People and Structure
Prior to its folding into DIMAS in 2023, the Center for International and Transnational Area Studies (CITAS) at the University of Regensburg was an interfaculty research center based in the Faculty for Languages, Literature and Cultures and the Faculty for Philosophy, Art History, History and Humanities. The statute of CITAS as approved by the University of Regensburg can be found here (in German).
Executive Board Members: Dr. Birgit Hebel-Bauridl, Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer and Prof. Dr. Jochen Mecke (Chair).
Dr. Gerlinde Groitl was a founding member of the CITAS Board from 2017 to March 2019.
Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr. Joanna Moszсzyńska
Manager: Dr. Paul Vickers
Assistants: Ivo Music, BA (CITAS) and Simone Schneider, BA (Leibniz-ScienceCampus)
Advisory Board Members: Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings (Chair), Prof. Dr. Harriet Rudolph (Deputy Chair), Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat, Prof. Dr. Alexander Graser, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jerger, Prof. Dr. Ralf Junkerjürgen, Prof. Dr. Ursula Regener, Dr. Cindy Wittke.
CITAS was led by the three-person Executive Board (Vorstand) and advised by the eight-person Academic Advisory Board (Beirat). Both groups include experts from the various disciplines and regions contributing to CITAS, as well as both professors and early career researchers.
The role of the Executive Board includes developing a working programme, a development plan, approving the finance plan and appointing personnel to CITAS. The Academic Advisory Board represents the broad range of disciplines, regions and institutions associated with CITAS. It advises the Executive Board and Manager of CITAS, commenting on its ongoing work and future plans.
The members of both structures are introduced below.
CITAS Executive Board
Our specialist for North America, CULTURAL STUDIES and Transnational American studies
Dr. Birgit Hebel-Bauridl
Dr. Birgit M. Hebel-Bauridl is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Regensburg, Germany. Her current research focuses on triangular/transnational American Studies; cultural transfer and transnational regions; the American presence in Germany; and concepts of performance in American festive culture. Her publications include Betwixt, Between, or Beyond: Negotiating Transformations from the Liminal Sphere of Contemporary Black Performance Poetry (Winter, 2013); South Africa and the United States in Transnational American Studies (co-ed. Udo J. Hebel; spec. iss. Amerikastudien / American Studies 59.4 (2014); Approaching Transnational America in Performance (co-ed. Pia Wiegmink; Lang, 2016). Her articles on cultural performance, Arab American life writing, muralism and visual culture, American-Bavarian encounters, and transnational spaces have appeared renowned in edited collections and journals.
Her full CV and publications list is available here.
Our specialist for Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, and History
Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer
Ulf Brunnbauer has been Professor for the History of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe at the University of Regensburg since 2008. He defended his Habilitation at Berlin Free University and gained his PhD from the University of Graz. He is Director of IOS - the Leibniz Institute for East and South-East European Studies and Co-Director of GSOSES - the Graduate School for East and South-East European Studies. His research focuses on migration, social history, and nations and nationalism.
His full CV and publications list is available (in German).
Our specialist for Western and Southern Europe, and for Literary and Cultural Studies
Prof. Dr. Jochen Mecke
Jochen Mecke has been Professor for Romance Philology at the University of Regensburg since 1996. He completed his Habilitation at the University of Heidelberg and his PhD at Mannheim. His research focuses on Spanish and French literature, film and culture. He is director of Forschungszentrum Spanien (Research Centre on Spain) in Regensburg and is currently speaker of the CITAS Executive Board until December 2018.
His full CV and publications list is available (in German).
CITAS Advisory Board
CHAIR
Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings
Ger Duijzings is Professor of Social Anthropology, specializing in Southeast and Eastern Europe at the Institute of History in Regensburg. He is a principal investigator at the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies (GSOSES). His research focuses on urban studies, memory and violence, indentity, religion and politics from an anthropological perspective.
DEPUTY CHAIR
Prof. Dr. Harriet Rudolph
Harriet Rudolph is Professor of Modern History (Early Modern Era) at the Faculty of Philosophy, Art, History and Humanities at the University of Regensburg. Her research focuses on political cultures in Europe, media history, cultures of festivities and celebrations, and on legal history.
Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat
Volker Depkat has been Professor of American Studies in Regensburg since 2005. His research focus lies in US and North American history, including European-American connections. He has also worked on life writing and is developing a book on the history of the notion of US "exceptionalism".
Prof. Dr. Alexander Graser
Alexander Graser holds the Chair of Public Law and Policy, with a focus on European, International and Comparative Law. He received his habilitation and doctoral degrees from LMU in Munich, and has also studied at Harvard Law School and is a fellow at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. He has been involved in numerous area studies initiatives at UR, including Europaeum and the Graduate School. His research explores aspects of law in comparative contexts, with his work addressing regions including the EU, Eastern Europe, North America, and Asia.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jerger
Jürgen Jerger is Head of the Department of International and Monetary Economics at the Faculty of Economics and was a principal investigator at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Research in Regensburg. He is currently Dean of the Faculty of Economics. His research interests are International Economics, Monetary Economics and Labor Markets, with his approach offering a global perspective. He has also be associated with the Institute of East and Southeast European Studies (IOS).
Prof. Dr. Ralf Junkerjürgen
Ralf Junkerjürgen is Professor of Romance Culture (France/Spain) and Dean of Studies in the Faculty of Languages, Literature and Cultures in Regensburg. His research focuses on nineteenth and twentieth-century literature and culture, Spanish film and popular culture, and the cultural history of the human body.
Prof. Dr. Ursula Regener
Ursula Regener is professor of Modern German Literature at the Institute of German Studies in Regensburg. Her research focuses on German Romanticism in its regional, national and international contexts. She has conducted extensive research on Joseph von Eichendorff. Prof. Dr. Regener is currently the University's women's representative.
Dr. Cindy Wittke
Cindy Wittke graduated in international law and currently leads the Research Group on "Frozen and Unfrozen Conflicts“ at the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) where she is working on several projects, including an exploration of international law in the post-Soviet space.
Former Board Members
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kingreen
Thorsten Kingreen holds the chair of Public, Social and Health Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Regensburg. His wide-ranging research interests include European Community Law as well as social, health and medical law. He was a member of the CITAS board from October 2018 to October 2020.
Former CITAS members
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER 2017 to March 2019
Dr. Gerlinde Groitl
Gerlinde Groitl is a lecturer in International Policy and Transatlantic Relations at the University of Regensburg where she also gained her PhD. She has also been a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Washington and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research focuses on US-European and US-German relations, exploring questions of interventionism, world orders and security policy.
Her full CV and publications list is available (in German).
RESEARCH ASSISTANT TO THE MANAGER, JUNE 2018 - AUGUST 2019
Jelena Schryro
BA Comparative Cultural Studies and Spanish Studies
Master's Student in Intercultural European Studies. Jelena left to study in Madrid as part of her dual degree.
STUDENT ASSISTANT TO THE MANAGER, NOVEMBER 2019 - SEPTEMBER 2020
Solveig Albrecht
BA Spanish-German Studies
Master's Student since October 2020 in Conflict, Memory and Peace at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
CITAS - 13.06.2023 21:48 
