About us

Clemens Bomsdorf Head of Central Eastern European Fellowship

Clemens Bomsdorf was an IJP Fellow in Iceland. As a graduate of the Cologne School of Journalism and the Stockholm School of Economics, he worked for many years as a freelance Northern Europe correspondent and member of weltreporter.net for Financial Times Deutschland, Die Welt and The Art Newspaper, among others. He later became Denmark correspondent for The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones. Since 2019, he has been a full-time press and cultural officer at the Norwegian Embassy. He also worked for the Northern Europe IJP programme for several years and now is now Head of the German-Central Eastern European programme.

Yaotzin Botello Programme Coordinator Latin American Fellowship

Yaotzin Botello is a journalist from Mexico who has lived in Berlin since 2004. He started as a Germany correspondent for the daily newspaper Reforma, for which he worked for 10 years. At the same time, he has also published articles for various Mexican and German media outlets. One of these was DW Español, where he still reports on international and Latin American politics as head of talk shows and in-house productions.

Franziska Eisenhuth Head of Legal and Human Resources

Studied law with a focus on commercial and employment law in Göttingen and Speyer, Germany. Since 2018, she has worked as a consultant at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE).

Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling Member of the board / Head of Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, Middle East Fellowship, Ernst Cramer & Teddy Kollek Fellowship

Legal studies. Dr jur. Freelance journalist, especially for the FAZ and for various weekly publications. 1993-1997 working as a magazine publisher. 1997 joined the German broadcaster ZDF. Since 2000 head of International Affairs ZDF. Member of the supervisory committees of the European Broadcasting Union and of Arte. Book publications about Germany, the United Nations and France.

Nicole Geisse-Dirsch Programme Coordinator Latin American Fellowship

Studied journalism in Santiago de Chile. Master’s degree in Strategic Communication. Editor and presenter at CNN Chile (2016 – 2019). IJP scholarship holder in 2019: guest medium N24/Welt Fersehen. Subsequently editor at N24. Since 2022 editor, CVD and presenter at Deutsche Welle (DW Spanish).

Karsten Jauch Head of German-Dutch Fellowship

Studied journalism and Dutch studies in Leipzig, Groningen and Utrecht. DAAD scholarship Nyenrode Business University. Traineeship at the daily newspaper “Freies Wort” in Suhl. Since 1995 editor at the “Thüringer Allgemeine” in Erfurt. 1994 first IJP Fellow of the German-Dutch exchange programme at “NRC Handelsblad” in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. 2007 IJP scholarship holder in Stockholm.

Benedikt Karmann Member of the board / Chief Financial Officer

Diploma in Economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin with studies abroad at the University of Siena and University of Habana. Master of Science in London (LSE). Worked for research institutions in the health care industry, now management consultant in an international auditing and consulting company.

Susanne Koch Programme Coordinator South Eastern European and Polish Fellowship

Studied Social Sciences in Düsseldorf and Prague. After a traineeship, reporter for Sat.1. Subsequently freelancer for NDR, WDR, ARD and ARTE. From 2013-2017 editor and producer at the ZDF studio in Washington DC. In 2017 Susanne Koch joined IJP as a board officer. Since 2019 she has been working as Programme coordinator for the South Eastern European and the German-Polish Fellowship.

Elisbeth Mansfeld Head of Corporate Affairs & Partnerships

Studied Business Administration at the University of Mannheim and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. From 2008 to 2017, she worked in Asset Management at Deutsche Bank, focusing on Business Development and project management in the Chief Operating Office of the Global Client Group. From 2017 until the organization’s closure in 2023, she led the “City” strategy and program at the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft, deepening her expertise in sustainable transformation processes and impact investing. At Deutsche Bank, she focused on ESG ratings and sustainability within Corporate Affairs and Strategy. She is also actively involved with encourage ventures e.V., advising start-ups on Business Development, Fundraising, and networking. Her international project experience spans China, Mexico, and Africa.

Nicole Reuter Office Manager and Programme Coordinator Central Eastern European Fellowship

Nicole Reuter studied Cultural and Literary Studies, Journalism and Business Administration in Dortmund. She completed her Master’s degree in International Relations with a focus on communication at Aalborg University in Denmark. She started working as a project manager in international development cooperation and in the NGO and cultural sector in Asia and Germany. Since 2018, she has been working for IJP as an office manager and also coordinates the German-Central Eastern European Programme.

Nilüfer Şahin Programme Coordinator Johannes Rau Fellowship

Nilüfer Şahin studied Communication Science, Psychology and German Studies as well as German and Turkish as a teacher in Essen. She then worked as a freelance journalist for WDR, Deutsche Welle and Arte, among others. As one of the first scholarship holders of the programme, Nilüfer Şahin has been supporting the  Johannes Rau Programme ever since. Today she works as a teacher in NRW.

