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Humanity in Action Announces the Participants in the Forum on Flight and Migration

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Humanity in Action is pleased to announce the launch of the “Senior Fellows Forum: Flight and Migration – Societies in Transition” in Berlin, Germany.

This 10-day forum brings together 26 Fellows and Senior Fellows from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and the United States as a community of human rights leaders to examine some of the challenges and opportunities for social pluralism in the context of the refugee reception and newcomer integration process. The Forum intends to access contemporary migration related issues beyond media headlines by offering a platform for Humanity in Action Fellows and Senior Fellows with substantial migration related expertise – personal, professional and academic – to reflect collectively on their own positions and practical experiences in and for the inclusion of newcomers who are seeking refuge in Europe.

The Forum seeks to act as a knowledge market for sharing skills and expertise among the participants and through networking opportunities with Berlin-based civil society organizations, initiatives, experts, activists and other members of the Humanity in Action community. Through hosting this initiative, Humanity in Action seeks to assist its network of members to become better equipped in engaging responsibly and consciously in their communities, particularly in relation to the challenges of constantly changing pluralistic realities.

The forum will be informal in nature and will include several social activities and site visits to places that reflect the experience of refugees in the city. Exploring the urban space in relation to migration is part of the curriculum. The program will take place from November 10 to 19, 2017. Please click here to see the full program schedule.

This program is generously supported by Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung.

 


Participating Fellows

 

SIMONE ZALLA AUMAJ

Forum Participant
Student, Utrecht University

John Lewis Fellowship 2017

Simone Zalla Aumaj is an undergraduate student of Cultural Anthropology and Gender Studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In her academic work, Simone tries to integrate her background as a second-generation refugee by challenging hegemonic discourses and providing different narratives and approaches to the concept of migration. She adheres to the concepts of situated knowledges, politics of location, and intersectionality. In her approach to migration, Simone pleads for a nomadic discourse, rather than the hegemonic sedentary discourse that lies at stake within contemporary Europe. Simone is a Humanity in Action Fellow (John Lewis Fellowship 2017).

 

JASMINE BURTON

Forum Speaker and Participant
Founder and President, Wish for WASH
Business Studies Officer, Toilet Board Coalition
MSc Candidate, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Warsaw Fellowship 2014

During her time in college at Georgia Tech, USA, Jasmine Burton had a host of professional points of growth through her 2012 internship with Chick-fila-A corporate, her 2013 participation in the CDC’s Summer Public Health Scholars Program, her 2014 Fellowship with Humanity in Action, and her 2015 Fellowship with Global Health Corps in Lusaka, Zambia. Jasmine graduated with Highest Honors with a BS in Industrial/Product Design. Prior to graduation, she founded Wish for WASH, LLC, a social impact startup intended to bring innovation to sanitation. Jasmine continues to pursue her passion for hygienic, equitable, and sustainable sanitation as a 2016-2017 Rotary Global Grant Scholar and MSc in Public Health candidate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She identifies as a social impact designer and seeks to utilize design thinking and business acumen to advocate for universal health particularly related to marginalized communities. Jasmine is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Warsaw Fellowship 2014).

 

LAURA CAHIER

Forum Participant
Co-Founder, Identités en Mouvement Lyon
Graduate Student, Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas

Sarajevo Fellowship 2016

Laura Cahier is a student in International Human Rights and an activist interested in the adherence of fundamental human rights. She has developed projects to raise awareness in European societies about the necessity of the welcoming, protecting, and including refugees and migrants. Laura is currently writing her thesis on migrant women and refugee rights in France, with a view to intersectional discrimination and gender-based violence. Laura believes gendered perspectives to be particularly important in discussions about inclusive policies for migrant families. She is also the Co-Founder of Identités en Mouvement, a photography project based in Lyon. Their exhibitions aim at creating a space for diverse people living in the same neighborhoods to meet and draw from each other, and to exchange stories. These experiences have taught Laura about the importance of bringing people together in order to speak about our common humanity and to create solidarity. Laura is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Sarajevo Fellowship 2015).

 

EVA DEGLER

Forum Speaker and Participant
Migration Policy Analyst, OECD
MSc Graduate, University of Oxford

Berlin Fellowship 2012

Eva Degler is currently working at the International Migration Division at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Her main research focus has been on social mobility of migrant families, labor market integration, and anti-discrimination policies. Although this is not the focus of her current work, she is also interested in migration history, museum pedagogy, and the role of the city in facilitating the inclusion of newcomers. She holds a Liberal Arts degree from Amsterdam University College and a MS in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford. Eva is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2012).

