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Reem Alabali-Radovan is Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery and has been the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration since 2021. She has also been Anti-Racism Commissioner since 2022. She lives in Schwerin and is a member of the German Bundestag. She was born in Moscow in 1990 to Iraqi parents and moved to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with her family in 1996. She studied political science at the Free University of Berlin and worked in various positions in the field of refugees and integration before her election to the Bundestag in 2021, most recently as Integration Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Ryyan Alshebl is the mayor of the municipality of Ostelsheim (Baden-Württemberg). He was born in 1994 in the town of Suwaida in southern Syria. To avoid being called up for military service, he fled to Germany via Lebanon and Turkey in 2015. There he learnt German and trained as an administrative assistant. He worked in Althengstett town hall for seven years before being elected mayor of Ostelsheim in 2023 as an independent candidate. This makes him the first mayor with Syrian roots in Baden-Württemberg.
Dr Delal Atmaca is Managing Director and co-founder of the umbrella association of migrant women organizations (DaMigra e.V.). After studying law and co-operative economics, she completed a doctorate in economics. She has many years of experience in research and teaching and is a recognised expert in the fields of cooperatives, cooperation, diversity, migration, gender and women's rights. She lectures on these topics at national and European policy level.
Dr Atmaca brings an intersectional perspective to numerous alliances and committees and is passionately committed to women's and human rights. Among other things, she is a member of the advisory board of the Federal Foundation for Gender Equality and the advisory board of the reporting centre on gender-based violence at the German Institute for Human Rights.
Dr Helene Bubrowski is deputy editor-in-chief of Table.Media. She studied law in Cologne and Paris and gained a doctorate in international law. After her second state examination, she worked for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 2013 and reported as a correspondent from Berlin from 2018 to 2023. The mother of two sons is a regular guest on talk shows. In 2023, dtv published her book "Die Fehlbaren" about the inadequate error culture in politics.
Aziz Bozkurt has been State Secretary in Berlin since 2021 and is currently responsible for social affairs. He has been the federal chairman of the SPD's Working Group on Migration and Diversity since 2015. Aziz Bozkurt was born in 1981 in Bünde, East Westphalia. After completing a dual degree in business informatics, he worked in various e-commerce companies in the field of business intelligence.
Arlin Cakal-Rasch is Head of the Municipal Integration Center of the City of Wuppertal and Deputy Head of the Immigration and Integration Department. She is responsible for managing integration policy issues in cooperation with the municipality and the federate state, such as labor market integration. With a degree in pedagogy, she has many years of experience in the areas of intercultural communication, career development and counseling for people with a personal history of migration.
Michael van der Cammen is Director for International Relations, Migration, Recognition, Labour market admission, International Counselling and Placement at the German Public Employment Agency (PES). The implementation of the latest immigration act and the development of approaches to improve labour market participation of foreign skilled workers are part of his key activities.
Until 2019, Michael headed the Migration and Refugees Area with the German PES. His long-standing career with the Agency also includes IT projects and key reform projects, centralizing public tenders in the field of active labour market policy measures from the local employment offices to the head office.
Canan Canli studied law and banking and works in international banking and economics in Kiel. She is involved in voluntary work as deputy federal chair of the Migration and Diversity Working Group and state chair of the Migration and Integration Working Group in Schleswig-Holstein within the SPD.
Abdul Kader Chahin is a German comedian and poetry slammer with Palestinian roots. He is known for his humorous and sharp-witted contributions on stage, in which he addresses cultural and social issues. In his current stage programme, Chahin tells stories from the Plattenbau in his home town of Duisburg. He was NRW Poetryslam runner-up in 2021.
Prof Dr Angeliki Dimitriadi is a senior research fellow and head of the migration programme at Helenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). She is a political scientist interested in irregular migration and asylum, foreign policy of migration, and the interplay between migratory movement and policies of deterrence and protection. Her research looks on Europe, particularly the front-line countries and countries of transit (Turkey). She is Non-resident fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute where she worked as a Research Fellow between 2021-2022. Previously, she was Visiting Fellow in residence on migration and asylum policy at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Berlin.
Amina Fahmy is a consultant and political scientist based in Cairo, Egypt. Her research explores labor migration focusing on the intersection of migration policies, development strategies, and international relations. Amina has utilised her expertise in reputable national and international organisations such as the Agricultural Export Council and Voluntas. Her work includes designing and implementing research methodologies to study migration trends and facilitating international collaborations.
