My research explores social transformations in cities, asking how cities are changing and which interests, ideas, and practices underlie these changes. I am interested in people and learn from them by doing interviews, observing everyday practices, and developing collaborative projects.

My current work focuses on people who cycle as a lens through which to understand contemporary efforts to make cities smarter and more sustainable. My project Cycling Together, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, 2026-31), is situated in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Previously, I have conducted research in India and with overseas Indian groups, which resulted in the PhD thesis Mobility and the Region (University of Amsterdam 2016), the monograph New Lives in Anand (University of Washington Press 2022), films and articles. I have also been researching everyday mobility practices in Vienna as part of an FFG-funded transdisciplinary project with scientists, activists, and filmmakers.

I am a tenured associate professor at the University of Vienna, where I serve as vice-head of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and head of the Vienna Visual Anthropology Lab. I am editor of the journal Asian Anthropology and co-convener of the Visual Anthropology Network of the European Association for Social Anthropologists (VANEASA). In the past I held positions at the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, University of Tübingen, and the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore (NIAS).