At the ECPMF, Patrick leads the annual study “Feindbild Journalist:in”, which provides a systematic analysis of violence against journalists, protection and support mechanisms, and other forms of media freedom violations in Germany. Within this broader work, he pays particular attention to local journalism, especially in contexts shaped by far-right mobilisation and hostility toward the press.

His overall research interests focus on press freedom and democratic erosion in Europe, with particular attention to how violations of media freedom both reflect and actively reinforce broader authoritarian dynamics.

Patrick completed his PhD in Comparative Politics at the Institute of Law and Economics at the University of Hamburg. His dissertation examines how the use of emergency laws can facilitate processes of autocratisation.

Previously, he was a guest researcher at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a research assistant at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in the DFG-funded project “The (In)stability of Presidential Term Limits in Africa and Latin America.” He has teaching experience in the fields of democratisation and autocratisation at the University of Hamburg.