We are delighted to welcome PD Dr. Regula Ludi as another expert and colleague to our research group! Starting in mid-May, she will join the group as a Mercator Fellow at the University of Erfurt. As co-director of the SNF project „Freiwilligkeit und Geschlecht“ at the University of Fribourg, she has already been one of our research group’s key collaborators for some time. The results of this collaboration led to this year’s publication of the special issue “The Power of Voluntary Activity: Global Perspectives” at Comparativ, co-edited with Jürgen Martschukat and Matthias Ruoss.
Regula’s path took her from studying history and constitutional law, followed by a doctorate in Bern, through various fellowships abroad to the University of Zurich. There, she completed her habilitation and served as a titular professor of modern history from 2017 to 2023. She currently teaches and conducts research at the University of Fribourg, where she focuses intensively on gender history and the history of feminism, as well as women’s and human rights. Regula also devotes herself to the history of Nazi victims and their compensation, as well as the history of memory.
With a focus on research into voluntariness, work, and gender, Regula will enrich our work as a research group not only through her expertise alone. On May 20, 2026, she will be a speaker in our lecture series on the topic “’We Are Fed up with Unpaid Housework and Sick of Altruism’: Second-Wave Feminism, Unpaid Work, and Volunteering.” In addition, together with her colleague and co-fellow Matthias Ruoss, she will lead a workshop on „Solidarität und Subversion: Freiwillige Hilfen am Rande der Legalität,“ which will take place on May 28, 2026. We look forward to Regula’s contributions and wish her a wonderful time here in Erfurt!
