ALUMNI 2017

Simon was born in 1981 in Prague. He studied social, economic and legal history and political sciences at the University of Bonn and the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence. He worked for the German market-leading communication agency PLEON and at the Centre for European Integration Studies (ZEI) in Bonn. In 2013 he was a Ph.D. candidate and junior lecturer in Nationalism-studies at the University of Bonn. He obtained scholarship of the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and a Ph.D. Grant of The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Since 2015 he works as a coordinator at the “Scholarships and Culture” department of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin. He supervises the foundations scholarship fellows from Central and Eastern Europe and is in charge of various projects in the field of European, security and development policy.

Jürgen was born and raised right next to the Czech boarder in Tirschenreuth. After finishing secondary school, he attended the University of Passau, where he studied Business and International Cultural Studies, specializing in migration and social integration. At the end of his studies, Jürgen signed up for the BOHEMICUM, a one-year intensive program focusing on Czech language and culture. After finishing it, he worked for about a year in Plzen and Prague before he took up his current position as project manager at the Technical University of Munich. Apart from his job, he is currently working with other like-minded people on an initiative to foster solidarity in society.

Martin is a research scientist and a driven person. He works as a transportation engineer with a primary focus on transport planning and policy. Martin is pursuing his Ph.D. degree in transportation science at Karlsruhe University of Technology, with interest in traffic modelling and autonomous vehicles. Throughout his professional and private life, he found himself immersed in different cultures what raised his interest in the international affairs and development. When he is not attending any fencing competition on the weekend, you could find him giving a fencing class at a local university club. In his spare time, he enjoys backpacking, hitchhiking or cooking international dishes.

Petra studied English and German philology at the Palacký University in Olomouc, Freie Universität Berlin and at the University of Vienna. During her studies, she did many internships, e.g. for the national public broadcaster Czech Television foreign correspondent in Berlin or the national culture institute Czech Centre in the Netherlands. As a liaison officer of the Czech Office of the Government, she contributed to the country’s first Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2009. In 2012, she was awarded the International Parliamentary Scholarship by the German Federal Parliament Bundestag. As a personal assistant of the main campaign manager she participated also in the first direct election of the Czech president in 2013. From 2013 to 2016, she was responsible for public diplomacy, cultural and press affairs at the Royal Danish Embassy in Prague. In 2016, Petra successfully completed the two-semester Robinson-Martin Security Scholars Program at the Prague Security Studies Institute. She now works as a Communications and Marketing Manager for a private company in Bratislava.

Kathrin was born in the middle of Bavaria in 1980 and grew up in her hometown Ingolstadt. After graduating at high school, she studied Political Sciences – mostly with a close look towards the MEE-Countries and Europe in general. Throughout different activities (Slavonic Summer School in Olomouc, Erasmus in Slovakia, EVS in Plzen), her interests in Czech culture, language and mentality was always accompanied by warm-hearted hospitality and great experiences. Now she is happy to continue with new fellows in ambitious atmosphere, discussing current topics and exciting questions in bilateral community.

Ruben works as a Social Worker for Caritasverband Gießen e.V in the Children and Youth Home St. Stephanus. He supports minor unaccompanied refugees during the first weeks of their stay in Germany. At the University of Applied Science Darmstadt and the University of Applied Science Kiel he studied Social Work. During a DAAD founded summer school he discovered his interest in Russia and returned for an internship at the Orphanage Malyshok in Ulan-Ude near Lake Baikal. Shortly after his experience acquired abroad he began to work as a Lector for German as foreign language and Social Work for the Robert-Bosch-Foundation at the Gorno-Altaysk-State-University.

Michael works as project manager for Czech NGO Eutis, o.p.s. which is active in the field of civic education and education about European topics. Eutis is a part of European Network for Education and Training – EUNET e.V. and thanks to this is involved in various international educational projects for students with partner organizations from different European countries. Michael is also Ph.D. student of political science at Masaryk University in Brno, where he teaches in several courses. He graduated in Security and Strategic Studies at Masaryk University where he also received his BA in Political Sciences and European Studies. He spent a semester at the Utrecht University in Netherlands and in 2014 he also graduated in law and legal science at Masaryk University. His research interests include migration and transnational activities of foreigners in the Czech Republic and extremism of foreigners. Michael also closely cooperates with other NGOs and governmental organizations.

Barbora is a strategic and political communications consultant. She specialises in strategic corporate and political communication, public relations and reputation building at the leadership level. She participated in and led several election campaigns, coached politicians and government officials for public and media appearances in various countries in the CEE. She enjoys writing public speeches and helping politicians and corporations to improve their brand by storytelling and developing and enhancing their public relations programs. Barbora also holds Ph.D. in the political science and lectures at the Masaryk University in Brno. She was awarded the Chevening Scholarship to study at the LSE in London and also the Fulbright Scholarship for the American University in Washington, DC. She loves old-school movie-theatres, cosy cafés, fiction books, Moravian mountains, dancing and travelling.

Sarah works as a project coordinator in the field of International cultural policy for the Austrian Cultural Forum Prague, where she is also responsible for the trilateral German language film festival Das Filmfest. Apart from bringing the latest films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to the Czech Republic, the festival aims to further the cultural exchange between the local audience and the participating countries and to reflect current social topics in its dramaturgy. Sarah graduated from the University of Passau in International Business and Cultural Studies with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and is an alumnus of the program Bohemicum Regensburg-Passau. She spent part of her studies at the University of Sheffield and at the Charles University in Prague and kept returning to Prague for research and internships. In her spare time, she recharges with dance and all kinds of outdoor sports and, coming from the North-West of Germany, she is an advocate of urban cycling in Prague.

Annegret designs and facilitates interactive workshops on political topics in Germany and abroad. Since 2010 she has been working at planpolitik, a small company in the field of political education. She develops simulation games and other educational formats and coordinates Europe-related projects. She studied in Bremen, Prague, Brno and Frankfurt (Oder) and holds a master’s degree in European studies. Annegret lives in Berlin.

Lucie has been working for the energy company E.ON Czech in the marketing department for five years. She is responsible for marketing events for customers and public, give-aways or merchandising, and a lot of other ad hoc projects. Last year she finished her Master’s degree at University of South Bohemia in management and business economic.

Jana graduated in Political Science and European Studies at Faculty of Arts at Palacký University Olomouc. During her studies she participated in two-term stay at Friedrich-Schiller Universität (Jena) and one-term stay at Philipps-Universität (Marburg a/d Lahn) in Germany. She finished her Doctoral degree in International Relations at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in 2012 by defending her doctoral thesis on the UN peacekeeping operations. She currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the FSS at Masaryk University and as an academic researcher at the International Institute of Political Science also at Masaryk University. In her research she focuses mainly on German foreign and security policy, EU security policy and United Nations peacekeeping.