Speaking
I am an experienced speaker, facilitator, and moderator and have worked both with specialist and non-specialist audiences. I mainly offer talks, workshops, and lectures on my research topics and particularly on feminist foreign policy; diplomacy and gender, race, and class; women in diplomacy; being inside diplomacy; and foreign policy and diplomatic change.
If you want to book me for a speaking engagement, please reach out! I’m based in Berlin but happy to travel or do an online event.
Feminist foreign policy
Many states have adopted a feminist foreign policy over the past 12 years, yet feminist foreign policy continues to be highly politicised and has received significant pushback.
In my tailored seminars, workshops, or talks, we can explore questions such as:
what does feminist foreign policy actually mean? And what should it mean?
what is the role of feminist foreign policy in Germany or the European Union?
tracing the global rise and fall of feminist foreign policy: does feminist foreign policy have a future?
can feminist foreign policy transform how we make foreign policy?
why is there so much global pushback to feminist foreign policy?
how is feminist foreign policy perpetuate to colonial legacies?
how does historical responsibility feature in feminist foreign policy, and with which effects?
Diplomacy and gender, race, and class / Women in diplomacy
In the global minority world, women, Black folks, and People of Colour continue to be underrepresented across formal roles in diplomacy, particularly at the leadership level. At the same time, they are overrepresented in supportive roles, including as diplomatic spouses, administrative staff, or office managers. Diplomacy is shaped by inequalities, but there is also room for change.
In my tailored seminars, workshops, or talks, we’ll consider diplomacy through the complex lenses of gender, race, and/or class. We can explore questions such as:
what is the status quo when it comes to the representation of women, BIPoc, and working-class folks in diplomacy?
how have women shaped diplomacy in the past, and when did they actually gain access to diplomatic spaces?
why is diplomacy a highly gendered, racialised, and classed institution — and how can we change the status quo at the structural, institutional, and individual level?
what can Ministries of Foreign Affairs do to facilitate more equality and diversity, both at home and abroad?
what possibilities do diplomats have if they want to see change? And can we change diplomacy from the outside — as civil society, academics, or politicians?
Inside diplomacy
Do you know a diplomat? Have you ever been inside a Ministry of Foreign Affairs? For most people, the answer is no — unless they specifically work on diplomacy or advise foreign policy decision-makers. For the most part, we don’t know very much about what’s actually happening in diplomatic settings. This matters because foreign policy leaders’, diplomats’, and advisors’ work has a significant impact on people around the world, including in their home countries.
In my tailored seminars, workshops, or talks, I offer a behind-the-scenes look at German diplomacy and its institutions, drawing on nine years of ethnographic insight into the German Foreign Office. We can explore questions such as:
what do diplomats actually do?
how is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised?
how do diplomats produce knowledge, and how is this different to civil society, think tanks, and academia?
for those working with diplomatic institutions, we can explore how to gain access to decision-makers as well as possibilities and limitations of knowledge transfer.
for researchers, we can also discuss how to gain access to diplomatic institutions, useful research strategies, and what it means to research diplomacy from the inside.
Previous public engagements
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■ Historical Responsibility and Feminist Foreign Policy.
European Academy Berlin, 2026.
■ Keynote: Feministische Außenpolitik in der Europäischen Union [Keynote: Feminist foreign policy in the European Union].
German Women’s Council, 2025. 📄 Read a summary of the keynote here, in German.
■ Die Zukunft der feministischen Außenpolitik: Perspektiven für Deutschland und global. Ein Gespräch mit Lena Wittenfeld, Anna Hauschild und Karoline Färber. [The future of feminist foreign policy: Perspectives for Germany and worldwide. A conversation with Lena Wittenfeld, Anna Hauschild, and Karoline Färber].
University of Erfurt, Associate Professorship for International Politics and Conflict Studies, 2025.
■ Kaminabend mit Karoline Färber [Fireside Chat with Karoline Färber].
University of Erfurt, Academic Association for Security Studies, 2025.
