I’m a researcher and a science enabler.

Recently, I joined the team of the Deutsches Zentrum für Astrophysik (DZA). As part of the structural transformation of Lausatia, the DZA will be established over the next decade and push multi-messenger and transient astrophysics to new frontiers. What excites me most about this endeavor is the opportunity to help build an institute for fundamental research from scratch while focusing on the transformation process from a societal, industrial, and scientific perspective.

Moreover, I’m enthusiastic about Education & Outreach as well as the support of junior scientists in career development.

Outreach coverage includes multimedia animations of GRB190829A (w/o sound) and Eta Carinae with Science Communication Lab and Alva Noto, or an article in the femto magazine (issue 03|2016, pp. 14-29, in german and english). Sometimes, I write for the Astroparticle blog – for instance about the discovery of an astrophysical neutrino in coincidence with a gamma-ray flare from an active galaxy (in german).

My scientific interest is in the field of high-energy astrophysics, specifically gamma-ray astronomy. High-energy photons probe the most violent phenomena in the Universe and astrophysical particle accelerators in the Milky Way and other galaxies.

My studies focus on the question of how high-energy particles shape their environment, from colliding wind binary systems to massive stellar clusters and starburst galaxies. Until recently, I was the head of the H.E.S.S. group at DESY Zeuthen, and the Instrument and science operations coordinator of the H.E.S.S. experiment. One of my strong interests is in the technical development and operation of transient systems to follow up and study astrophysical explosions and transients in gamma rays.

My papers on ADS

Besides my professional interests, I’m quite a music, boardgame, and movie nerd.