Experts & Project Team
Dr. Mechthild Baumann
is a head and founder of the Berlin-based Institute on Analysis and Policy Dialogue IfAP e.V. She constantly works as independent expert for the European Commission and teaches at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) de Paris. She studied Political and Social Sciences at Free University Berlin and at Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Dr. Baumann holds PhD in Political Science from Humboldt University Berlin. Her main fields of expertise are EU internal and external affairs, migration and security studies as well as qualitative methods of social sciences and project design.
Dr. Nicola Böcker-Giannini
is a SPD- deputy from Berlin- Neukoelln. Dr. Böcker-Giannini studied a sport education pedagogy at the University of Koelln. Nowadays, she is a spokeswoman for integration issues, a member of the sports Committee and a member of the Committee on Home Affairs, Security and Order in Belin-Neukoelln.
Markus Frenzel
studied political science in Berlin, Germany, Aix-en-Provence and Paris, France. He was a TV correspondent for Deutsche Welle, ARTE and the ARD. For eight years he worked as an investigative reporter for the FAKT magazine, unveiling numerous scandals concerning international war crimes, German colonial past or illicit arms deals. Mr. Frenzel received a number of international journalist awards for his work.
Dr. Olga R. Gulina
is a director and founder of RUSMPI UG- Institute on Migration Policy based in Berlin, Germany. She holds PhD in Migration Law (2010, University of Potsdam, Germany), PhD in Constitutional Law (2002, Bashkir State University, Russia), Certificate of Advanced Studies in Human Rights Law (2005, Helsinki Human Rights Foundation, Poland), Diploma in Law (Law Institute of Bashkir State University, Russia). Dr. Gulina is a frequent commentator on Russian and European Union´ migration law and practice of its using. She has researched and published extensively on issues related to migration policy in the CIS- and EU-countries.
Oleksandr Burmahin
is an attorney at law and an executive director of non-profit organisation Human Rights Platform. Mr. Burmahin is an alumnus of the Advanced Human Rights Course (Warsaw, Helsinki Human Rights Foundation). He works for the European Commission for Democracy through Law, the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. He is a national expert in the Reanimation Package of Reforms of Ukraine: Media Reform Group and the Group of Reform of the Electoral Law, the member of the Independent Media Council. Since 2017, he is a certificated IREX U-Media trainer on topics related to freedom of speech (2017, Program of Legal Protection and Education of Media IREX U-Media).
Dr. Evgenia Sayko
is a founder of DemoSlam which is a new dialogue platform for communication on controversial topics. She studied cultural science at the Tomsk State University and communication studies at the Free University of Berlin. Her doctoral paper was based on analysis of German media reporting issues in Russia.
Dr. Sayko is a board member of the German-Russian Forum.
Dr. Dmitri Stratievski
is a deputy director of the Centre for Study of Eastern Europe in Berlin (das Osteuropa-Zentrum Berlin e.V.) and a municipality deputy of Steglitz – Zelendorf in Berlin. He holds PhD in History and a Master Diploma in Political Studies. Over years, Dr. worked as a vice-chairman of Migration and Pluralism Workers’ Union of the SPD in Berlin; a member of the integration committee at Steglitz – Zelendorf and a leader of the group “Russian Social Democrats in Berlin” (Projektgruppe “Russischsprechende SozialdemokratInnen in Berlin” – RuSiB). He also was a head of the Berlin Register Office for the Documentation of Right-Wing Extremism and Discrimination in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf municipality.
Nadezda Azhgikhina
is a journalist, human rights activist, a vise-president of European Federation of Journalists
Kazim Erdogan
lives in Berlin since 1974. He studied sociology and psychology at the Free University of Berlin. Mr. Erdogan worked as a secondary school teacher, a school psychologist and a family counsellor in Berlin. For over 43 years, he is well known for his volunteer activities and projects that aim to stop a speechlessness and violence in our society. Mr. Erdogan is a founder and an acting director of the NGO Aufbruch Neukoelln which is a self-help group for Turkish people. In 2012 Mr. Erdogan has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by Federal President Joachim Gauck.
Monika Hebbinghaus
is a press officer at the State Office for Refugee Affairs in Berlin-city, Germany.