Adrian is currently studying for a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Trier. He completed his Bachelor’s in Political Science and History at the University of Kassel and is currently a scholarship holder at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. His main areas of interest are foreign policy, security policy, international organizations, and artificial intelligence.

Tom is a PhD Candidate in Environmental Economics, researching the triangular relationship between development, the environment, and human health at the Research Centre for Environmental Economics at Heidelberg University. He did his Bachelor’s in Bayreuth and completed his Master’s in Heidelberg and Warsaw. Working as a diplomatic consultant in Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, he immersed himself in the world of international relations and never broke away again. He is a research fellow in the Doctoral Program “Security and Development in the 21st Century” by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and is particularly interested in the unintended results on the environment of intentional action by international players.
Tom speaks German, English, Russian, Arabic, Swahili, and a bit of Japanese and Bahasa Malayu. He currently learns Spanish.

Dr. Alexander Pyka is Co-Founder of CISS and Programme Coordinator of the Impact Group Foreign Policy Talks. He was a member of the executive Board until 2016.

Alexander works at the public international law division at the German Federal Foreign Office. He wrote his doctoral thesis about the international sanctions regime against Iran while working as personal adviser to a former head of government. Alexander studied Law at Bucerius Law School, Germany and Tel Aviv University, Israel, as a scholar of the German National Academic Foundation. In 2013, he was selected “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the St. Gallen Symposium, “Top 99 under 33 Foreign Policy Leader” by the Diplomatic Courier in Washington D.C. and “Global Shaper” by the World Economic Forum, Davos. Alexander speaks German, English, French and Spanish.

Anne Laible is an executive board member and responsible for CISS’s HR.

Anne follows a Bachelor in International Cultural and Business Studies at Passau University. Her thematic focus lies on Latin American culture and politics as well as development economics. Anne gained practical experience as a volunteer of the “weltwärts” programme in a primary school with a nutritional program in Peru and as intern at the German-Peruvian Cultural Institute (part of the Goethe Institute Peru) and the regional hub for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security in Panama. Anne speaks German, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

David Schlutz is Co-Founder of CISS and was member of the Executive Board until 2016.

David works as a consultant for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Kigali, Rwanda. In summer 2015, he graduated from London School of Economics with a Master in Public Policy and from Hertie School of Governance Berlin with a Master of Public Administration. He wrote his dissertation in collaboration with the World Bank in the field of corruption prevention. Previously, he worked as a consultant for the GIZ’s Sustainable Economic Development Program in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He holds  a B.A. degree in European Studies from Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg, Germany, where he put his research focus on the post-Soviet space. As an undergraduate, he spent a semester abroad at the St. Petersburg State University’s Faculty for International Relations. He interned with the protocol division of “Netzwerk Quadriga”, with the division for Nuclear Disarmament at the German Federal Foreign Office and the Anticorruption and Integrity Program at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. David David speaks German, English, French and Russian.

Florian Winkler is a member of the Executive Board and responsible for CISS’s finances.

Florian is currently a MSc candidate in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Prior to his graduate studies, he worked as a project manager at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German development agency, supporting Germany’s G20 presidency in 2017, and as a research assistant the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he focused on international relations and international political economy. During his studies, he spent a semester abroad at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he also worked as a research assistant on international trade. Previously, Florian was an intern with GPPi and gained work experience at the German Mission to the United Nations in New York, the German Bundestag and the foreign affairs department of Germany’s federal press and information office. He grew up in Singapore, the United States and Germany and implemented social projects in Cambodia and India during high school. Florian speaks German, English and Spanish.

Gregor is a graduate student of Global Politics and Modern Global History of Europe at the University of Göttingen. His thematic focus lies on European integration with a special interest in public spheres. He is coordinating the editors team of the young European blog project HistoryCampus.org and gained practical insights during a year of internships among others at the German Federal Academy for Security Policy and in the External Action department of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union. Gregor speaks German, English, Italian, Spanish and has basic knowledge of Dutch and Polish.

Prof Dr Hanna Pfeifer is Co-Founder of CISS and was a member of the Executive Board until 2016.

Since July 2020, Hanna is Assistant Professor of Political Science with a Focus on Radicalisation and Violence Research at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt.
From 2016-2020, she worked as a research associate in International Relations at the Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg where she also gained her PhD (2017). In 2018, she was a visiting scholar at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. From 2012-2016, she was a research associate at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and, from 2011 to 2012, in the Rottendorf-Project “Global Solidarity” at the Munich School of Philosophy. She holds a Master of Arts (2012) in Political Science, Philosophy and Mathematics from the University of Munich. She spent one year of her studies at Sciences Po Paris in the master’s programme Sécurité Internationale. She specialised in Middle Eastern politics, International Relations theories and political theory. Hanna was a doctoral fellow at the Orient Institute Beirut, Lebanon, and stayed in Sanaa, Yemen, as well as Aleppo and Damascus, Syria, for internships and language classes.

Johanna Hartz-Goiteom is Chief Editor for CISS’s Think Tank.

