About me

Hi!

I am a postdoctoral researcher and scientific coordinator of the HBS doctoral programme “New Challenges in Ageing Societies” at TU Dortmund University. My research explores how health, well-being, and social inequality evolve across the life course and differ between societies. I am particularly interested in the intersections of aging, gender, socioeconomic inequalities, and social policy, and how these dimensions shape individual life chances in later life.

My work combines quantitative social research with a comparative perspective, examining how institutional contexts and welfare regimes influence patterns of health and inequality across countries.

Throughout my academic career, I have had the opportunity to collaborate internationally, including research stays at Boston University, King’s College London, and the Vienna Institute of Demography. Before joining TU Dortmund, I worked as a project leader and research associate at the ISG Institute for Social Research in Cologne, where I contributed to several empirical studies.

My research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how social policies can promote healthy and equitable aging in diverse societies.

My research has been recognized with several awards and competitive grants, including honors from the German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics (DGGG), the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute (ASI), and funding from the Daimler and Benz Foundation and the Minerva Stiftung.

To find out more, please visit the site with my research projects or get in touch.

News

New publication on gender disparities in cognitive performance

I’m excited to share our latest study on gender disparities in cognitive performance in later life across Europe, co-authored with Martina Brandt, Melanie Wagner, Michal Levinsky and Ella Cohn-Schwartz, PhD. Using data from more than adults aged 50+ across 27 countries (SHARE - Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), we developed an index to identify individuals at risk of low cognitive performance and examined how social participation and welfare state contexts shape cognitive aging.

Key findings:

• Women showed a cognitive advantage in several welfare regimes.
• Gender gaps varied strongly by societal context. * Low social integration emerged as a risk factor for low cognitive performance.
• After accounting for social participation, women demonstrated cognitive advantages even in contexts where disparities were not initially visible.

Our results highlight that cognitive aging is not only an individual or biological process, but also socially and structurally shaped. Strengthening social integration may offer meaningful opportunities to promote cognitive health for both women and men, especially in contexts with more traditional gender roles. The article is part of the Social Science & Medicine-Special Issue „Understanding cognitive ageing: individuals, institutions, and inequalities“ (edited by Giulia Tattarini, Ariane Bertogg and Damiano Uccheddu, PhD).

Full text (open access): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119070

External Fellow of the Einstein Center of Population Diversity

I’m happy to share that I have been appointed as an External Fellow of the Einstein Center of Population Diversity (ECPD). It’s an honor to join this international network of researchers working on population diversity and its societal implications. I’m very much looking forward to the collaboration, new perspectives, and projects ahead! Many thanks to the ECPD directors, Paul Gellert and Michaela Kreyenfeld, as well as the coordination team for the warm welcome.

New publication on informal caregiving

Care for older relatives is becoming a defining feature of ageing societies. When people step into caregiving matters for its implications in other life domains.

Using data from the SHARE - Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we examined who becomes a daily caregiver between ages 50 and 95, and at what age this transition happens. Our findings show that caregiving onset is not evenly distributed across society.

• For intra-generational care (partners, siblings), the gap between social groups can be as large as 11 years.
• For intergenerational care (parents, in-laws), the maximum gap is 4 years.
• These differences are intersectional, with gender and socio-economic characteristics shaping caregiving onset.

Understanding who enters caregiving earlier can help policymakers and practitioners design more targeted support.

Full text (open access): https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X26100592

New publication on depressive symptoms among widowed adults and the role of support by adult children

Widowhood is a major life transition often accompanied by declining mental health, yet the role of adult children in shaping parents’ adjustment remains insufficiently understood. This study uses eight waves of the SHARE - Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to examine how different forms of adult-child support (contact, instrumental help, and geographic proximity) relate to changes in depressive symptoms among widowed women and men. By distinguishing between multiple support types, the study provides a more nuanced understanding of when and how adult children’s involvement may ease parents’ emotional adjustment after spousal loss. It contributes to broader debates on intergenerational support by demonstrating that not all forms of help function in the same way and that assumptions about gendered patterns of support may warrant reconsideration.

Key results:

• Frequent contact with at least one child buffered the increase in depressive symptoms after widowhood.
• Instrumental support (e.g., help with chores or personal care) was associated with larger increases in depressive symptoms, possibly reflecting worsening health or care needs.
• Living close (within 25 km) was beneficial, whereas co-residence with a child was linked to greater increases in depressive symptoms.
• No major gender differences emerged.

Full text (open access): https://doi.org/10.1177/01640275251404880

New Publication!

Why do older men volunteer more frequently, even though women often show greater interest in doing so? Our new study finds that men are more active in volunteering, while women represent a large pool of untapped potential. Informal caregiving duties—such as caring for grandchildren or other family members—pose a significant barrier to volunteering, particularly for women. The findings contribute to ongoing discussions about civic engagement and demographic change, emphasizing the need for inclusive strategies that enable all older adults to participate in volunteering.

Read the full article: Enabling Factors and Barriers to Volunteering (Potentials) in the Second Half of Life https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640251374269

New Publication!

How much does family background matter for your income—even decades later? A new analysis of older workers aged 50 to 65 across eight European countries, using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), explores this question. The results reveal notable differences across welfare regimes. In conservative welfare systems, parental education continues to influence individuals’ income later in life. In contrast, in social-democratic welfare states, no such link was found—suggesting that social policies can help reduce the impact of family background on economic outcomes. These findings underline that inequalities in financial well-being in later life cannot be fully understood without considering intergenerational dynamics and the broader institutional contexts in which they unfold.

Read the full article: Parental education and older workers’ income: A comparison of social democratic and conservative welfare regimes https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-025-02475-9