 

TARA DICKMAN

Forum Participant
Co-Founder, Le Next Level
MA Graduate, New York University

Paris Fellowship 2007

Tara Dickman worked for Humanity in Action France from 2007 to 2012. She joined Humanity in Action after receiving an MA in Comparative Politics from New York University (NYU), where she focused on the impact of the monopoly of cultural approaches to minority rights in international law on the understanding of the 2005 riots in the French suburbs. Tara grew up between Paris and its suburbs, where she has been and remains involved in social, artistic, and civil rights issues. Prior to attending NYU, she had received a BA in Information and Communication followed by a graduate program at the Institute for European Studies of Paris 8 University before doing comparative research on race and urban politics at Brown University. From 2010 to 2016, she organized a nationwide campaign against racial profiling in France involving several Humanity in Action Senior Fellows. The campaign resulted in France being found guilty of racial discrimination and several bills presented in the French Parliament on collecting data on stop and search practices. Today, with her non-profit organization Le Next Level, Tara is a strategist and a community organizer for projects fostering equal rights and opportunities and social cohesion. She is also a certified civil servant trainer on inclusive management, discrimination, and the implications of secularism in the workplace. Tara is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Paris Fellowship 2007).

 

AZRA DIZDAR

Forum Participant and Performer Violinist
MA Candidate, University of Sarajevo

Detroit Fellowship 2017

Azra Dizdar was born in Mostar. She pursued her aspiration for music and graduated from the Academy of Music in Sarajevo with Dr. Yeon Ju Jeong in Violin Performance. She is currently enrolled in MA studies with the same professor. Azra was awarded the annual prize of the Karim Zaimovic Foundation for immense contribution to the cultural life of Sarajevo after performing as a soloist with an orchestra and winning several chamber music competitions with various ensembles. Beside her passion for music, Azra is a member of the Student Parliament and a Student Senator at the University of Sarajevo. Due to the challenging post-war society she grew up in, she became interested in the fields of democracy and human rights from an early age. Azra went through a system of divided education based on religion and ethnicity so she is very passionate about making integrated education a non-negotiable element in Bosnia. Azra is a Humanity in Action Fellow (Detroit Fellowship 2017).

 

ANDREW DUSEK

Forum Speaker and Participant
Humanitarian Practitioner
MA Graduate, Tufts University

Warsaw Fellowship 2012

Andrew Dusek is a practitioner with experience leading advocacy, communications, and policy research initiatives for organizations in the fields of humanitarian assistance and refugee protection. He most recently served as the communications officer and spokesman for UNHCR in Myanmar, where he designed and implemented the United Nations Refugee Agency’s public information strategies regarding internally displaced persons, stateless persons and others of concern in Myanmar. From 2011 to 2012, he worked with refugees from Myanmar in Thailand as a member of the Burma Volunteer Program. Andrew holds an MA in International Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, USA, and degrees in journalism and international relations from the University of Montana. Andrew is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Warsaw Fellowship 2012).

 

MARIA GARAKI

Forum Speaker and Participant
Senior Program Assistant, UNHCR Greece
MA Graduate, Central European University (CEU)

Berlin Fellowship 2017

Maria Garaki was born and raised in Athens, Greece and is a young professional working in the field of human rights. She holds a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Athens, where she focused on European and international policy norms. With a fully funded tuition scholarship, she received her MA in Human Rights from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, focusing on International and European Refugee Law. She speaks fluent Greek, English, and French. Today, Maria is working for the UNHCR in Greece in her second term at the organization during the current refugee reception crisis, both in field and administrative positions, while exploring her future academic steps. As an active member of the Hellenic League for Human Rights, she continuously participates in local human rights projects and keeps herself busy with her other interests: scouting, creative writing and travelling. Maria is a Humanity in Action Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2017).

 

JANA GOTTSCHALK

Forum Participant
Chief Operating Officer, CamP Group
MA Graduate, Central European University

Berlin Fellowship 2010

Jana Gottschalk graduated from the Nationalism Studies Program at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary in 2011. She also completed an international study seminar on European migration at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Her final thesis was on the effects of European Union labor mobility on Eastern European migrants since the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. A Teach First Germany alumna, Jana taught German and cultural classes to newly arrived migrant children for two years and gained deep insights into the German educational system. Since 2014, Jana has worked at the Berlin-based social enterprise CamP Group. CamP Group develops and carries out best practice programs and teacher trainings for enhancing the social and political participation of migrant and refugee children, using sport and physical movement as drivers for social change. Jana is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2010).

