Milestones & Annual Reports
CISS was founded in 2010 during a summer school of the German National Academic Foundation. It has come a long way since then! Check out CISS’s milestones in the past few years and read more about past projects and developments in our annual reports.
Our Highlights 2021
- We were happy to have lots of activity in our think tank with 18 articles published.
- Three articles were published in the Diplomatic Magazine covering land reform in Ukraine, White Saviorism and the donation industry, and on the concept of gross national happiness.
- We produced two new episodes of the podcast “CISS Hot Seat” on the freedom of press in Estonia and the link between sovereign wealth funds and pan-Africanism.
- CISS joined a meeting hosted by the Gesellschaft für Europabildung who brought a delegation of Georgian students and discussed questions of youth participation in democratic processes.
- We hosted an interview with Kristina Lunz, the director of the Center for Feminist Foreign Policy, on the definition, history, and implementation of feminist foreign policy and its interconnection with the climate crisis.
- CISS organized three online roundtables on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global power structure, the impact of global supply chain legislation on human rights, and the political power of tech companies.
- We have welcomed four new team members: Lance Bradley, Lea Siebel, Gelila Enbaye and Vanessa Böttger.
Our Highlights 2020
- We are happy to report that for the third year in a row, more of our new members are internationals rather than German nationals.
- We have welcomed eight new members to CISS’s core team.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, we started our “CISS Series in Times of Corona”, a series of short stories from around the world, including comments, perspectives and analyses on the pandemic, that we published in our Think Tank.
- Happy Birthday, CISS! As part of the ten-year anniversary of CISS’s foundation, we celebrated by traveling back in time and publishing a series of articles and short interviews with CISS alumni. Not only did we illustrate CISS’s development as an organization over the past ten years, we also provided future perspectives for the coming year
- In August 2020, our “Latin America Weeks” took place in the course of which our Think Tank published all analyses and publications written as part of the successful Impact Group LACALYTICS II.
- We started our own Podcast series called “CISS Hot Seat”. The concept of the podcast is that young people interview and debate with policymakers, academics, and journalists about current hot topics in world politics and what it means to work in the field of international affairs.
- CISS founded the Impact Group ‘Future of the International Monetary System’ and started recruiting members for its project team. By developing an online tool, the project aims at raising awareness about the structures of the international monetary system and make knowledge available to a broader population.
Our Highlights 2019
- We are happy to report that for the second year in a row, we have accepted more international new members than German nationals.
- We elected a new executive board during our General Meeting in September.
- Our core team met twice to discuss current developments and the future path of CISS.
- We organized a Foreign Policy Talk in cooperation with the Young Transatlantic Initiative where CISS members had the opportunity to meet with Geoff Gartshore, Counsellor for Political Affairs, and Jean Ducharme, Counsellor for Cultural Diplomacy at the Embassy of Canada.
- Our regional director for the Sub Saharan Africa region held a presentation on the areas of conflict as part of the seminar “War and Peace” at the Akademie Frankenwarte in Würzburg, Germany.
- CISS members also had the unique opportunity to discuss German-US relations with US Ambassador Richard Grenell during a foreign policy breakfast we organized together with the Young Transatlantic Initiative.
Our Highlights 2018
- We saw our membership breaking the 200 mark for the first time.
- We completed the second edition of our impact group “Memory as a tool of change” with a final event in Berlin, organized in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
- We also finished the second edition of LACalytics with the support of the EU-LAC foundation. We organized a closing event in Hamburg, Germany, and launched a new LACalytics publication.
- David Wallace, the political counsellor at the British Embassy in Berlin, joined us for a foreign policy talk with students and young professionals.
- For the first time, we sent a delegation of students and young professional to the European Youth Event (EYE).
- In cooperation with the association of the Humboldt University, we organized a panel discussion on international human trafficking and legal reforms in Germany.
- New regional directors have joined our core team: Elias Reiche for Global Affairs, Maximilian Fricke and Hendrik Frank as (co-) directors for North America, Johanna Hartz-Goiteom for South & East Asia, Lena Gomer, Eimen Hamedat and Max Kratz as (co-) directors for MENA and Katharina Lange for sub-Saharan Africa.
Our Highlights 2017
- CISS’s project “Common Remembrance, Future Relations” took place under the patronage of Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office. In cooperation with the NGO Armenian Progressive Youth (APY), CISS brought together 20 NGOs from Armenia, France, Germany, Israel and Turkey in Yerevan, Armenia, with the aim to explore varying forms of remembrance and to foster dialogue between the different cultures.
- In the second edition of the Impact Group “Memory as a Tool for Change” , 14 students from Germany and Austria travelled to West-Siberia for two weeks.
- We surpassed the threshold of 5,000 likes on Facebook, and one of our posts reached almost 57,800 people – our biggest outreach so far.