Johanna Schneegaß Head of German-Dutch Fellowship

Johanna Schneegaß works as a University consultant at the University of Münster in a large digitization and change project. Previously several years as a research assistant at the Center for Netherlands Studies. Studied Dutch-German Studies at the University of Münster and the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, specializing in comparative Foreign and Security Policy.

Max Smolka Head of German-Dutch Fellowship

Joined the F.A.Z. business editorial team in 2013, where he is also responsible for the Netherlands. IJP alumnus in the Netherlands and Great Britain programme. Previously he studied English and chemistry; freelance radio journalist; editor and correspondent positions at BBC (German Service) in London, Reuters and FTD in Bonn and Frankfurt. IJP guest editor at the British “Independent” and radio in Hilversum. Journalist in residence at the University of Amsterdam.

Miodrag Soric Member of the board / Head of Marion Gräfin Dönhoff Fellowship, Johannes Rau Fellowship, Polish Fellowship and South Eastern European Fellowship

Chief Correspondent Deutsche Welle (DW) in Bonn. Previously Senior Correspondent Deutsche Welle Moscow (2017-2019). Bureau Chief Deutsche Welle Washington D.C. (2009-2017). 2001-2009 editor-in-chief at Deutsche Welle radio and online. 1999-2001 head of the Eastern Europe department at DW. 1995-1999 head of the Russian department. 1991 “Kurt-Magnus’ award of ARD. Study of Slavic, political science and German philology in Cologne, Moscow, Kiev and Munich. Former member of the board of Reporters without Borders.

Martin Spiewak Member of the board / Head of Latin American Fellowship

Study of history and Spanish in Hamburg and Madrid. “Deutsche Journalistenschule” in Munich. Editor for four years at “Deutsches Allgemeine Sonntagsblatt” in Hamburg. 1997 – 1999 freelance journalist (reports, analyses and features). Since July 1999 editor at the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” at the department ‘WISSEN’ (education, medical ethics). Since 2004 member of in the Berlin office of the weekly. Several awards for in-depth reporting.

Vassilios Theodossiou Member of the board / Head of George Weidenfeld Fellowship, Northern European Fellowship, Central Eastern European Fellowship

Study of Law, Political Economy and Philosophy in Göttingen, London (LSE), Bonn and Speyer. Works as lawyer.

Marco Vollmar Member of the board / Head of Federal President Horst Köhler Fellowship

Marco Vollmar studied political science, history and economics in Bonn and Paris. After a tri-medial traineeship, he worked as a correspondent at the ARD Berlin studio for MDR and SWR and as a business and political editor for Deutsche Welle. In 2002, he became Head of the Television Directorate and four years later, Editor-in-Chief of DW’s online and radio programme. In 2011, he moved to the environmental protection organization WWF Germany as Managing Director Communications & Campaigns. Since 2023, he has been partner at the international communications consultancy MSL.

Rainer Haubrich

Studied history, art history and political science in Bonn and Berlin, then freelance journalist and television writer. Since 1998 at WELT, initially editor for architecture and urban development, 2005 head of the feature section, since 2010 deputy head of opinion at WELT and WELT AM SONNTAG. Winner of the German-French Journalism Prize and the Schinkel Prize. 2001-2003 Member of the Berlin State Monuments Council. Ten publications, including “Berlin. Der Architekturführer” (2001), “Gesichter des alten Rom” (2016), “Das Berliner Schloss” (2020) and “Der Kurfürstendamm” (2021). At IJP, Rainer Haubrich served as head of the French and Dutch programmes.

Martina Johns

Studied sinology in Hamburg, China and Bonn. 1986 trainee at NDR, afterwards TV reporter for ARD, including Asia and the national news programmes. 1993 political editor at ZDF. 1995 – 2000 Head of the department of International Relations, now freelance journalist. Various book publications about China’s economy. Alumna Arthur F. Burns Fellowship (1993). Member of the board and head of the German-Asian Programme until 2022. Founder of the Asia Programme, head of IJP’s science projects and in charge of the Japan Programme. Member of the advisory board since early 2023.

Stefan Oelze

Founder and board member of Rosebank AG with four production companies in Cologne and Munich. Board member of the Film- und Medienverband NRW and the Produzentenallianz.

After studying Political Science and European Studies in Hamburg and London, from 1996 to 2008 at Granada Media Group, later ITV PLC; 2001 – 2008 Managing Director of Granada Produktion für Film und Fernsehen GmbH in Berlin and Cologne. From 2009 to 2012 CCO of MME Moviement AG and Managing Director of filmpool. 2013 – 2014 Board of Directors of Joiz AG. IJP member since 1991; Head of the German-British Programme from 1994 – 1997, then Spokesman of the Board (until 2000) and Chief Financial Officer (until 2003).