About

About

I’m a senior political analyst, writer and editorial board member with 15 years’ experience of strategic planning, foresight, communications and policy innovation within think tanks, foundations, the European Parliament and the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg.

My main interest is the grand challenges facing economies in the 21st century: the US-China hegemonic conflict, geo-economics, the impact of new technologies such as AI, climate change and the sustainable transformation of industry.

Foresight and writing are my passions. I enjoy identifying trends before they make the headlines. I have a strong track record in European, national and regional-level public policy influence, political analysis, managing teams, and strategic communications including writing high-level political speeches ranging from televised addresses to speeches for party conventions or the World Economic Forum. As a ghostwriter my op-eds have appeared in newspapers such as the Financial Times, International New York Times, South China Morning Post, Handelsblatt. I like a good challenge; helping organisations to punch above their weight. Having lived in five different countries and speaking four languages, I’m international at heart and feel comfortable in a variety of cultural settings.

Employment and Education

2021: Senior Analyst and Head of MERICS Lab, Mercator Institute for China Studies
2019 – 2021: Deputy Head of Strategy Unit, State Ministry BW
2017 – 2019: Political Advisor, State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg
2017 – Present: Freelance Advisor, Analyst and (Ghost)Writer
2009 – 2017: Chief of Staff and Political Advisor to MEP Bütikofer
2006 – 2009: Programme Director at the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Office: Brussels, Moscow, Warsaw)
2004 – 2006: University of Oxford, MPhil in Russian Studies
2001 – 2004: American University of Paris, BA International Affairs
2000 – 2001: Sailing the world with West Island College, Class Afloat

Fluent in English, German, Dutch.
Working proficiency in French (TFI Score 840/990)
Limited proficiency in Russian (four years’ study, B1)
Basic proficiency in Mandarin (two years’ study, A2)

Fellowships and Board Positions

2020 – 2021: MERICS Futures Fellow
2020 – Present: Member of the Atlantic Council’s US-Germany Renewal Initiative
2017 – Present: Member of the Editorial Board of the Green European Journal
2018: Member of the Aspen Institute’s Next Gen Network
2018: Member of the Hamburg Summit’s Young Leaders Network
2018: Editorial Member drafting the German Greens EU Election Programme
2017: Member of the Green Party Working Group “Economy & Work” preparing the Jamaica Coalition negotiations
2011 – 2014: St Antony’s College Oxford Alumni Liaison Officer for Belgium
2010 – 2013: Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies
2010 – 2011: Associate at the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung
Since 2011: Member of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen