I am interested in social, cultural and religious history from the early modern to the modern period (16th - 20th century). I am currently working on two research projects: the first is on global Protestantism and the networks of radical religious communities (a collaboration with Dr. Kat Hill, Birkbeck); the second project is a study of the role of children in Protestant missions in Britain and Germany.
I studied at the Universities of Hamburg, Cambridge and Oxford, where I wrote my doctoral thesis (DPhil) under the supervision of Professor Lyndal Roper at Balliol College. In 2006 I was awarded a Research Fellowship at Downing College, Cambridge. In 2009 I joined the School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham.
I have received awards from the British Academy/Leverhulme Foundation, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Institute of Historical Research, the German Historical Institute London, the German History Society, the Institute of European History, Mainz, and a Scatcherd European Scholarship to spend time at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. My research on the introduction of the decrees of Trent in early modern German convents has been awarded the 2003 Essay Prize of the Royal Historical Society and the German History Society. My first book Women and the Counter-Reformation in early modern Münster (Oxford University Press, 2014) won the 2015 prize of the Women's History Network.
My areas of expertise are gender history, the history of children and childhood, the history of migration, the history of modern missions.