Dr Gunilla Fincke is Head of the Department of Qualification, Vocational and Further Training, Securing Skilled Workers at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). Before joining the BMAS, she was Head of the Policy Department of the SPD Executive Committee from 2014 to 2018 and previously worked for six years as Managing Director of the German Expert Council on Integration and Migration.
Paulina Fröhlich is Deputy Managing Director and responsible for the “Resilient Democracy” focus of the Berlin think tank Das Progressive Zentrum. There she leads the democracy conference “Innocracy”, designs dialogue and discourse spaces and is co-author of studies and discussion papers. After studying geography, Islamic studies and water management, Paulina founded the Kleiner Fünf initiative with others. In 2023, she was appointed to the Forum #FutureStrategy at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Fabio Ghelli is Deputy Editor-in-Chief at the Mediendienst Integration. The MDIis a project of the German Rat für Migration (Council for Migration) – a network of 230 researchers. On its website, the MDI presents the latest facts and figures about migration, integration and asylum. These include over 2,000 dossiers, analyses, investigations and fact sheets on all manner of issues pertaining to the immigration society, from asylum policy to integration into the employment market to Islamic and right-wing extremism. The service also offers press interviews, background briefings and workshops for journalists.
Carolina Gottardo is a feminist migrant advocate with over two decades of experience in human rights, migration, and gender work across various regions. Currently, she serves as Executive Director of the International Detention Coalition (IDC) where she leads efforts to end immigration detention. Carolina is a member of the UN Women expert group to address the human rights of women in the Global Compact for Migration, co-leads the Alternative to Detention Working Group at the UN Network on Migration and is a member of the Steering Committee of the UN Migration Multi Partner Trust Funds. Carolina also serves in different NGO boards including the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and the Women in Migration Network.
Inkeri von Hase is the UN Women Global Coordinator of the German-funded "Making Migration Safe for Women" project, which is implemented in Ethiopia and at the global level. Previously, she worked as Policy Specialist, Gender and Migration for UN Women in Geneva leading the global migration portfolio of UN Women. As Programme Analyst for UN Women in New York, Inkeri managed the implementation of a joint European Union - UN Women programme on promoting and protecting migrant women workers’ labor and human rights. Prior, Inkeri worked as Gender Specialist for UNAIDS and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum in Namibia. Inkeri holds a Master’s degree in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Fatma Karacakurtoglu is a social scientist and chairwoman of the board of the Train of Hope Dortmund association. The refugee aid association was founded by volunteers in September 2015 as part of the culture of welcome and has been dedicated to supporting refugees and migrants ever since. The aim is to help people - regardless of their social status, nationality, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation - to arrive in Germany.
Hamza El-Khalaf has been working at Outreach Berlin since 2007, where he volunteered previously. From 2007 to 2022, he worked in mobile youth work at the Outreach youth center Sunshine Inn at Weiße Siedlung in Berlin-Neukölln. Since 2023, he has been a vocational coach for all Neukölln outreach facilities.
Dr Bärbel Kofler is Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development. Before her appointment to this role in December 2016, she was Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid for five years. She has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2004, where her previous roles include Development Policy Spokesperson of the SPD parliamentary group and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Dr Kofler has a doctorate in linguistics.
Doritt Komitowski is a fully qualified lawyer and, as a research assistant at Minor - Wissenschaft as well as Minor - Projektkontor für Bildung und Forschung, manages projects in the field of immigration and labor market integration of immigrants.
Dunja Kreiser is deputy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group on internal affairs. Before representing her constituency of Wolfenbüttel, Salzgitter and Nordharz in the German Bundestag, she was politically active for many years both at municipal level and as a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament. She is deputy chairwoman of the SPD Lower Saxony. She has worked in the field of municipal supply and disposal, most recently as wastewater manager and deputy team leader of the Wolfenbüttel wastewater company. Dunja Kreiser is also honorary mayor of Evessen.
Rebecca Liebig is a member of the Federal Executive Board of the labour union ver.di. After training as a medical assistant and passing her first state examination in law in 2002, she was already active in staff representation during her employment at a health insurance company. In 2013, she began working as a trade union secretary for ver.di in the federal state of Hesse, took over as deputy regional director of Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland in 2019 and was elected by a large majority of delegates at the national congress to the ver.di Federal Executive Board in September 2023, where she is responsible for issues including pension policy, occupational health and safety, participation policy, migration and integration.
