The Institute of Political Science warmly welcomes Maximilian Wegener as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Human Rights Politics. As of April 15th, 2026, Maximilian Wegener joins the team in Erlangen where he will study a broad array of themes at the interface between empirical human rights research, Peace and Conflict Studies, and International Relations.
Maximilian Wegener studied Political Science with a particular focus on Peace and Conflict Studies in Düsseldorf, Belfast, Tübingen, and Brisbane. In his doctoral project at Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen, he subsequently examined both the escalation and de-escalation of group-selective mass violence. With a particular emphasis on Kenya (2007-2022), his dissertation investigated how societies on the brink of anti-civilian atrocity crimes, including potential genocide, manage to avert full-blown escalation despite major risk.
In both research and teaching, Maximilian Wegener continues to focus on armed conflicts, peace processes, and the (de-)escalation of mass violence. His current research projects revolve around the ideological-discursive justification of genocidal violence across space and time, the nexus between transnational autocratization and human rights violations, as well as the conditions and strategies of civil society resistance amidst an increasingly shrinking civic space.