 

SANNE HETTEMA

Forum Speaker and Participant
Head of Language, Labor Market & Child
Development, SNTR Rotterdam
MSc Graduate, University of Amsterdam

New York Fellowship 2009

Sanne Hettema is the Head of Language, Labour Market and Children’s Development at Stichting Nieuw Thuis Rotterdam (SNTR), an innovative integration program for Syrian refugee families in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Previously, Sanne worked as a strategy consultant at Booz & Company. Sanne holds a BA in Philosophy, a BSc in Economics, and a MSc in Business from the University of Amsterdam. Sanne is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (New York Fellowship 2009).

 

DR. MICHAEL KELLER

Forum Speaker and Participant
Attorney with a US Federal Agency
JD Graduate, Washington & Lee University

New York Fellowship 2008

Michael Keller has served as a judicial law clerk and attorney advisor with the US Department of Justice since 2014. In 2014, he graduated from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he served as a student attorney in the Immigrant Rights Clinic and as Submissions Editor of the German Law Journal. He received a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Traveling on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2009/2010, Michael explored refugee sense of place in Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Ecuador. As a Charlottesville, Virginia native, he was involved with the International Rescue Committee as an intern and volunteer in assisting resettled refugees for over a decade. As a Davis Project for Peace recipient, he conducted and exhibited a photo-documentary regarding resettled refugees in 2008, titled Asylum & Acceptance: Seeking peace in Charlottesville, Virginia. Michael is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (New York Fellowship 2008).

 

DR. BENJAMIN LARSON

Forum Speaker and Participant
Physician, University of Pennsylvania
MD, Oregon Health and Science University

Warsaw Fellowship 2008

Benjamin Larson is a physician at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA, in his final year of internal medicine residency. He attended Macalester College in Minnesota, and medical school at the Oregon Health & Science University. As part of his medical training, he works in a clinic that conducts initial and follow-up visits for newly arrived refugees, and has welcomed many of these patients into his own practice. These patients have taught him a good deal about medicine (tropical disease, psychiatric trauma), but also about the way many refugees see themselves through the prism of American politics. He is planning a career in primary care in the Philadelphia area. Ben is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Warsaw Fellowship 2008).

 

PAULINA MILEWSKA

Forum Speaker and Participant
CEO, Conflict Foundation
Graduate, University of Warsaw

Berlin Fellowship 2015

Paulina Milewska is the CEO of the Conflict Foundation, which owns the Conflict Kitchen, a restaurant co-created by migrants and refugees that has received awards from, among others, the Ashoka Foundation and Social Impact. She graduated from Law School at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and spent a semester at the University of Padova, Italy as an exchange student, where she further expanded her knowledge about migration-related issues. Paulina practiced law at NGOs such as the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights as well as at private companies. She was a Board Member of Refugees Welcome Polska, the Polish brand of Flüchtlinge Willkommen. She also completed the Aspen Young Leaders Program in 2017. Paulina is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2015).

 

JAVIER MUÑOZ

Forum Participant
PhD Candidate, UCLA

Copenhagen Fellowship 2014

Javier Muñoz is a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)/USA, where he studies twentieth-century United States history. His research interests revolve around social movements, constructions of race, racial capitalism, colonialism and imperialism, immigration, and the African Diaspora. Born in East Los Angeles to immigrants from rural Guanajuato, Mexico, he experienced economic, social, and educational inequalities. These experiences motivated him to found a college access program meant to help underrepresented students enroll in college and learn about social justice issues. The majority of students selected to participate are the children of Mexican immigrants, live below the poverty threshold, and are directly affected by prevailing xenophobic rhetoric/policies. He hopes to learn how to better support and empower them. Javier is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Copenhagen Fellowship 2014).

 

MARIA NTETSIKA

Forum Speaker and Participant
Administrative Officer, BABEL Day Centre
MA Graduate, National Technical University of Athens

Paris Fellowship 2014

Maria Ntetsika is an administrative officer at BABEL Day Centre, a mental health unit for migrants and refugees in Greece. Through that position, she actively participates in advocacy bodies for immigrant rights and organizes a working group focused on Mental Health and Psychosocial support. She has worked as psychosocial support officer and job consultant for people from different vulnerable social groups at the non-profit organization PRAKSIS. Maria holds a BA in Accounting and Finance from the Athens University of Economics and Business and an MA in Design, Space and Culture from the National Technical University of Athens, with a research thesis on gender and urban space, focusing on the everyday experience of trans women in the public space of Athens. Maria has volunteer experience as a street worker and a social worker at the Elaionas open hosting site for refugees in Attica with PRAKSIS. Maria is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Paris Fellowship 2014).

