Franca Buss studied German philology, philosophy and art history at the University of Hamburg and completed a doctorate on the impact of Enlightenment debates on 18th-century tombstone art. The thesis was awarded the Deubner doctoral prize. 2016-2017, Research assistant for Iris Wenderholm, later for Frank Fehrenbach. Since 2022, DFG Research Group 'Imaginarien der Kraft'. In 2020 she published together with Philipp Müller Hin- und Wegsehen. Formen und Kräfte von Gewaltbildern. Her research focuses on tombstone monuments of the early modern period, the history of ideas, and the intellectual history of the 18th century, as well as forms and forces behind images of violence. In her new research project, she is focussing on the dynamic qualities of landscape in early modern painting.