2. What’s one interesting fact about you that your colleagues probably don’t know?

I love attending live concerts whenever I can. A recent highlight was seeing Madonna perform in Berlin. A fun fact about me is that as an undergraduate, I even volunteered with the local health service, supporting their initiatives at concerts in exchange for free entry.

3. What aspects of network-related research are you most passionate about?

While some of my research explores the consequences of networks, I have always been more interested in identifying antecedents of (primarily interpersonal) tie formation and network change, particularly in innovation-intensive settings. At the moment, I am most passionate about questions related to networks and time, and I am working on a number of papers in this direction. I also just started collaborating on a project on entrepreneurial networks in the Global South, which seeks to investigate the extent to which established (i.e., Western) network theories are context dependent.

4. What inspired your research interests in networks, and when did you realize that you want to be a network scholar?

As an undergraduate student, I developed an interest in research methods and started working as a SPSS tutor. Later, my PhD advisor got me into networks and social network analysis as a unique lens and methodology for understanding social reality – and it strongly resonated and stuck. Since then, network thinking has become the core of my academic journey, and now I find myself discovering network-related questions everywhere.

5. Would you like to give any advice to more junior researchers who are studying social networks?

Put your network knowledge into practice and start building connections early. My network and networking opened many doors for me—opportunities for jobs, collaborations on papers, invitations to seminars in interesting places populated with more interesting people. Beyond the opportunities, these connections make your journey as a researcher even more enjoyable and help you navigate the inevitable bumps along the way.