Merlin Sophie Bootsmann studied history, social sciences, and literary studies at Bielefeld University and Free University of Brussels between 2015 and 2021. She was a student and later research assistant at the working area of Global History and History of Entanglements at Bielefeld University between 2016 and 2021.          

Since 2021 they are a research fellow at Freie Universität Berlin. Together with Greta Hülsmann, Martin Lücke, and Andrea Rottmann they are researching the subproject "Human rights, queer genders and sexualities since the 1970s" as part of the DFG research unit "Law – Gender – Collectivity". Their research interests besides queer history include contemporary history, environmental history, and labour history.

In her Ph.D., "Educational (human) rights: From the employment ban of gay teachers to the integration of diverse genders and sexuality into educational processes", she is researching the intersections of the history of education and social movements in the mobilisation of human rights in regards to educational politics and policy by LGBTIQ* collectives since the 1970s.