 

FAITH OLORUNTOBA

Forum Speaker and Participant
Volunteer City Editor, CafeBabel Aarhus
MA Candidate, University of Hamburg

Copenhagen Fellowship 2017

Faith Oloruntoba is a passionate young person interested in migration, media, and social justice. Born in Nigeria, she is an Erasmus Mundus student ofAarhus University, Denmark and the University of Hamburg, Germany, where she is currently completing her MA in Journalism,Media, and Globalization. She has worked as a journalist and researcher in the area of women and children’s rights, public health, youth empowerment, and recently immigration policies and transnational political participation. She is a laureate of Bloomberg Africa, the UNICEF Network on Behavioral Research for Child Survival, and a UNFPA-trained First Responder in Emergencies. Currently, she is a volunteer city editor with CafeBabel Aarhus, a pan-European online news magazine, where she reports and edits political and societal stories from across Europe. Faith plans to expand her MA research on migration, politics, and transnationalism into PhD studies in Media and Migration. She is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Copenhagen Fellowship 2017).

 

BARBARA ORTH

Forum Speaker and Supporter
Project Coordinator, German Institute of Economic Research (DIW)
MSc Graduate, University of Oxford

Berlin Fellowship 2016

Barbara Orth is a Project Coordinator for MORE, the first major study on labor market access and language acquisition of asylum seekers in Germany at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW). She coordinates DIW’s collaboration with Start with a Friend e.V., an initiative that facilitates friendships between locals and asylum seekers. Barbara has previously worked as the editor of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration Review, as a development consultant at the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Kathmandu/Nepal, as a researcher for the human rights council of the German Green Party, and currently volunteers on the organizing committee of the 2018 Kritnet conference in Berlin. As an undergraduate student, Barbara studied International Relations in the United Kingdom, Japan, and China, focusing on issues of international development, trade policy, and migration. She holds an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and is planning on investigating racial and gendered tropes in migration policies within a doctoral project. Barbara is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2016).

 

ASHLEY PORTILLO

Forum Participant
Program Manager at the Academy of Medical and Public Health Services in Brooklyn, New York
MA Graduate, Columbia University

Diplomacy & Diversity Fellowship 2016

Ashley Portillo holds an MA of International Affairs in Human Rights and International Conflict Resolution from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, USA. A former United States Peace Corps volunteer, she taught English and implemented literacy programs in the Philippines. Ashley researched the Domestic Workers’ Convention 2011 (no. 189) and the ways in which Germany can utilize it to protect the working rights of refugees considering domestic work. Currently, she works as the Program Manager for the Academy of Medical and Public Health Services in Brooklyn, New York and serves the neighborhood’s largely immigrant residents by providing information about their health and legal rights. Ashley is a California native and received a BA in both Latin American Studies and International Relations from the University of California in San Diego. Her research interests include human rights advocacy in Latin America and migration and refugee issues between North and South America. Ashley is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Diplomacy and Diversity Fellowship 2016).

 

DR. GEORGINA RANNARD

Forum Speaker and Participant
Journalist, BBC News in London
PhD Graduate, University of Edinburgh

Lantos Fellowship 2015

Georgina Rannard is a journalist at BBC News in London, United Kingdom. She works in breaking news and has produced several reports about refuge and migration-related issues in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. Before becoming a journalist, she completed a PhD at the University of Edinburgh in Global History, focusing on the economic impact of British imperialism in the Americas. Georgina is interested in exploring media representations of refugees and migration issues, in particular how to engage news audiences who increasingly react to the topic with inertia. Georgina is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Lantos Fellowship 2015).

 

ELIZA RUTYNOWSKA

Forum Participant
Paralegal, Society of Antidiscrimination Law
Student, University of Warsaw

Atlanta Fellowship 2017

Eliza Rutynowska was born in Warsaw, Poland and raised both there and in Maastricht, the Netherlands. She is a fifth year Law student and second year Internal Security student at the Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in the Humanities College at the University of Warsaw. She currently works as a paralegal at the Polish Society of Antidiscrimination Law. Eliza is passionate about criminal justice and human rights and she has completed the Innocence Project – Preventing Wrongful Convictions workshop at the University of Warsaw. She was also an active member of the University’s Legal Aid Clinic, providing legal advice for individuals in need. Eliza is a Humanity in Action Fellow (Atlanta Fellowship 2017).

