Nicole is Professor of International Relations and Theories of Global Orders at the Goethe University Frankfurt. She is also Executive Director of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), where she is responsible for the research departments on International Institutions and Transnational Politics (co-director). She is currently spokesperson of the Leibniz Research Network Crises of a Globalized World and one of the three spokespersons for the newly founded federal Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC). The focal points of her research are on international political theory, global governance, security policy, and social movements.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE Nicole was involved in the program "The Future of Democracy".