- We were delighted to welcome Florian Winkler as new member of the executive board, and Anna Schwertz-Weirich and Anne Laible as new regional directors for Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Our Highlights 2016
- CISS members organized a German-Russian exchange on “Memory as a Tool of Change” in February to discuss various forms of remembrance cultures in both countries.
- We successfully organized the first Model UN Parliament in April and October in Halle (Germany) to discuss ways of making the United Nations more democratic.
- CISS successfully ran its first edition of its LACalytics program and brought together students and young professionals from Latin America and Europe in Hamburg to discuss current issues in EU-LAC relations.
- Our Impact Group “EU-ASEAN Perspectives” implemented the third edition of its annual EU-ASEAN Perspectives Dialogue and brought together 20 young scholars from the EU and ASEAN to discuss issues of gender equality with policy makers and experts in Brussels.
- CISS has elected a new executive board in September and we kindly welcome Theresa Lieb, Lukas Rudolph, Steffen Murau, Kilian Spandler and Johannes Klein as new board members. In addition, we are delighted to have Joana Westphal, Laura Scherer, Mattia Nelles and Annekathrin Ruhose on board as new members of our core team.
Our Highlights 2015
- The Impact Group EU-ASEAN Perspectives presented the policy paper of its interregional online-workshop to members of the European Commission and to ASEAN ambassadors in Brussels. Successfully implemented for the second time, the Impact Group is now well established in political circles.
- CISS’s Trilateral Peace Talks – Germany, Russia, Ukraine sent out a signal of mutual understanding within the continuing strains in the context of the crisis in Ukraine.
- Around 15 CISS members had the chance of meeting Dr Wolf-Ruthart Born, former State Sectretary in the German Foreign Ministry, for an exclusive fireside chat. Dr Born informed them about career opportunities in diplomacy and recent events in international affairs.
- Our core team has expanded. With Hannah Elten, Johannes Klein, Ravenna Sohst and Florian Winkler, we have four new dynamic and competent regional directors on board!
Our Highlights 2014
- We have successfully launched and implemented our campaign #IVoteBecause on the European elections. 41 young European published their motivation to go voting and have reached more than 13,000 people.
- The Impact Group EU-ASEAN Perspectives has presented its policy recommendations in the German Bundestag and to ambassador of Indonesia in Berlin. The recommendations had been developed during an online workshop by participants from Europe and South East Asia.
- Due to their essay contribution, Kilian Spandler and Hanna Pfeifer were invited to a talk with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.
- In September, we launched our new regional section Sub-Saharan Africa and were able to welcome Corinna Coupette as a new member in our core team.
Our Highlights 2013
- The Impact Group EU-ASEAN Perspectives has assembled young academics from Asia and Europe at a virtual conference table. In the online workshop, they discussed the future relationship between both regions and decided to form a network of young scientists and practitioners from both regions.
- Some 15 CISS member met Dr Ralf Retter, member of staff in the G8/G20 division of the German Chancellery, for a fireside chat at Hertie School of Governance.
- CISS has launched a new op-ed column at The European. We are now able give the authors of our Open Think Tank access to an even larger audience.
- Our core team has expanded. We are welcoming Kilian Spandler as regional director “South & East Asia”, Theresa Lieb as Public Relations Officer, Rima-Maria Rahal as Ressource Development Officer and Christian Macht as Head of Web Development.
Our Highlights 2012
- CISS has implemented the “Forum Junger Russlandexperten” in Berlin. In collaboration with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and Hertie School of Governance, CISS has successfully promoted young expertise on Russia, connected practitioners and junior professionals, and enhanced the attractivity of projects on Eastern Europe.
- Our essay competitions on topical issues in International Relations such as the Arab Spring were very popular among readers and contributors.
- We have established a new monthly CISS op-ed in Diplomatisches Magazin. Authors writing for our Open Think Tank have now the chance of co-publishing their articles on topics in International Relations.
- Our core team is supported by two competent new individuals: Malvin Oppold is new regional director “Russia & CIS”, Steffen Murau is now in charge of the regional section “EU & Europe”.
Our Highlights 2011
- CISS has consistently grown during the first year after its foudation by Hanna Pfeifer, Alexander Pyka, Lukas Rudolph, David Schlutz und Susanne Schwarz in December 2010. We warmly welcome all the new members!
- With a panel discussion on European-Russian Relations as well as practical workshops on international negotiations and a career in international politics, CISS was able to leave its traces in the field of young international relations.
- Via the essay competition “Shifting Powers”, students from three continents were able to publish their ideas and perspectives in the Open Think Tank and put them up for discussion.
- Leonard Ghione is new regional manager “North America”, Lukas Keller and Jana Dotschkal share the responsibility for the regional secition “Latin America and the Carribean”.