Philosophy of Science

I am a Professor for Philosophy of Science at the Department of Philosophy at Bielefeld University in Germany. My main research interests are the philosophy of biology, the general philosophy of science, and the metaphysics of biological practice. In my research, I adopt an interdisciplinary approach and work closely together with scientists to clarify scientific concepts, improve methodologies and scrutinize metaphysical assumptions. Read more about my research interests and projects here.

I studied philosophy and biology at the University of Münster. In 2012, I received a PhD from the University of Cologne, with a thesis on “The Ontic Account of Explanatory Reduction in Biology”. In 2016, I joined Bielefeld University as a Junior Professor. After an offer from the University of Mainz in early 2018, I became a Full Professor in Bielefeld. Currently, I am a Principal Investigator in the Collaborative Research Center (TRR-SFB 212) “A Novel Synthesis of Individualisation across Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution”, a member of the Managing Board of the Joint Institute for Individualisation in a Changing Environment (JICE), and a Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF).

My recent publications include a paper “On the Epistemic Roles of the Individualized Niche Concept (2025)” in Philosophy of Science (with K. Morrow), a paper on “Individualisation and Individualised Science Across Disciplinary Perspectives (2024)” in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science (with A. Killin et al.), and a paper on “Individualized Social Niches in Animals (2024)” in BioScience (with J. Gadau, S. Kaiser, C. Müller, H. Richter).