Information on speakers and hosts

Jutta Günther is vice president research at the University of Bremen. studied economics and social science at the Universities of Oldenburg, Osnabrück and Albany/New York from 1994 to 1999. In 2002, she did her doctorate at the University of Osnabrück in the field of social science at the chair of economic theory. From 2002 to 2014 she worked at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) as scientist. She held different leading positions there, for example as head of department for structural change from 2008 to 2013 or as member of the executive board from 2011 to 2013. She habilitated at the faculty for economic science of the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena in 2014. In April 2014, Jutta Günther took the professorship of economics, especially innovation and structural change at the University of Bremen. Her research priorities are innovation processes, structural change and economic aspects of system transformation. From 2015 – 2019, Jutta Günther has been Representative for International Relations of the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.

Marcus Callies is full professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bremen. He studied history and English at the University of Marburg/Germany where he obtained his first teaching certificate for German secondary schools in 2000 and a Dr. phil. in English linguistics in 2006. He worked as lecturer and assistant professor at the universities of Freiburg, Mainz and Bremen in Germany. His main research interests are corpus linguistics with a focus on lexico-grammatical variation on innovation in learner varieties of English and World Englishes, teacher education, conceptual metaphor, and the language of sports. He is founding editor of the International Journal of Learner Corpus Research and currently vice-president of the Learner Corpus Association. He has been serving as Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies at the University of Bremen since April 2020.

Philippe Meers (PhD Ghent University, 2003) is chair of the Antwerp Doctoral School and full professor in film and media studies in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is deputy director of the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi), chair of the Center for Mexican Studies, and interim-chair of the teaching committee for the Master Film Studies and Visual Culture. Since 2009 Meers has been the supervisor of 15 completed PhD’s (of which three joint PhDs with Mexican universities and two PhDs in the Arts) and is currently supervising 12 PhDs (of which three joint PhDs: Carlos III Madrid,  Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico-City and Universidad Oriente Santiago de Cuba).

Patrick Sachweh has been Professor of Comparative Sociology in the Department of Social Sciences and a member of the SOCIUM - Research Centre for Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen since April 2019. After studying social sciences at the Universities of Mannheim and Bloomington (USA), he completed his doctorate at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) in 2009 with a thesis on patterns of interpretation of social inequality. In his postdoctoral phase, he researched and taught at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne and at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main at the Institute for Sociology and the Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders". Since December 2020, he has been Dean of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS).

Chair: Christian Peters is Managing Director of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) at the University of Bremen. Upon completion of his doctoral degree in Paris and Dresden, he has been working in science management (ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik) since 2008. Between 2009 and 2013 he worked as Research Coordinator of the Center for Social Policy Research (today: socium) and since 2013 he manages BIGSSS.  Christian acts as co-founder and consultant of two IT-start-ups in the area of research communication and data-security (synfo, SiteRaker). Besides managing a research unit with more than 70 early career researchers and running two small companies, he has interests in populism studies and the relationship of art, religion and politics

Saskia Schneider experienced the joys and challenges of international education in the french-bilingual branch of her German high-school in Mainz and while doing the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) at the Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada. She studied law at the University of Passau, participated in the German-French „Programme échange franco-allemand d'assistants parlementaires stagiaires (PEAPS)“ between Bundestag and Assemblè Nationale and studied at Sciences-Po, Paris. Since 2009 she has been working in the legal office within the administration of the University of Bremen, where she has been negotiating several Cotutelle Agreements and Agreements for Double Degree Programmes on the Master level.

Janna Wilbers coordinates the Welcome Center for international researchers at Uni Bremen since its founding in 2011. Since 2018 it offers its services also to researchers from all member institutes of the U Bremen Research Alliance. Before moving to Bremen, Janna worked as coordinator for international students at the University of Lüneburg, Germany where she also graduated in 2009 with a Magister Artium in Applied Cultural Studies. During her studies she has been to La Trobe University, Australia for a study visit and took a semester off to work in a tourism agency in Peru.

BYRD team

Lisa Spanka works at the Equal Opportunities Office at the University of Bremen and coordinates a program to support female researchers in their early career. Furthermore, she is the project manager of a mentoring and a coaching program for female early career researchers. In her position, she also offers individual counselling for female early career researchers on PhD related topics and in difficult situations during the doctoral process as well as for questions regarding the academic career.

Christian Peters is Managing Director of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) at the University of Bremen. Upon completion of his doctoral degree in Paris and Dresden, he has been working in science management (ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik) since 2008. Between 2009 and 2013 he worked as Research Coordinator of the Center for Social Policy Research (today: socium) and since 2013 he manages BIGSSS.  Christian acts as co-founder and consultant of two IT-start-ups in the area of research communication and data-security (synfo, SiteRaker). Besides managing a research unit with more than 70 early career researchers and running two small companies, he has interests in populism studies and the relationship of art, religion and politics.

Christina (Tina) Klose is the programme manager of the Early Career Researcher Support Programme at MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, which includes the Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences (GLOMAR). Tina studied physical geography with minors in geology, botany and climatology at the University of Goettingen in Germany and at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. For her PhD project in Earth sciences at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, she studied the geomorphology and Holocene climate development in the high mountains of Taiwan. Following a postdoc project and a project management position in a European project based at the University of Oldenburg, Tina has been working at MARUM since 2012.

Sanja Bahun is the University Dean of Postgraduate Research and Education and Professor of Literature and Film at the University of Essex, UK. Professor Bahun is the author and editor of more than ten books and numerous articles in her areas of expertise. Her research has been supported and funded by the EU, AHRC, HEFCE, and other funders, and her books and articles have been part of the higher education curricula at the universities in the USA, India, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Russia, Netherlands, Sweden, Cyprus, Serbia, and the UK. She has an international profile as a speaker, researcher, and higher education evaluator. She is Fellow of UK Higher Education Academy, serves at the UK Council for Graduate Education, on Strategy Boards of two UK Doctoral Training Partnerships, and as a co-leader of YUFE Work Package 4 on Staff Mobility. Sanja coordinates the University of Essex contribution to the LINK EDURES project.

