas Rietschel is a junior researcher at the Professorship of Sociology of Economy. His research focus lies on populism, democracy and welfare state research. As part of his PhD, he is investigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on European welfare models. Further information on Jonas Rietschel can be found on the website of the Professorship of Sociology of Economy.

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Climate change is becoming more and more noticeable in our everyday lives. Increasingly extreme floods, heatwaves and droughts are affecting companies, public infrastructure and, above all, citizens in Germany and the EU. All this poses major challenges in particular for insurance companies: How to recognise and manage such climate impacts are important questions for the insurance industry and the European environmental economy. Professor Reimund Schwarze conducts research into the economics of climate change, climate risk insurance and the management of natural hazards in Europe. Further information can be found on the website of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).

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Dr Elsa Tulmet's research topics include the sociology and policy analysis of the European Union, the foreign policy of the EU and its member states as well as policy transfers and the circulation of norms. Her regional focus lies on Germany, France and Central Eastern Europe. Further information on Elsa Tulmets can be found on the website of the program Pensées Françaises Contemporaines.

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Further information on Professor Klaus Weber can be found on the website of his Professorship of Comparative European Economic and Social History.

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Dr Susann Worschech conducts research on protest, participation, democracy and political interaction in post-socialist Europe and contributes methodological impulses to the work of the IFES, particularly in the field of social network analysis. Since July 2024 Susann is the Academic Coordinator of the Competence Network interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin. Further information on Susann Worschech can be found on the website of the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin (KIU)

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Randall Halle holds the Klaus W. Jonas Professorship for German Film and Cultural Studies and is Director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Together with Timm Beichelt, he also heads the ValEUs research project funded by the EU's Erasmus+ program. Professor Halle's research interests include the critical exploration of prevailing discourses and images of Europe as well as a Low Theory of (Un)Popular Culture. Further information can be found on the website of the University of Pittsburgh.

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Witold Jacorzynski is an anthropologist at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social Unidad Regional Sureste (CIESAS Sureste) in Mexico. His research interests include the history of Presbyterian religion in indigenous communities in Chiapas as well as Europe and European integration from a socio-cultural perspective. His current research project is entitled “The terror of the ‘Other’ and its political avatars in Poland”.

Duration of the guest stay: 15 April to 15 June 2024
Funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation