Teaching

I currently teach in the University of Salzburg’s political science bachelor (BA) and master (MA) programmes as well as PhD level courses. I am mostly teaching courses in the realm of methods. My courses are characterised by a combination of methodological debates and substantively interesting questions.

I have previously taught at ETH Zurich’s Public Policy Bachelor programme, the BA and MA programme at the University of Innsbruck and the BA programmes at the University of Reading.

For a comprehensive list of taught courses, please consult my CV. Evaluations and syllabi are available on request.

My approach to teaching:

Offering students a profound education provides important key competencies that help them in their academic careers and beyond academia. Teaching students and thereby conveying substantial and methodological insights is a central pillar of my academic career, and I am committed to excellence in teaching. To achieve this goal, respectful and approachable contact with students and an eye for their needs is essential. Thus, designing courses that actively incorporate students with various backgrounds and learning rates is highly relevant to maximise students’ learning success.

My teaching philosophy centres around three pillars. First, I want to create a respectful environment where students can express themselves. Hence, my teaching follows a bottom-up approach and allows students to actively co-design courses, for example, by anonymously sharing their views on what they would like to hear more about. By including students actively, I create an open and a good and pleasant experience for all students.

Second, I seek to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world examples. In methods courses, this means directly applying newly learned techniques and understanding how they are practically implemented. For instance, while an OLS regression is often fairly straightforward for students on a theoretical level, concretely running a regression on their own data is often substantially more challenging. In substantive seminars, this may mean reflecting on the practical implications of certain theoretical arguments. For example, what tensions would climate change induce in democratic countries if autocracies outperform them in far-reaching climate action, and thus, observers call democracy into question? Additionally, this question holds the potential for discussing the normative underpinnings of liberal democracy.

Students often see their methodological training as separate from their substantive studies. Hence, methods, and particularly statistics, are not always understood as what they are — tools. In my teaching, I emphasise precisely this perspective on methods. Students do not have to fear them, but if they master them, they obtain a toolbox of different techniques to empirically scrutinise questions of theoretical interest. The most qualified methodological approach depends on the research question and available data. Hence, I provide students with new perspectives on how to investigate questions they seek answers for. This form of application is central for successful methods training.

Third, diversity is central to this real-world application. A diversity of viewpoints and respect for these perspectives are necessary for high levels of engagement and learning success. Using students’ different backgrounds in teaching allows students to see and compare through various angles. Thus, I seek to create courses where students can actively share their opinions and feel welcome, regardless of their origin, gender, and political views. Hence, I have learned to adjust to students’ various needs and incorporate them into my teaching style. I am particularly keen to minimise gender differences in my classes.