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Welcome to my website.

I am an Associate Professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna (currently also serving as Study Program Director). I grew up near Hamburg, Germany and spent much of my formative years in Hong Kong. I was educated in political science and sociology in Göttingen, Berlin, Hong Kong and California. I worked in academic positions in Singapore and Hong Kong before coming to Vienna in 2018.

The theoretical focus of my research is political sociology. Most of my work centers on Chinese-speaking societies. I study how the state seeks to shape society, how social processes induce change, and how social forces react, change or push back. At present, most of my work uses survey data and quantitative content analysis. However, I have great respect for qualitative approaches and try to incorporate these in my research whenever possible. I have published on popular protest, social trust, civil society and political identities. For my ongoing research and publications, please visit the research page.

I am currently principal investigator of a European Research Council funded project ENGINEERING, where we study the evolution, perception, and impacts of the Social Credit System and related social engineering endeavors by the Chinese state. I am also speaker of the Association for Social Science Research on China (ASC) under the German Association of Asian Studies (DGA).

My writing was published in disciplinary journals such as Chinese Sociological Review, European Political Science Review, Mobilization, Political Studies or Social Indicators Research and in area studies outlets such as the China Journal, China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, or Modern China. My research has been funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and the European Research Council.