I am a writer, scholar, and educator, currently appointed as Associated Professor of American Studies at the University of Klagenfurt, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Freiburg where I direct the Visions of Sustainability project at the Sustainability Innovation Campus.

I am the author of three academic books, Growing Hope (2025), Affective Ecologies (2017), and Cosmopolitan Minds (2014), and the (co-)editor of several books and journal issues. My trans- and interdisciplinary research explores contemporary environmental culture with input from the social sciences and a focus on affect and emotion. I have a special interest in climate change communication and narrativization, eco-documentaries, and food narratives. In recent years, I have also returned to creative writing with some short stories and my first novel, Fragile (2023).

UPCOMING TALKS 

April 9-10, 2025

Invited participation in an expert workshop on disaster risk communication organized by the Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO) of the European Commission

Brussels, Belgium

June 3-4, 2025

Invited Lecture and Masterclass as part of the Cologne Media Conversation (CMC) at the University of Cologne

Cologne, Germany

June 23-25, 2025

Keynote lecture at the Conference “Engaging Communities in Environmental and Climate In/Action: Narratives, Discursive Practices, and Transdisciplinary Approaches,” organized by the Interuniversity Research Centre Dis4Change: Studies on Climate Change and Environmental Discourse, University of Bari Aldo Moro

Bari, Italy

July 11-12, 2025

Keynote lecture at the MESH Symposium 2025 “Disaster Preparedness in Multispecies Worlds” at the University of Cologne

Cologne, Germany

September 30 – October 1, 2025

“Engaging the Public: Developing an Effective Narrative in Disaster Risk Communication”

Keynote and discussion facilitation for Masterclass “Science Advocacy: Developing a Behavioural and Risk Communication Approach that fits Democratic Societies” at the Evidence for Policy in Disaster Risk Management Summer School 2025, organized by the Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO) of the European Commission

Barcelona, Spain