Prior to that, she was a research associate at the Department of Criminology, University of Greifswald with Prof. Dr. Frieder Dünkel. Her PhD was entitled “Social therapy in the German penal system” (“Sozialtherapeutischer Strafvollzug in Deutschland”) and was awarded in 2006. She has undertaken research on a range of criminal justice areas, including prison research, penal sanctions, restorative justice and youth justice. She has been involved with a number of research projects, including “Long-term Imprisonment and the Issue of Human Rights in Member States of the European Union” (2007-2014).