About me

Madlyn Sauer (she/her) researches the solidaristic politics and practices of civil society tribunals at the intersection of law, politics, and culture. Her doctoral project at the Department of Cultural Analysis at the University of Zurich, she examines how the social movements imagine, organize, and enact their counter- tribunals within the horizon of solidarity in order to achieve the legal, political, and social transformations they seek. Madlyn is a PhD fellow in the collaborative doctoral program Epistemologies of Aesthetic Practices at the Collegium Helveticum in Zurich. From May 2023 to November 2025 she has been a research assistant in the Horizon ERC-Advanced Grant project Prefiguring Democratic Futures at the Departement of Political Science at the University of Vienna.

Madlyn Sauer is the author of the monograph Wir klagen an!, in which she analyzes the tribunals of the German Action Alliance 'Unraveling the NSU Complex'. In November 2025, her second book, Que pare el genocidio!, will be published by the Colombian Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular/ Programa por la Paz (CINEP/PPP). It offers a documentary analysis of the 48th session of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in Colombia.

From 2014 to 2020, she studied Stage and Costume Design and Applied Theater Studies at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. In November 2019, particpated in the third NSU Tribunal in Chemnitz in 2019 and became acquainted with the practice of civil society tribunals for the first time.

Her background in theater and the arts, as well as years of activist collective work in various political groups shape her practice-oriented and empirical research approach at the intersection of cultural studies, critical legal studies, theater and performance studies, and political theory. Her work focuses primarily on solidarity, resistance, memory culture, and transformative justice.

Madlyn Sauer lives and works in Milan and Zurich.

Looking for a collaboration?

Looking for a researcher on civil society tribunals? Interested in a collaboration or just want to get in touch? Feel free to reach out.

→ E-Mail: sauer [dot] madlyn [at] posteo.de

CV

Currently (Academic Positions)

05/23–11/25 Research Assistant funded by the Horizon ERC Advanced Grant, Project Prefiguring Democratic Futures, Prof. Oliver Marchart, Political Theory, University of Vienna, www.predef.univie.ac.at (full-time)
since 02/21 PhD student in the interdisciplinary study programm of Cultural Analysis, supervision Prof. Sylvia Sasse (Slavic Literature Studies), University of Zurich
since 02/21 Fellow in the PhD research lab Epistemologies of Aesthetic Practices, Collegium Helveticum Zurich
10/20–03/22 Artistic Assistant, Stage and Costume Design, HfBK Dresden University of Fine Arts (part-time 20h)

Before my academic career, I worked in the independent arts and theatre scene – as an artist, theatre maker, and political campaigner in various projects and collectives. My professional journey began early, at the age of sixteen, in more traditional roles as a secretary and industrial clerk. For further details about my professional background, please feel free to get in touch.

Study & Education:

since 02/2021 PhD student, Cultural Analysis, University of Zurich
10/14–02/20 Diploma in Stage and Costume Design, final grade: 1.0, HfBK Dresden University of Fine Arts
08/09–06/12 Secondary Education Diploma (Abitur), final grade: 2.9, Community College Erfurt (Volkshochschule Erfurt), Evening School (second-chance education)
08/06–06/09 Professional training as industrial clerk, final grade: 2.7, Stadtwerke Erfurt Gruppe

Scholarships & Grants:

Scholarships:

04/22–05/23 PhD Scholarship, foundation Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
07/16–02/20 Study scholarship, foundation Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

Grants:

03/ 2025 Travel Grant „Long Travel“, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zurich, funding for a one-month research
stay in Cape Town (South Africa) from 17th November to 21st December funded with 2.420 CHF
08/2024 Short Grant, Graduate Campus, University of Zurich, funding for the monograph „Que pare el
genocidio! El Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos 2021 en Colombia“, funded with 1.600 CHF

Memberships:

SAFI – SOCIETAS APERTA FEMINARUM IN IURIS THEORIA (interdisciplinary network for women in legal academia)

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