My research interests fall into two fields. On the more theoretical level, I published extensively on studies of governmentality and their critical and analytical potential. I also focussed on the notion of biopolitics (especially in the work of MIchel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt). Recently, I finished an introductory book on the different usages of the notion of biopolitics.

My second research interest might be broadly called social studies of biotechnology and biomedicine (I am especially interested in genetic and reproductive technologies). I did a research project on genetic discrimination combining an empirical case study (on at-risk persons of Huntington’s Disease in Germany) with more conceptual considerations (what exactly is genetic discrimination? how can it be distinguised from other forms of discrimination?). Also, I co-authored a book on social implications of predictive genetic testing. Finally, I am very interested in how genetic knowledge gets articulated with moral values and social norms giving rise to forms of »genetic responsibility«. Here it is especially the relation between risk and responsibility that captures my attention.

In the context of LiSS I am especially interested in how bioscientific and biomedical knowledge is used in strategies of (self-)surveillance.