I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science at the University of Cologne. I am also the Chair for Empirical Democratic Theory, and an Associated Member of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy.

My research and teaching interests span comparative politics, political behaviour, and democratic theory. Much of my research seeks to understand when competitive elections may fail or succeed as instruments of representation and accountability, and especially, how this relates to elites' capacity to influence voter preferences and priorities in democracies. Other research interests include public opinion, electoral politics and historical political development, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Europe more broadly. My work has been published or is forthcoming in Electoral Studies, the Journal of Theoretical Politics, Political Science Research and Methods and World Politics.