Research Overview

My research examines how diversity, equity, and excellence are defined, institutionalized, and contested in European academia. I combine cultural sociology, feminist theory, and the sociology of inequalities to investigate how hierarchies of knowledge are produced—and how they might be challenged. I am particularly interested in decolonizing the social sciences, questioning how power dynamics and exclusions shape both scholarly practices and policy frameworks.

Background artwork by Derrick Mosley, used with permission.

  • My recent research explores how diversity and excellence are defined, institutionalized, and contested in European research policy. As PI of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (URDER, 2022–2024) at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, I investigated how academic elites and gatekeepers of the European Research Council conceptualize “excellence”, and legitimise their choices in selecting good research. This work highlights how notions of excellence and neutrality can obscure inequalities while shaping opportunities and recognition in academia.

    Learn more about the project here: Understanding the Role of Diversity in European Research (URDER)

  • In our research on population policy in Iran, we introduced civil sexuality as a conceptual lens to analyze how expert knowledge and cultural politics shape the governance of sexuality and reproduction. The findings were published as Policy Expertise and Culture: The Case of “Civil Sexuality” (International Review of Public Policy, 2021, with Anna Durnová).

    This research project followed my doctoral dissertation, Global Inspirations and Plastic Modesty: The Case of Intimacy and Composite Gender Arrangements (PhD, Masaryk University, 2021), which examined how global ideas and local practices shape intimate and gendered arrangements in everyday life.

    Together, these projects show how gender and intimacy can serve as analytic windows into the broader dynamics of sociopolitical changes.

  • In Intimacy, Home, and Emotions in the Era of the Pandemic (Sociology Compass, 2021, with Anna Durnová), we examined how boundaries between home, intimacy, and public life shifted under COVID-19 restrictions, and how emotions gained or lost legitimacy in public debates.

    As a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, I also contributed to the CLIDE Project (2020–2021), which investigated women’s healthcare choices and democratic self-determination. This project highlighted how emotions, dignity, and vulnerability are negotiated in relation to health, knowledge, and democracy.