Before joining Birmingham in September 2014, Julian was a researcher with the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin. He completed his M.A. (Magister) in History and Political Science (focus on IR) at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1999. Afterwards he worked three years with the European University Viadrina on the German-Polish border to examine the impact of historical memories on the foreign policy transformation of Poland and Slovakia after 1989. In 2003 he moved for two years to Tyumen in Russia to teach International Relations at the Tyumen State University (TGU).
After Julian's return to Berlin, he joined the Centre for Central and Eastern Europe of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) focussing on the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy. In 2007 he earned his PhD and three years later moved on to work as assistant professor with the universities St. Joseph (USJ) and LAU (Lebanese American University) in Beirut (2010-2013). Since 2013 he is associated with the German Orient-Institue (DOI) and the IEP in Berlin. In his free time he likes to travel, reading novels, and watching Asian films.