I studied German and English in UCD, followed by an MA in English and a PhD in German in 2003. Prior to joining the Trinity German Department in 1999, I spent two years on a DAAD scholarship in Germany and held lectureships in UCD 1994 – 1996 and UCC 1996 – 1999. I was elected Fellow of TCD in 2014. My main research area has been contemporary Austrian literature, with particular focus on the writer Ingeborg Bachmann on whom I have published widely. I also teach and work on aspects of modernism and on intersections between philosophy, literature and the visual arts. My most recent publications have been on the German artist Anselm Kiefer. I am currently cooperating with Austrian partners on a conference and book project on Christoph Ransmayr. I am the outgoing Head of Department. I am also course-coordinator for TSM German, including all year abroad programmes.

My research and teaching interests lie mostly in the area of cultural theory and its interaction with and illumination of modern and contemporary literature, and more recently, visual art.