Kirstin is undertaking doctoral research on gender-based violence as an unintended consequence of aid during peace-keeping operations. Before her time at the University of Birmingham, Kirstin has completed her Master thesis in social psychology at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She will use her background in psychology as a lens through which she will analyze the harmful consequences of sexual abuse forced on the local populations by peace-keeping personnel during the United Nations Stabilization Missions in Haiti and the DRC. Prior to this project, she has contributed to research in the fields of gender studies (University of Texas at Austin), virtual reality and trauma (University of Würzburg) and neurodevelopmental disorders in children (University of Capetown). From 2016-2017 she worked in a psychiatric hospital in Germany.