Executive Committee

Responsibilities

Affiliated with the Department of History and Sociology

Project: Time, Space, and Ties. Multi-Dimensional Contextual Influence on Older Europeans? Participation in Employment and Family Caregiving

_{Against the background of rising life expectations and welfare budget retrenchments, the societal participation of older people is gaining political and societal importance. The concept of "Productive Ageing" includes various paid and unpaid activities, such as employment, volunteering, informal elder care and grandchild care. Despite a large share of older men and women being engaged in one or several productive activities, we can observe considerable gender differences in activity patterns. Previous studies have indicated that micro-level theories only partly suffice to explain these differences found. Rather, comparative research indicates that the decisions to take up or leave these activities are highly context-sensitive. However, most studies look at individuals linkages in a rather isolated way, and comparative studies often do not go beyond providing descriptive evidence about country differences. Last but not least, the causal direction of the linkages between several activity types often remains unclear.
The proposed project thus addresses the following two research questions: (1) What contextual dimensions influence the participation of men and women in activities in the public and private domain in their second half of life? (2) How does the influence of different contextual dimensions interact?}

Postdoctoral Fellow since 04/2020

Publications on KOPS

Responsibilities

Affiliated with the Department of Biology

Project: Natural variation of autophagy in Arabidopsis thaliana

_{Plants, due to their sessile nature, are unable to avoid the environmental changes they often face and are thus forced to adapt to the new conditions. Autophagy, or self eating, is a catabolic process which is important for nutrient recycling under both normal and adverse conditions and, thus, can be viewed as an adaptation mechanism. While autophagy is conserved throughout the eukaryotes, plants can survive and reproduce successfully under normal conditions even when the process is impaired. In contrast to that, prolonged darkness is often fatal to plants which are deficient in the autophagic pathway. Recent data on chlorophyll acquired by inducing autophagy through prolonged darkness in a number of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes, originating from the entire natural range of the species showed strong variations.}

Fellow since 04/2020

Publications on KOPS

Responsibilities

Affiliated with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Project: Time-Dependent Moments

^{In this project I want to investigate time-dependent moments of distributions (functions) from partial differential equations. Recently moment problem implementations showed the usefulness to find solutions of partial differential equations. I extended the moment problem in a systematic and general way to derivatives of moments and proved the existence of solutions of a PDE. Both methods (the moment theoretic and the PDE methods) shall be combined in this project to improve the theoretical foundation of moment problem implementations for PDEs. Hence, the field of the moment problem and the field of partial differential equations will benefit from the results of this project. The University of Konstanz provides the perfect research environment for this project since it has with Prof. S. Kuhlmann and Prof. M. Schweighofer strong active researchers in the field of the moment problem and students are provided with a lecture about the moment problem. As an additional very active researcher in the field of the moment problem the applicant will cooperate with Prof. R. Curto from the University of Iowa, USA, on this project.}

Fellow since 03/2022

Website of MoPat conference

Responsibilities

Affiliated with the Departments of Literature & Politics and Public Administration

Project: “Abuse and humiliation” in the delivery room: The horror of obstetric violence in Ghana

_{Obstetric violence in a major health problem in both developed and developing countries (World Health Organisation (2015). However, the reality in those countries outside Europe, US, Canada and Australia is understudied. This research project examines the correlation between women's experiences of obstetric violence and the low facility-based deliveries and the high maternal mortality rate in Ghana. The quantitative (cross-sectional) research methodology will be used to collect and analyse data. The research findings will enable the Ghana government and other international organisations, such us the World Health Organisation (WHO) to understand the magnitude of the abuse and humiliation women face during delivery and its implications on women's health. This will assist stakeholders in developing policies and frameworks to curb the problem of obstetric violence in Ghana.}

Postdoctoral Fellow since 09/2020

ZUKOnnect Fellow from 08 until 10/2019

Responsibilities

Vice Rector for Research, Academic Staff Development and Research Infrastructure
University of Konstanz, Germany

At the Zukunftskolleg from 02/2008 until 02/2013 (former ZWN Fellow)

Affiliated with the Department of Chemistry

Project: New nanostructure probes in electron spin resonance

_{Electron spin resonance (ESR) can make significant contributions to the elucidation of the structure and dynamics of disordered systems with the aid of specifically introduced spin probes. Within the framework of this project, fundamentally new methods were developed to elucidate even more complex structures and processes. For this purpose, nanostructure probes were used that could be addressed not only by ESR, but additionally by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and optically. An increase in selectivity and a significant expansion of the previously accessible range for structural information at the nanometer scale were the main goals. The new techniques were to be used specifically for research on membrane proteins within the framework of this project.}

Responsibilities

• Applications and Support of Postdoctoral, Research, Senior and Associated Fellows
• Research Programme
• Selection Procedure
• Development and Administration of Funding Instruments
• Coordination of the decision-making bodies of the Zukunftskolleg
• Development of Workshops, Seminars, and Co-teachings
• Writing Institutional Reports