Dima Mahjoub is a freelance researcher working in the fields of peace, migration politics, and governance. She advocates for complementary pathways to enhance integration and inclusion for all, and has been active in the humanitarian sector since 2006, working in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, the UK, and now Germany. Her work spans both emergency and development contexts, focusing on refugees, internally displaced persons, and crisis-affected populations. She is a member of an organization called Network for Dialogue, which promotes interreligious and intercultural understanding for migrants and refugees across Europe. Additionally, she is a community leader representing New Women Connectors, an organization that promotes the involvement of migrant and refugee women in all policy-making processes.
Amera Markous is a humanitarian researcher focusing on migration in Libya and North Africa. She has a masters degree from University of Geneva and won the Swiss Humanitarian Award in 2019 for her thesis on the impact of EU migration policies and the politicization of aid, focusing on UNHCR and IOM in Libya. Amera has more than 8 years of experience with international organizations, including IMC, UNHCR, the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), focusing on emergency humanitarian programs and migration. Since 2019, she has led many research projects, currently researching the plight of Sudanese refugees in North Africa.
Dr Asbjørn Sonne Nørgaard is director of the think tank CEVEA. He has a doctorate in political science and has taught as a professor at SDU on labor market and social policy, reform policy, commissions and political opinion formation. In the fall of 2018, he published the book “The Political Personality: Voters and Politicians in Denmark”. He also conducts research in the fields of comparative politics, legislative studies, public administration and political psychology and recently on the role of personality traits in the political behavior of elites and leadership.
Dr Özgür Özvatan is a deputy professor for Diversity & Social Conflict at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He also heads the Department of Integration Research and Social Policy at the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research at HU Berlin. He is also co-founder and managing director of Transformakers. As a podcaster, he is co-host of "Berlin.Ost.Migrantisch" (with Dr. Daniel Kubiak) and "Fußballdeutschland Postmigrantisch" (with Younis Kamil).
Lisa Pelling is the head of the progressive Swedish think tank Arena Idé. She has a doctorate in political science from the University of Vienna, and regularly contributes to the daily progressive newspaper Dagens Arena, to Social Europe and IPS Journal. Previously, she has been a political adviser at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Secretary General of the International Union of Socialist Youth 1997–2001. Lisa presently chairs the board of the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society REMESO at Linköping University.
Dr Friederike Römer is Co-Head of the Consensus and Conflict Department at DeZIM (German Centre for Integration and Migration Research). She is a sociologist and works on topics at the interface of policy studies, migration research and comparative welfare state research. She studied at the University of Mannheim and Indiana University Bloomington and completed her doctorate at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.
Aoun Abbas Sahi is an award-winning journalist, media trainer, and researcher based in Islamabad. He has over 20 years of experience working with local and international media, as well as development sector organizations. Reporting on human trafficking and migration since 2005, he currently consults for the International Labour Organization (ILO), where he conducts training for journalists in six major Pakistani cities on forced labor and fair recruitment, with a focus on migration. In 2016, he was part of the team that shared the Los Angeles Times’ Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. He also received the ‘Excellence in Labour Journalism Award’ from ILO Pakistan in 2013 and 2014.
Catrina Schläger has been Head of the Analysis and Planning Department of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Berlin since May 2021. Previously, she held various functions in the International Cooperation Division, e.g. as Head of the Shanghai Office and as Head of International Policy Analysis.
Dr Jan Schneider is Head of Research & Deputy Director of the German Expert Council on Integration and Migration. He studied social sciences, political science and sociology and completed his doctorate at the Institute of Political Science at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen on consultation processes in German migration policy. Between 2003 and 2008, he worked for the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the Hamburg Institute of International Economics and the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen, among others. From 2009 to 2012, Jan Schneider worked as a research assistant at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
Dr Leander Scholz is a German philosopher and author. His most recent publications are "Zusammenleben. Über Kinder und Politik" (Hanser 2018), "Die Menge der Menschen. Eine Figur der politischen Ökologie" (Kadmos 2019) and "Zusammenhalt in Vielfalt. Zur Politik der sozialen Sichtbarkeit" (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 2023).
Martin Schulz is President of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. From 2017 to 2021 member of the German Bundestag. He was party chairman of the SPD, candidate for chancellor-ship and longtime member of the European Parliament, where he served as president in two terms from 2012 to 2017. Martin Schulz is a laureate of the Charlemagne Prize for his outstanding contribution to the strengthening of the European Parliament and demo-cratic legitimacy in the EU.
