I am a social psychologist working at the intersection of gender studies and law, with a particular focus on intimate partner violence. My work centers on qualitative social research methods, especially ethnographic approaches in courts, and on the analysis of gendered emotions among legal professionals. I have been involved in several research projects, including The Psychological is Participatory and Psychological Violence Against Women. In my teaching and publications, I engage with gender and social psychology, qualitative methods, and the interface between psychology and law. I have served as guest editor for a special issue on gendered violence in Psychologie & Gesellschaftskritik and am currently guest editor for Bridging Theory and Practice as a Feminist Concern in Theory & Psychology.

For my doctoral research, I examine emotions in criminal court proceedings, with a particular focus on intimate partner violence cases in Austria. My work investigates how emotions emerge in court, how they are negotiated, and what role they play within legal processes. My dissertation adopts a feminist, psychoanalytic social psychological perspective to analyze emotions in court involving judges, public prosecutors, and lawyers. Empirically, I draw on open semi-structured interviews and participant observation conducted in criminal courts.

My doctoral research has been presented at major international conferences, including the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology, and the 12th European Feminist Research Conference. I have also been awarded two international fellowships that broadened the empirical and conceptual scope of my PhD work. In October 2025, I was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University in Sweden, supported by an outgoing faculty fellowship. In November 2025, I continued my research as a Visiting Scholar at the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Spain, funded by a residence grant from the Institute.