About Me

I am a psychologist with an additional academic background in cultural studies and feminist science studies. I obtained both my Master and PhD in psychology from the University of Vienna. I have had the privilege of living, studying, and conducting research in Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, the U.S., and Canada. Presently, I hold the position of Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology at the Sigmund Freud Private University in Vienna, where I serve as the Vice Dean for Research, as head of the PhD program in psychology (with Gerhard Benetka), and co-coordinate the master program specialization in social psychology and clinical psychology alongside Markus Brunner, Katharina Hametner, and Markus Wrbouschek.

My research centers on examining the interplay between psychology and societal inequalities, as well as social movements, from a feminist, historical, and critical participatory action perspective. On one hand, I have studied how social movements, such as the women’s movements, have reshaped the understanding of human experience and agency for both psychologists and the public. On the other hand, I have explored how the discipline of psychology itself has contributed to the justification and perpetuation of social inequalities. On a more theoretical level, my interest lies in unraveling the psychological mechanisms that sustain oppression or, conversely, work against it.

I am currently Principal Investigator of the project “The Psychological is Participatory” (FWF TCS 112 Top Citizen Science), which involves twelve former clients of Viennese women’s counseling centers as citizen researchers, along with counselors from two women’s counseling centers in Vienna serving as knowledge community researchers. In recognition of my teaching efforts, I was honored with the Austrian State Prize for Excellent University Teaching (Ars Docendi) for a transnational (Austria/U.S.) seminar on “Holocaust Consciousness” in collaboration with Bernadette Wegenstein (Johns Hopkins University Baltimore) and Markus Brunner (SFU Vienna) in 2017. Additionally, I serve as an editor for the peer-reviewed journal “Psychologie & Gesellschaftskritik”, hold the position of Associate Editor for “Theory & Psychology”, and am a member of the editorial boards for “Review of General Psychology”, “Journal for the History of the Behavioral Sciences”, and “Awry – International Journal of Critical Psychology”.