Jacob Schwörer is Policy Advisor at the Nordic Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Stockholm and focuses on foreign policy, peace and security. He is a political scientist and holds a doctorate from the Leuphana University of Lüneburg. He is the author of books, chapters and articles in academic journals on populism and the behavior of established parties. He is currently working on politics in Denmark and the Arctic region as well as security policy in a changing world.
Juliane Seifert has been State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community since December 2021. Prior to this, she was State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 2018 to 2021. She was also Federal Managing Director of the SPD from 2016 to 2017.
Seeta Sharma is an independent consultant who works as a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of the Government of India.
Dr. Cihan Sinanoğlu is a social scientist. Since October 2020, he has headed the office of the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor (NaDiRa) at the DeZIM Institute. In June 2023, he was appointed to the Anti-Racism Expert Council by the Federal Government's Anti-Racism Commissioner, Minister of State Reem Alabali-Radovan, and in 2024 to the Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism in the State of Berlin.
Nursemin Sönmez is the managing director of neue deutsche organisationen - das postmigrantische Netzwerk e. V. (ndo). She works as a freelance organizational developer and is politically active in various initiatives. She focuses on racism, intersectionality, participation in the post-migrant society and other issues. She studied Political Science and European Studies at the Universities of Bielefeld and Tübingen and previously worked as a project manager for the Heinrich Böll Foundation and as a research assistant at the University of Bielefeld and the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.
Sunny Steen has been working at Outreach Berlin since 2022. Since 2024, she has been setting up the mobile youth (social) work in the High-Deckneighborhood of Neukölln. Prior to that, she worked in mobile youth work in Stuttgart for several years.
Nadja Sthamer was elected to the German Bundestag in October 2021 via the SPD Saxony state list. In the 20th German Bundestag, she is a full member of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid and the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development. She is the SPD parliamentary group's deputy spokesperson on development policy. She studied political science and religious studies in Leipzig. From 2013 to 2017, she was deputy chairwoman of Jusos Leipzig and from 2015 to 2017 she was a member of the state executive of Jusos Saxony. Since 2019, she has been chairwoman of the SPD local association Leipzig Südost and a member of the state executive of the SPD Saxony since 2021.
Aurelia Streitis a migration researcher who previously worked at the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM Institute) on migration governance in the EU, refugee camps and externalization policies, and migration agreements. Previously, she founded a refugee organization in the Netherlands, worked as an advisor on migration issues at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and in the British Parliament with the Labour Party's Shadow Minister for Migration. She will next be based in Vienna as a staff member of the Migration Research and Law Division of the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Jenni Tahvanainen is a Project Manager in the Employment and Integration Services at the City of Vantaa, Finland. She has expertise in integration, community engagement, and partnerships with migrant-led NGO’s. Currently, she is leading the EU-funded SMILE project that aims at strengthening migrant family integration through new dialogue methods with communities, schools, and services.
Anna Terrón i Cusí is Spain’s former State Secretary for Immigration and Emigration (2010-2012) and currently Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Ms. Terrón was CEO at the Fundación Internacional y para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas (FIIAPP, or the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies) from 2019 to 2024. In 2012, she was appointed Special Advisor on Migration and Mediterranean Issues to European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström. She also served in other positions, including Secretary for the European Union of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalan Government Delegate to the European Union, and Member of the European Parliament (1994–2004). Her career in the public sector has primarily focused on the European Union and international affairs. Internationally, much of her activity has focused on the Middle East and Maghreb, as well as the Atlantic, African, and Latin American regions. She has worked extensively in the field of international migration and human mobility.
Boussa Thiam presents the cultural program at WDR COSMO and the pop culture magazine "Kompressor" for Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Until 2021, she was in front of the camera as a reporter for the "rbb Abendshow" for RBB. She regularly hosts events, including the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin, the three-part discussion format "Urania kontrovers," and the concerts of the RundfunkchorLounge Berlin in the new season.
Mimi Vu is a partner at Raise Partners, a social and environmental impact and ESG consulting practice in Ho Chi Minh City. She is one of the world’s leading experts in Vietnamese trafficking, modern slavery, and migration, and provides policy, strategy, and research advice and training for governments, think tanks, law enforcement, private sector, and NGOs, as well as direct assistance for Vietnamese victims of trafficking and exploitation. Mimi specializes in examining the intersectional influences of economics, gender, culture, environment, and geopolitical issues to identify current and future trends of human trafficking, smuggling, and labor exploitation, and develop policies, program strategies, and partnerships to prevent and/or mitigate negative outcomes.