 

JARMIŁA RYBICKA

Forum Speaker and Participant
Co-Founder, Conflict Foundation
Graduate, University of Warsaw

Warsaw Fellowship 2014

Jarmiła Rybicka is a sociologist and a Co-Founder of the Conflict Foundation, a social enterprise, which supports refugees on the labor market and intends to give them a better start in their new reality. She is dedicated to fostering the civil rights of minorities in Poland through community organizing. She studied Human Rights and War Studies at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, and Sociology at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Jarmiła led workshops for activists and journalists from Belarus in cooperation with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her social campaign Invisible People received an award from the European Council. She co-authored the Alternative Warsaw Guidebook for the International March for Climate and Social Justice. Between 2014 and 2016, her work with underprivileged Roma youth was awarded to be the best NGO initiative by the Municipality of Warsaw. In 2015, she worked for Humanity in Action Poland and in 2017 she coordinated the Multiplying Courageous Voices Project in Honduras. Jarmiła is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Warsaw Fellowship 2014).

 

JUDITH SCHEER

Forum Speaker and Participant
Refugee Counseling Coordinator
Graduate, European University Viadrina

Berlin Fellowship 2015

Judith Scheer coordinates an office where refugees are able to find counseling and information on the education and labor market systems in Germany. She is responsible for internal organizational matters and the building of a district-based network initiative. While being in contact with refugees, politicians, staff at accommodations for newcomers, public administrators, volunteers, and individuals at private initiatives, Judith gains insights into different aspects of integration and asylum politics. Beforehand, she worked as an administration manager in an innovative school project for pupils in an inner city district who face multiple discriminations. Judith studied European Studies in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and Sociocultural Studies in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. In her studies, she focused on migration, racism, gender, and intersectional studies. Furthermore, Judith is interested in remembrance and its connection to identity politics as well as environment protection. In her spare time she actively participates in a neighborhood initiative organizing demonstrations against fascists. Judith is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2015).

 

DR. NOAM SCHIMMEL

Forum Participant
Research Visitor, Bonavero Institute of Human
Rights, Oxford University
PhD Graduate, London School of Economics and Political Science

Amsterdam Fellowship 2001

Noam Schimmel earned a PhD in Media and Communication from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE, United Kingdom) in January, 2014. He has an MS in Philosophy, Policy and Social Value from the LSE. His interdisciplinary doctoral research examined American Democratic presidential healthcare reform rhetoric, American healthcare reform policy and politics, and the human right to healthcare. He was an O’Brien Fellow in Residence and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, McGill University Faculty of Law, Canada, where he is currently Associate Fellow. He was a Research Officer at the London School of Economics Department of Social Policy, LSE Health division, researching the human rights challenges facing internally displaced people globally in 2016. Noam is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Amsterdam Fellowship 2001).

 

ISABEL SCHRÖER

Forum Speaker and Participant
Former Job Advisor for Asylum Seekers, Federal Employment Agency
Graduate, Free University of Berlin

Berlin Fellowship 2013

Isabel Schröer was introduced to Humanity in Action through her work for the documentary educational film project with WINGs and ROOTs, a project initiated and realized under the direction of a Humanity in Action alumna. With a great interest in the intersections of migration, societies in transitions, and matters of social justice, Isabel studied Regional African Studies and Social/Political Sciences in Berlin, Germany, and New York, USA. Freelancing as a production assistant for the German broadcaster ARD’s Hauptstadt-studio, she followed her passion of working in journalism for six years. Isabel has been engaged in anti-racism work and the empowerment of refugees through various projects. In 2011, she took upon the legal custodianship for an unaccompanied minor in Berlin. Through her work as a job advisor for asylum seekers, Isabel recently completed a year of working within the bureaucratic system and of working with people going through that system as part of their asylum process in Germany. Isabel is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2013).

 

INÈS SEDDIKI

Forum Participant
NGO Professional in France
Graduate, Grenoble Graduate School of Business

Lyon Fellowship 2013

Inès Seddiki founded GHETT’UP, an organization aiming at empowering the youth from under-privileged areas of Paris, France in 2016. Her work there relates to migration and the transformation it brings to societies. Most of the populations in the banlieues are of North and West African descent and it is in these areas where migrants, Roma, and refugees from many different countries usually find shelter. Through her work at GHETT’UP, Inès has found that the banlieues and their inhabitants are really at the heart of many questions of migration. Besides, she has just graduated with a Master’s degree in Corporate Social Responsibility, focusing on helping companies to improve their impact on society at large. Ines is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Lyon Fellowship 2013).

