Advisory Board Chair

Prof. Dr. Rose Marie Beck
University of Leipzig

Prof. Dr. Rose Marie Beck studied African and German studies, pedagogy, and history at the University of Cologne, where she earned her doctorate in 2000 with a thesis in communication studies on popular culture in East Africa. She worked at Goethe University Frankfurt from 1998 to 2010. Since 2010 Rose Marie Beck has been Professor for African languages and is currently acting director at the Institute for African Studies in Leipzig. Her regional focus is on East and Southern Africa.

Advisory Board Vice-Chair

Norbert Noisser
Ministry for Economics, Traffic, and State Development of the State of Hessen

Norbert Noisser is deputy head of the division for foreign economics/regional marketing at the Ministry for Economics, Traffic, and State Development of the State of Hessen. He is responsible for relations with Asia/Pacific, the Middle East/Northern Africa, and Africa, as well as the cooperation with developing countries and international organisations. He is president of the Society for International Development (SID), Chapter Frankfurt, and a member of the International Governing Council.

Advisory Board Memebers

Dr. Detlef Hanne
KfW

Detlef Hanne is a geoscientist and spent many years in the international context of science, industry, and development cooperation. From 2003 to 2011 he was responsible for development schemes at the Volkswagen Foundation. At KfW, he supervises financial cooperation. One of his focus areas is tertiary education in developing countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa.

Christian Hiller von Gaertringen
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Christian Hiller von Gaertringen is business editor at the ”Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. He studied economics at the University Lumière Lyon 2 in France and focuses on the economic development of African countries. He regularly visits Africa and reports on recent economic developments on the continent.

Prof. Michael Kirk
University of Marburg

Prof. Dr. Michael Kirk is professor for development and cooperative economics at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics at Philipps University Marburg. His research focus is on economic institutions and institutional change in the process of development, land/resource policies, land and agrarian reforms, multi-level governance, and poverty reduction, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Dr. Daniela Kneißl
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Dr. Daniela Kneißl is Head of the Africa, Middle East Department in the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Sponsorship and Network Division. Among other things, she is responsible for implementing the Georg Forster Research Fellowship Programme for researchers from threshold and developing countries and for maintaining and expanding the Humboldt Network, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, she is the Humboldt Foundation's Commissioner for Fundamental Issues of Scientific Cooperation.

Thomas Kraneis
Vice-President of the German-African Business Association

The variety of African cultures and the opportunities for African and European economies have left a lasting impression on Thomas Kraneis. In his job he focused on questions of energy on and for both continents. As a consultant engineer, Thomas Kraneis supports the sustainability of renewable and fossil energy sources.

Prof. Dr. Dieter Neubert
University of Bayreuth

Prof. Dr. Dieter Neubert studied sociology, ethnology, and pedagogy at the University of Mainz. In 1995, he habilitated in sociology at the Free University Berlin. His major research interests are sociology of Africa, sociology of violent conflicts, development theories, and development policies.