Johanna is currently in the second year of the double degree master’s program Public Affairs and Management at HEC Paris and Freie Universität Berlin. She received her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Mannheim and studied one semester at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. She wrote her bachelor thesis about the educational attainment of children with a migration background in Germany.

Johanna has gained practical experience though internships with consultancies, the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai, the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. Johanna speaks German, English, Spanish and is learning French.

Johannes Klein is member of the Executive Board and Chief Editor for CISS’s Think Tank.

Johannes currently completes his Carlo-Schmid fellowship at the Governance Directorate of the OECD in Paris. Prior to this he graduated in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and studied at Master and Bachelor level International Relations in Germany, the Netherlands and Brazil. Next to internships at the German Federal Foreign Office, with various NGOs in Europe and Latin America, the EU and the German Bundestag, he worked as CISS’s Director for ‘Global Affairs’ and is a member of the Executive Board. Johannes speaks German, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Katharina Lange is an executive board member and responsible for CISS’s finances.

Katharina currently works as Project Manager & Community Coordinator at the Institute for Social Banking in Berlin. Her background in banking goes back to her education as a bank clerk. During her studies in Development Economics & International Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, she focused on African culture and economy as well as sustainable development. She successfully completed her Master’s degree with her thesis on the role of sustainable lending in helping to achieve the long-term development goals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her diverse long-term stays abroad in France as well as South and East Africa enable her to value the different cultures. Katharina speaks German, English, French and is learning Swahili.

Dr. Kilian Spandler was a member of CISS’s Executive Board from 2016 to 2019. Prior to that, he was Regional Director for Southeast Asia.

Kilian is a Researcher at the School of Global Studies of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His academic work focuses on the relation between regional and global governance with a special focus on Southeast Asia. His book ‘Regional Organizations in International Society’ explores the history of ASEAN and the EU. He has researched and taught International Relations at several institutions in Germany, Indonesia, Sweden and the United States. Kilian completed his PhD in International Relations at the University of Tübingen in 2016. Together with Lukas Rudolph and Steffen Murau, he founded CISS’s Impact Group “EU-ASEAN Perspectives”. Kilian speaks German, English and French, and has some basic knowledge in Indonesian and Swedish.

Lena Gomer is CISS’s regional co-director for “Middle East & North Africa” (MENA).

Lena currently completes a master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Münster in Islamic Studies and Economics. Besides the regional focus of her studies, Lena has collected valuable experiences by living in Jordan for volunteering and an internship at a local organization – the Arab Water Countries Utilities Association (ACWUA). Lena speaks German, English, Arabic and French.

Contact: lena.gomer@ciss.eu

Lukas Rudolph is Co-Founder of CISS and was member of the Executive Board until 2017.

Lukas is research associate and PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science of the University of Munich (LMU). In his dissertation, he works on questions of Comparative Political Economy, especially on the relationship between elections and institutions. He has a Master of Arts (2012) in Political Science, Intercultural Communication and Law and a Bachelor of Science in Economics. During his studies, he focused on questions of development and International Relations. He worked, amongst others, in development cooperation, science and consulting projects. Lukas speaks German, English, French and Bangla.

Maximilian Fricke is regional director for “North America” and member of the Impact Group Foreign Policy Talks.

Maximilian currently works at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in international energy policy. At the same time he completes a Master´s program in National and International Administration and Policy at the University of Potsdam. He gained additional experience in energy policy lobbying and in the office of a member of the German parliament. Maximilian completed his bachelor´s degree in Business, Economics and Political Studies in Berlin in 2016. After, he started a one-year training program with the German American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, IL, where he gained extensive knowledge of the United States. Maximilian speaks German, English and French.

Contact: maximilian.fricke@ciss.eu

Patricia is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Transatlantic Affairs at the College of Europe in Natolin and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and especially focuses on the EU’s external relations and the security and defense dimension of transatlantic relations. Her academic interests further include human rights and migration policies as well as the future of European democracy. Prior to this, Patricia studied law at the University of Hamburg and the Lund University in Sweden, specializing in EU and public international law. She has gained practical experience working as a legal consultant in EU competition law in Brussels and interned in the German Embassy in Warsaw.

Patricia speaks German, Polish, English, French and has basic knowledge in Spanish and Russian.

Dr Steffen Murau is an executive board member and responsible for CISS’s Impact Groups.

He currently works as a postdoctoral fellow at Global Development Policy Center of Boston University. In the academic year 2017-18, he was a fellow at Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Steffen completed his PhD in International Political Economy at City, University of London in November 2017. From 2013 to 2017, he has been teaching political economy, international relations and economics at City, University of London, University College London (UCL) and Columbia University, New York. Until 2012, he studied political science, philosophy, economics and international law at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He interned at Deutsche Bundesbank and the German Institute for Security and International Affairs, and implemented a development project in Cameroon with a German NGO. Steffen speaks German, English, French and Arabic.

Website: https://steffenmurau.com/