■ Zwei Jahre feministische Außenpolitik in Deutschland: Implikationen des Regierungswechsels für die zukünftige Ausrichtung der Außenpolitik [Two Years of Feminist Foreign Policy in Germany: Implications of the change of government for the future directions of foreign policy].
Feminist Foreign Policy Working Group, Young German Council for Foreign Relations, 2025.
■ Peace Talk: Deutsche und feministische Außenpolitik [German and feminist foreign policy].
Empowerment for Peace, 2025. 🎥 Watch here, in German.
■ Envisioning a feminist future: Is feminist foreign policy the way forward?
Europäische Akademie Berlin, 2024.
■ Feminist foreign policy in Germany and beyond: Interrogating the ‘feminist’ in feminist foreign policy.
Otto Suhr Institute at Free University Berlin, 2024.
■ Feministische Außenpolitik in Deutschland: Die Rolle des Auswärtigen Amtes und seiner Arbeit [Feminist Foreign Policy in Germany: The role of the Federal Foreign Office and its Work].
Polis180 Think Tank for Foreign and European Policy, 2024. 📄 Read a summary of the event here, in German.
■ Gendering diplomacy: Women’s perspectives.
World Trade Institute, 2022.
■ Feminist foreign policy in the everyday of the German Foreign Office.
King’s College London, 2021.
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■ Feminist Foreign Policy and Electing Women.
Brandeis University Center for German and European Studies, 2024. 🎥 Watch here.
■ Feminist Foreign and Development Policy: Key to Transformation or Exercise in Branding?
College for Social Sciences and Humanities, 2024. 📄 Read a summary of the event here.
■ Women in politics: international relations and foreign affairs.
Young European Federalists Germany, Young European Movement London, and Young European Movement UK, 2021.
■ Solidarity during the Global Health Crisis and Beyond: Reimagining Communities.
School of Security Studies Annual Conference, King’s College London, 2021. 🎥 Watch here.
■ Deutschland und die Zukunft der US-europäischen Beziehungen [Germany and the Future of US-European Relations].
Konrad Adenauer Foundation, 2017.
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■ Global feminist cooperation: Perspectives from the Global South and Germany’s contribution.
Workshop for the SpringLab 2025: Feminist Development and Foreign Policy. Europäische Akademie Berlin, 2025.
■ How female is diplomacy?
Workshop for the Training for International Diplomats department, German Federal Foreign Office, 2022.
■ Feminist Foreign Policy.
Workshop at the European Public Policy Conference. Hertie School of Governance, 2022.
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■ Panel Discussion: Perspektiven der Feministischen Außenpolitik auf den Krieg in der Ukraine [Feminist Foreign Policy Perspectives on the War in Ukraine].
University of Erfurt, 2022.
■ Panel Discussion: The Women of War Studies.
King’s College London and Women in War and International Politics, 2021. 🎥 Watch here.
■ Panel Discussion: Feministische Außenpolitik – Idealismus oder Zukunftsmodell? [Feminist Foreign Policy – Idealism or Model for the Future?]
University of Erfurt, Young European Federalists Erfurt, and GoAhead!, 2021.
Previous academic engagements
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■ Brick walling foreign policy transformation? Producing German feminist foreign policy as ‘accessible’.
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2026.
■ Knowledge circulation between think tanks and policy: mutual learning or unidirectional impact? (with Amelie Harbisch and Sophia Hoffmann).
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2026.
■ Knowledge Circulation between Policy and Social Science: Think Tanks’ Epistemic Practices (with Amelie Harbisch and Sophia Hoffmann).
European International Studies Association Pan-European Conference, 2025.
■ The everyday production of diplomatic subjectivities: gender, race, and class in the German Federal Foreign Office.
12th European Workshops in International Studies, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, 2025.
■ The German Foreign Office gendered, classed, and raced: feminist foreign policy and diplomatic subjectivities.
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2025.
■ The everyday production of diplomatic subjectivities in the German Federal Foreign Office.
Gender and Diplomacy workshop, University of Gothenburg, 2025.
■ Producing feminist foreign policy as ‘accessible’: the German case.
