Curriculum

Ben Trott is Academic Director of Gender Studies. He is speaker of the Center for Critical Studies (CCS) and co-speaker of the university-wide Gender and Diversity Research Network. His research combines three areas of inquiry. First, social/political philosophy and theory and the resources these provide for thinking about political claim-making, demands, social conflict and transformation. Second, queer theory and gender studies. This includes attention to the relationship between sexuality, gender, labour and global political economy. Third, social movements and contentious politics in an age of globalisation. He is currently working on a book about the ongoing effects of the 2007/8 political economic crisis, the politicisation of “identity”, and contemporary conflicts around free speech. He was previously Lecturer in Feminist Thought and Global Justice in the Politics Department at Cardiff University and a Postdoc with the Program in Literature at Duke University.

He has held research fellowships at the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University (NYU), the Forum Basiliense at the University of Basel, and the Center for the Study of Social and Global Justice at Nottingham University. He completed his doctorate in Philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin. 

CV

- Spring 2026, Global Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, New York University (NYU)

- since 2025, Academic Director of Gender Studies, Leuphana University of Lüneburg

- 2024 winter semester, Research Fellow, Forum Basiliense, University of Basel

- 2016 – 2025 Visiting Scholar/Visiting Professor, Institute for Philosphy and Art History (IPK), Leuphana University of Lüneburg

- 2016 Lecturer in Feminist Thought and Global Justice, Department of Politics and International Relations, Cardiff University, UK

- 2015 – 2016 Associate Lecturer, Political Science, JFK Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

- 2014 – 2015 Post-Doctoral Associate with the Program in Literature, Duke University, USA

- 2013 – 2014 Associate Lecturer, Political Science, JFK Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

- 2012 – 2013 Post-Doctoral Associate with the Program in Literature, Duke University, USA

- 2012 Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, UK

- 2011 – 2012 Associate Lecturer, Political Science, JFK Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

- 2011 – 2012 Associate Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragter) MA in European and World Politics, Department of Social Sciences, Bremen University of Applied Sciences

Education

- 2012 PhD in Philosophy, Freie Universität Berlin

- 2005 MA in International Relations, University of Sussex, UK

- 1999 BA in Politics with Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK

Teaching Fields

- Social and Political Philosophy and Theory

- Queer Theory and Gender Studies

- Globalisation and Political Economy

- Social Movements

- Anglophone Cultural Studies

Membership of Editorial Boards

- The Journal of Labor and Society

- fem.phil | Gegenwärtige feministische Philosophie (Book series, Metzler Verlag) (Advisory Board)

Reviewer for:

Journal of Social Philosophy; Social Theory and Practice: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal of Social Philosophy; Global Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Current Affairs and Applied Contemporary Thought; Graduate Journal of Social Science; Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory; Journal of Labor and Society; Feminist Theory; Sexualities; Social Movement Studies – Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest; Organization; Organization Studies; Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography; Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest; ephemera: theory & politics in organization; Interface: A Journal For and About Social Movements; METU – Studies in Development; Culture, Health & Sexuality; Open Gender Journal; Pluto Press.