Rebecca Pates is head of the research unit Identity and Representation at the Institute of Political Science at the Leipzig University and conducts research on identity constructions, understanding of nationhood, the mutability of national narratives, discourse analysis and micropolitics. She leads the teaching research workshop PoliLab and is a member of the Competence Centre for Research on Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy (KReDO). She studied at the University of Oxford (BA), Hong Kong, and McGill University (MA, PhD). In 2004, the University of Leipzig awarded her the Theodor Litt teaching prize.