International Studies Association Annual Convention, 2025. [declined]
■ Whose feminisms? Producing German feminist foreign policy at the intersection of civil society and diplomacy.
British International Studies Association Virtual Conference, 2025.
■ What does the ‘feminist’ in feminist foreign policy mean?
New Voices in Global Security, King’s College London, 2024. 🎥 Watch here.
■ Taking historical responsibility? The persistence of coloniality in German feminist foreign policy.
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2024.
■ Making feminist foreign policy accessible.
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2024.
■ On co-optation: Translating feminist foreign policy knowledge.
International Studies Association Annual Convention, 2024.
■ Making foreign policy feminist: the case of Germany.
LSE-KCL Seminar Series on European Foreign Policy, 2024.
■ The Everyday Knowledge Production of/on Feminist Foreign Policy in Germany.
European International Studies Association Pan-European Conference, 2023.
■ The Everyday Knowledge Production of/on Feminist Foreign Policy in Germany.
International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2023. [declined]
■ Potentials and limitations of doing feminist politics: an examination of feminist foreign policy and feminist crisis governance in Canada and Hawai'i.
International Studies Association Annual Convention, 2023. [declined]
■ The Everyday Knowledge Production of/on Feminist Foreign Policy in Germany.
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2023.
■ Diversifying the Foreign Office: The German foreign policy discourse on credibility.
Gender and Diplomacy workshop, University of Gothenburg, 2022.
■ Diversifying the face of German diplomacy and foreign policy? The discursive construction of credibility.
International Studies Association Annual Convention, 2022.
■ Feminist struggles in German foreign policymaking: analysing everyday practices of change and resistance.
Doing IPS seminar series, King’s College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Queen Mary University, 2021.
■ Feminism(s) in the Everyday of the German Foreign Office: The Politics of Change and Resistance.
Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication Doctoral Lab, 2021.
■ A foreign policy by women? Gender and class in the German Foreign Office.
New Voices in Security Studies, King’s College London, 2021.
■ Taking feminism seriously: theorising foreign policymaking relationally.
German Political Science Association Annual Convention, 2021.
■ A foreign policy by women? Gender and class in the German Foreign Office.
German Political Science Association Annual Convention, 2021.
■ Theorising German foreign policy ‘from below’: a case for feminist institutional ethnography.
PGR Seminar Series, King’s College London, 2021.
■ Feminist Foreign Policy in the Everyday of the German Foreign Office: The Politics of Change and Resistance.
IR & Ethics Research Theme, King’s College London, 2021.
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■ We walk through gardens: 'rooting' IR scholarship in caring ecologies. [cancelled]
British International Studies Association Annual Convention, 2025.
■ Smash Patriarchy! The Routledge International Handbook of Feminism and International Relations. [declined]
International Studies Association Annual Convention, 2025.
■ The Transformative Potential of Feminist Foreign Policy: Early-Career Scholars’ Perspectives.
British International Studies Association Annual Conference, 2022.
■ Critical Approaches to Foreign Policy.
Foreign Policy Workig Group, British International Studies Association, 2021.
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■ Panel on Gender and Contestation.
12th European Workshops in International Studies, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, 2025.
■ Panel Discussion: The Women of War Studies.
King’s College London and Women in War and International Politics, 2021. 🎥 Watch here.
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■ Panel on Feminist Foreign Policies.
12th European Workshops in International Studies, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, 2025.
■ Panel on Queer Diplomatic Experiences.
Gender and Diplomacy Workshop, University of Gothenburg, 2025.
■ Panel on The Influence of Female Diplomats on Foreign Policy.
Gender and Diplomacy Workshop, University of Gothenburg, 2025.
■ Panel on International Contestation(s) of Gender and Sexuality Norms.
European International Studies Association Pan-European Conference, 2023.
■ Panel on Women in MFAs and Foreign Service.
Gender and Diplomacy Workshop, University of Gothenburg, 2022.
■ Methodology chapter of a PhD candidate.
PGR Seminar Series, King’s College London, 2021.