My work is situated at the intersection between academic work and public policy. I have three principal areas of interest: German Politics, Political Parties/ European Social Democracy, Youth Participation in Democracy/Civic Education.

I am the Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Centre for European Politics and was the organiser of a high-profile launch event in 2007 featuring Rt. Hon. Peter Mandelson, Sir Stephen Wall, John Peet (The Economist).

I have published widely in the field of German Politics and youth participation/ civic education. My last book was The European Policy of the German Social Democrats: interpreting a changing world (Palgrave, 2005) was nominated for University Association for Contemporary European Studies best book prize. In the run-up to the 2009 German elections I have co-edited a volume on the Gathering Crisis in German Politics (Palgrave, 2008), and will publish a textbook on the Foundations of German Politics (CUP, 2009) next year.

I organised (in September 2008) the inaugural conference of the PSA Teaching and Learning Group, and recently published an article in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations 10 (3), ‘Teaching Democracy: The Role of Political Science Education’, and have recently launched a research project under the same name. To coincide with the launch of the project I have hosted a talk by David Willetts MP on ‘The Social Role of Higher Education’. I am on the Editorial Board for the American Political Science Association-sponsored Journal of Political Science Education.