 

ADAM STASIAK

Forum Participant
Lawyer, Polish Drug Policy Network
Graduate, University of Warsaw

Berlin Fellowship 2017

Adam is a law graduate of University of Warsaw, Poland. He wrote his thesis at the Human Rights Institute in Warsaw. Recently, he spent time in China, where he joined Zhicheng Public Interest Law, a leading Chinese NGO that deals with migrant workers and children’s rights. Issues of migration are consistently present in his professional work and volunteer engagements. At the Polish Drug Policy Network, where he works as a lawyer, he works on issues such as social justice, equality before the law, and harm reduction. He also volunteers at an informal organization supporting sex workers, a field of work very much affected by migration. Adam is a Humanity in Action Fellow (Berlin Fellowship 2017).

 

EFTHYMIA STATHOPOULOU

Forum Participant
Student, Athens Law School

Detroit Fellowship 2017

Efthymia Stathopoulou was born and raised in Athens, Greece and has for a long time been involved in minority support groups, volunteer societies, and community centers. As a student at the Athens Law School, she has been involved in the legal assistance of asylum seekers and refugees in Athens – both in legal clinics and at NGOs. Her main front of engagement is the empowerment of this particular group of people through the provision of free legal aid and non-legal support such as accommodation and education. Efi is currently working as a coordinator of a new legal support project and is also a volunteer in an expanded network of volunteers throughout Athens. Efi is a Humanity in Action Fellow (Detroit Fellowship 2017).

 


Program Staff

 

JOHANNES LUKAS GARTNER

Director of Programs, Humanity in Action Germany

Diplomacy and Diversity Fellowship 2014

Johannes Lukas Gartner works as the Director of Programs at Humanity in Action Germany. Previously, he worked in public sector consulting at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants after gaining work experience at various other places ranging from the Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social, a press freedom and civil society communications non-profit in Mexico City, to Lilofee, an independent children’s toy store in Berlin-Kreuzberg. He completed internships and research visits at places including the United Nations Development Program in Panama City, the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna, and multinational law firms in Istanbul and London. Johannes is a law graduate of King’s College London, United Kingdom, as well as Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, and an international relations graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Italy. Living in Berlin, Johannes was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. He is an alumnus of the American Field Service (Panama, 2004-05) and a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (Diplomacy and Diversity Fellowship Program 2014).

 

ANTJE SCHEIDLER

European Coordinator
National Director, Humanity in Action Germany

International Director of European Programs, Humanity in Action
Antje Scheidler has been with Humanity in Action since 2002, when she became the Program Director of the newly established German Fellowship program of Humanity in Action. She currently serves as International Director of European Programs for the organization and as the National Director of Germany. Antje, among other things, facilitates the transatlantic communication between the Humanity in Action chapters on both sides of the Atlantic. Her focus areas have been the Annual International Conferences, the organization’s outreach to Greece as well as Grant Competitions for Humanity in Action Senior Fellows. Antje was born in East Germany and has lived in Berlin for almost her entire life, where she experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall as a teenager. Antje studied English and American Studies and Social Sciences at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany, and the University of Toronto, Canada, and became very interested in immigration related issues and matters of social cohesion. She worked as a researcher at Humboldt University at the Department of Demography from 2000 to 2007 and was Editor-in-Chief of the newsletter publication Migration und Bevölkerung from 2000 to 2011.

 

KARAM YAHYA

MA Candidate, Humboldt University Berlin
Forum Program Consultant

Berlin Fellowship 2017

Mohamed Karam Yahya was born and raised in Damascus, Syria before moving with his family to Amman, Jordan. He started his academic career as an English language student at the Arab College in Amman. After graduating in 2011, Karam started his Bachelor’s degree at Hashimite University in Zarqa City, Jordan, specializing in literature and cultural studies. Beside his studies, he was an active member of the university theater, which qualified him to play in several international and professional theater festivals. In 2013, he graduated from Hashimite University and started his work career with Actionaid ARI as a Community Mobilizer at the Zataree refugee camp. Currently, Karam is a Master’s student at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany, completing his Master’s in Political Science. He works for the European Student Union as a consultant and for Shared Studios, a global communications project working in 40 countries around the globe. He is also an active cultural mediator in Jugend Rettet, and at the Refugee School Chios, Greece. Karam acted as a consultant in the conception of this Forum and is a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow (2017 Berlin Fellowship Program).