Andrew Canessa is a social anthropologist and has worked for many years with Aymara speakers in highland Bolivia and has published widely on issues of indigeneity, race, gender, and sexuality. More recently he was the PI in an ESRC funded project looking at the evolution of a British Gibraltarian identity over the course of the 20th century. Andrew is the Faculty Dean (Social Sciences) with a particular responsibility for postgraduate students. He is a member of the University of Essex Human Rights Centre.

Katharina Kitzinger works as a Postdoc in the De­part­ment of Bio­chem­istry at the Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bre­men. She completed her PhD on ni­tri­fic­a­tion in the ocean in a cotutelle procedure between the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Bremen and the Centre for Mi­cro­bi­o­logy and En­vir­on­mental Sys­tems Sci­ence at  the University of Vienna from 2015-2019. Her work has been honoured with several awards, this year she received the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society.

Nicholas Mouttotos, born in Cyprus, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bremen since August 2021. His research on private international law and consumer law is funded under the YUFE - Young Universities for the Future of Europe postdoctoral programme which has only recently begun. Nicholas received his bachelor’s in law (Ptychion of Law) from the University of Cyprus and his master’s on European Law (LL.M.) from Maastricht University where he completed his Ph.D. in April 2021. All three universities form part of the YUFE alliance, and Nicholas, as part of the YUFE postdoctoral programme, will spend at least six months at Maastricht University. Nicholas will also strive to increase cooperation with the University of Cyprus, given his attachment with the Faculty of Law there. As part of this cooperation Nicholas was very much involved in the first conference completed under the auspices of YUFE between all law faculties of partner universities. This initiative is to be taken up in future meetings between the law faculties which are held yearly.

Pieter Spooren is the head of the Antwerp Doctoral School at the University of Antwerp. The Antwerp Doctoral School organizes the obligatory doctoral education programme for all doctoral researchers at the University of Antwerp and is responsible for all other policies and procedures regarding the doctoral trajectories at the university. The Antwerp Doctoral School also conducts the negotiations and the signing procedures for all cotutelle and Joint PhD agreements at the university, in close collaboration with the vicerector for Education and the colleagues from the Legal Office and the Valorisation Office.

Chair: Imke Girßmann works as a program manager at BYRD - Bremen Early Career Researcher Developments since 2018. She is in charge of qualification and networking offers for postdoctoral researchers at the University of Bremen. She also offers individual consultation and organizes a coaching program tailored to the needs of postdocs. Imke holds a PhD from the Institute of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Oldenburg. Her dissertation examines the entangled dynamics of memorial projects in Berlin.

Marie Sander works as a program manager at BYRD - Bremen Early Career Researcher Development since 2015 and is in charge of qualification and networking offers for doctoral candidates at the University of Bremen. She also hosts writing groups and offers individual consultation for PhD researchers and students interested in starting a doctorate. Marie holds a PhD in Anthropology from Heidelberg University. Her dissertation on expatriate youth draws on extended fieldwork in the international communities of Shanghai.

Christian Peters is Managing Director of the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) at the University of Bremen. Upon completion of his doctoral degree in Paris and Dresden, he has been working in science management (ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik) since 2008. Between 2009 and 2013 he worked as Research Coordinator of the Center for Social Policy Research (today: socium) and since 2013 he manages BIGSSS.  Christian acts as co-founder and consultant of two IT-start-ups in the area of research communication and data-security (synfo, SiteRaker). Besides managing a research unit with more than 70 early career researchers and running two small companies, he has interests in populism studies and the relationship of art, religion and politics.

Margaux Kersschot is a YUFE-policy adviser at the Department of Research Affairs and Innovation. She is co-responsible for the follow up and development of the activities in the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) alliance. More specifically she is focussing on the workpackages 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship', 'Staff Journey' and 'Sustainability'. Margaux obtained a PhD in Social Sciences at the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven (2016), entitled 'Lost in aggregation : domestic public and private economic actors in EU trade negotiations'. In the same year, she was President of the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) and has been invited for a seat in the advisory board for several consecutive years. Before rejoining the University of Antwerp, Margaux worked at Adoc Talent Management in Paris, an innovative SME specialised in careers of doctorate holders. She continued putting her expertise into practice at the Antwerp Doctoral School before moving on to her current position.

Annecy Lax is currently serving as Deputy Dean for Postgraduate Research Training, operating in a pan-University role as the academic and strategic lead for doctoral education, and representing the University of Essex in linked projects. Annecy has specific responsibility for the development of the PGR Career and Employability Framework and for Supervisor Training at the University of Essex, and is closely involved in Essex’s contribution to YERUN and YUFE work. Annecy is also a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature Film and Theatre Studies and an Associate Artist at ice&fire theatre. She is currently working on research outputs with six global partners on women theatre-makers who use their practice to promote social justice dialogue in conflict and post-conflict zones.

Chair of the closing discussion: Pieter Spooren is the head of the Antwerp Doctoral School at the University of Antwerp. The Antwerp Doctoral School organizes the obligatory doctoral education programme for all doctoral researchers at the University of Antwerp and is responsible for all other policies and procedures regarding the doctoral trajectories at the university. The Antwerp Doctoral School also conducts the negotiations and the signing procedures for all cotutelle and Joint PhD agreements at the university, in close collaboration with the vicerector for Education and the colleagues from the Legal Office and the Valorisation Office.