Doctorate at the University of Trier; Doctoral Adviser: Prof. Dr. Hanns W. Maull; Dissertation: “Producing Boundaries: Identity and North Korean Foreign Policy”; Doctoral viva (Rigorosum) on the political systems of North and South Korea, the changing security architecture in East Asia and the concepts of power and regimen in the works of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler

Research stay at the “Korea Institute for National Unification” (KINU) in Seoul, ROK

Stipendium from the Korea Foundation, Korean language training program, Sogang University, Seoul, September 2015-March 2016

Travel grant from the “Center for International Cooperation,” Freie Universität Berlin, North Korea, May 2015

“Volkswagen Foundation grant” for the international conference “Moving Beyond Description: Identity, Power, and the Theory and Methodology of North Korean Studies”, July 3-4, 2014, Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover, Germany

Travel grant from the “Center for International Cooperation,” Freie Universität Berlin, North Korea, September 2012

Assistance in preparing the successful application for the establishment of the “Graduate School of East Asian Studies” at Freie Universität Berlin, Excellence Initiative, German Research Council

Assistance in preparing the successful application for the Institution Grant of the "Academy of Korean Studies" for the joint research project "The Circulation of Knowledge and the Dynamics of Transformation" (in cooperation with Ruhr-Universität Bochum)

Assistance in preparing the successful application for the research project “Reunification Processes after formal Unification. The German Example and its relevance to Korea,” Remittance work on behalf of the Ministry for Unification, South Korea

Assistance in preparing the successful application for the Advanced Training Program for Social Science Teachers on Korea, Korea Foundation (held annually since 2012)