born July 1953 in Muelheim an der Ruhr/Germany
studied sociology at Bielefeld University with focus on sociology of education and music at Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold; PhD in Sociology 1981;
worked as researcher between 1976 and 1984 in the field of sociology of education at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University and Konstanz University;
studied International Relations between 1984/1985 at Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales (European Institute of Higher International Studies) in Nice/France;
1986/87 trainee program at Goethe–Institut. As of 1987 employed with Goethe-Institut with postings as director of Goethe-Institutes in Khartoum/Sudan, Montreal/Canada, Kabul/Afghanistan, Beirut/Lebanon and Bangkok/Thailand. Between 2013 and 2019 regional director of the network of Goethe-Institutes in Sub–Saharan Africa (15 Goethe-Institutes and 5 Goethe-Centers in 20 countries) based in Johannesburg/South Africa;
between May 2019 and December 2020 director of Goethe-Institut Hamburg/ Germany;
As of January 2021 until June 2021 director of Goethe-Institut Amman/Jordan.
