Michaela holds an MA in political science from the University of Heidelberg and a Ph. D. in political science and international relations from Free University Berlin. Her dissertation focused on conflict prevention in intra-state conflicts, while most of her doctoral research was conducted at the German American Center for Visiting Scholars and at the Center for German and European Studies of Georgetown University. From 2000 to 2001, she was a Robert-Bosch post-doctoral fellow with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies of Johns Hopkins University. In September 2001, research on transatlantic relations continued with the Center for European Studies of New York University. Since 2003, Michaela has served as the Director for Transatlantic Relations with the Düsseldorf Institute for Foreign and Security Policy, a German think tank affiliated with the Heinrich Heine University. Michaela is an associate of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, a non-governmental organization based in Arlington, VA, which focuses on peace-building and conflict transformation.

Michaela is an alumni of the 2002 Manfred-Wörner-Seminar and was a German delegate to the 2006 annual 'young leaders conference' organized by the American Council on Germany in Berlin. Her research in recent years has focused on the NATO and EU framework in post-conflict stabilization. As an associate of The Foundation for Post Conflict Development (FPCD ) she will undertake a research project entitled How to Make Peace and Nation-Building Work? Lessons the Atlantic Community Can Learn from Post 2nd World War Germany. The focus of the Research will be three-fold:

1.Research will continue to explore the role of, both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union in post-conflict peace- and nation-building.

2.Research will also examine the theoretical challenges for successful, viable nation- and peace-building after both, man-made and natural disasters.

3.Based on earlier research, the study will deal with the particular case of successful reconstruction and nation-building in West Germany following World War II.

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