Biography

I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in International History and Politics at the University of Portsmouth. I have previously held an Associate Professorship in History, with a focus on European Economic History after 1945, at the University of Copenhagen (2013-15).

After my PhD at the University of Portsmouth (2008), I completed two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oxford (2009-11) and the University of Copenhagen (2013) to develop my independent research profile on the market and legal dimensions of European integration.

I have undergraduate and postgraduate-level teaching experience across a range of International History and Politics subjects and Higher Education institutions in Switzerland (Graduate Institute Geneva), Denmark (Copenhagen), Austria (University of Vienna) and the UK (University of Oxford, London School of Economics and Social Science, University of Westminster, Brunel University, University of Portsmouth).

Research interests

I have pursued a research programme at the cross-roads of international history, politics and (economic) law. My published and ongoing research has examined a range of actors including diplomats, civil servants, policy experts and civil society organisations in the development of policy and law in the European Union and its predecessor organisations.

My work has been informed by interdisciplinary approaches combining theoretical and conceptual insights from the social sciences with research in several national archives (France, Germany, UK, US), the archives of international organisations (including EC/EU institutions, OEEC/OECD, Council of Europe, UN), non-governmental organisations (e.g., the European Consumer Organisation) as well as private papers and oral histories.

My ongoing research shifts the historical analysis of European integration from its traditional focus on elites, institutions and multi-lateral negotiations to its under-researched social dimension attempting to capture the lived experiences of citizens in European regional integration.

In part, this shift responds to critical self-reflection in scholarship on the EU. Calls for decolonising the field have become louder generating new and critical perspectives on the concept of the EU as a peace project. The EU’s legitimacy has also been questioned due to several crises ranging from the Euro and global financial crisis over Brexit to Russia’s war against Ukraine and the return to rearming the continent. At this critical political juncture, my research attempts to contribute to the re-evaluation of the place of the EU and Europe in the world from a historical perspective.

Teaching responsibilities

I am currently coordinating two undergraduate modules creating synergies between research and teaching at the intersection of international history, politics and (economic) law.

The European Union: a global power in the making? is a final-year module offered to undergraduate students in Politics, International Relations and International Development. The module rethinks European integration from the perspective of state, non-state, and regional actors across the globe and explores how EU institutions and policies have contributed to shaping international (economic) governance, while also extending conditions and practices of colonial dependency and global socioeconomic and structural inequalities.

The module is loosely based on my chapter ‘The European Union in international politics and trade: a global power in the making?’, written for the textbook Reinventing Europe: The History of the European Union, 1945 to the Present (co-authored with Katja Seidel and Laurent Warlouzet, 2023).

Transitional Justice and Human Rights is an optional module for second-year students across a range of humanities and social science subjects. The module examines the global struggle for truth, justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of armed conflict, military rule, and other repressive regimes from 1945 to the present day. Team-taught with Isabelle Cockel and Ben Garner, the module explores the potential of judicial, legal and various other mechanisms in delivering justice and safeguarding human rights.

My approach to the subject has been inspired by the belief in the importance of upholding human rights and several years of teaching the undergraduate module Rethinking Nazi Germany. The module focused on the reinterpretation of the atrocities committed by, and during the time of, the Nazi regime by historians over time highlighting that such debates are not just about the past; they are also about the present and about the future.

I am also contributing to modules coordinated by other colleagues including Key Themes in International Relations (1^st year) and European International Relations (postgraduate).