Maike Messerschmidt is a research associate at the Chair of Comparative Studies of Political Culture. Prior to joining the Institute of Cultural Studies, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, she was a research assistant in the Department of International Relations/Peace and Conflict Studies at the Institute of Political Science, University of Tübingen (2016-2023) and in the DFG-funded research project "The Transformation of Violence-Centered Masculinities after Armed Conflict" (2019-2023). She holds a B.A. in Political Science and German Language and Literature, an M.A. in Peace Research and International Relations (University of Tübingen), and defended her PhD thesis in Political Science in 2022 (summa cum laude), likewise at the University of Tübingen.

Maike Messerschmidt is currently concluding two research projects. The first project deals with the question of how security sector reforms after internal armed conflicts interact with gender relations and militarisation and what effects this can have on political systems and societies. The project analyses this question using the example of (internationally supported and funded) security sector reforms in Uganda. Her second project investigates institutional and social constructions of masculinity in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Uganda and how peacebuilding measures contributed to their transformation.

More generally, Maike Messerschmidt’s research interests include practice- and gender-theoretical approaches in International Relations, critical-feminist perspectives in peace and conflict studies, armed conflict and peacebuilding processes in sub-Saharan Africa, and militarisation and militarism in authoritarian regimes.

Prior to taking up her doctoral research, Maike Messerschmidt worked at the office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation Uganda and South Sudan as a programme officer in the field of political and civic education and democracy promotion. Her work focused on gender equality, civil society promotion, good governance and accountability, political parties in repressive regimes, and conflict and peace in South Sudan.