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Jacob conducted his PhD at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. His thesis was entitled “Male Cross-Dressing Performance in Britain, 1918-1970”.

Since the completion of his PhD, Jacob has resided in London. During this time, he has served as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Kent, teaching courses on the History of Sexuality and the Social History of Medicine. Additionally, he was an Instructor at the Bader International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, where he taught Gender Studies. He also published an article entitled “Splinters: Cross-Dressing Ex-Servicemen on the Interwar Stage” in the journal Twentieth Century British History.

“I am terrifically gratified and excited to become a Fellow with the Zukunftskolleg” says Jacob. His research investigates the career and legacy of musician Little Richard. "Specifically, I am probing the question of how the singer, as a highly effeminate, flamboyant African-American man, achieved an extraordinary degree of mainstream popularity in both the United States and Europe in a period defined by racial bigotry and the repression of sexual and gender expression.”

Since the passing of rock musician Little Richard on 9 May 2020, numerous individuals at the University of Konstanz have reached out to extend their condolences to him: “It warms my heart, and it tickles me, that I am indelibly associated with the self-proclaimed ‘King of the Blues … and the Queen, too!’ as a result of the fact that my two-year Zukunftskolleg Fellowship is predicated on a historical study of Richard’s career and legacy.”

Read more on Jacob´s developing research on Richard and an overview of his project’s aims.

In addition to the aforementioned project, he is in the process of revising his first monograph with University of California Press. The monograph is on the modern history of British drag performance.