Anna Geis, Principal Investigator
Anna Geis is Professor of Political Science, especially International Security and Conflict Studies, at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg (since April 2016). From 2012-2016, she was Professor of International Relations at the University of Magdeburg. Before that, she had been appointed several times as Acting Professor at political science departments of the Goethe University in Frankfurt and of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. From 2002 to 2009 she was a senior researcher and project director at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) where she co-directed a comparative research project on ‘democratic wars’ and liberal interventionism. From 2009-2012 she was a senior researcher in the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of normative Orders” at Goethe University Frankfurt. In 2021/22, she was awarded a research fellowship by the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/ Centre for Global Cooperation Research in Duisburg.
Hanna Pfeifer, Principal Investigator
Since 2024, Hanna Pfeifer is the Head of the Research Area Societal Peace and Internal Security at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. Previously, she was a W1 Professor of Political Science with a focus on Radicalisation and Violence Research at Goethe University Frankfurt as well as the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). She was a guest professor at EHESS in Paris and the Catholic University in Erbil, as well as a DFG (German Research Foundation) Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She earned her PhD in 2017 at the Helmut Schmidt University (HSU) and was a doctoral fellow at the Orient Institute Beirut and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes). As a research associate, she worked at HSU, the University of Magdeburg, and the Munich School of Philosophy.
Christian Opitz, Former Senior Project Researcher
Christian Opitz has worked as a post-doc researcher and lecturer at the Institute of International Politics at Helmut Schmidt University since 2018. Previously, he was part of the project “Civic Participation in Foreign and Security Policy” and of the DFG-funded project “Overlapping Spheres of Authority”. Earlier work experiences in Germany and abroad include the Centre for International Peace Operations, the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Martyna Serylo, Student Research Assistant
Martyna studies Business Administration at the Helmut Schmidt University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg since 2022 as part of her military career. After graduating from high school in 2021, she started her officer training with the German Air Force. Following her graduation in 2026, she will be commissioned as a logistics officer.
Maryam El Ouadhane, Student Research Assistant
Maryam is studying “Peace and Security Studies” (M.A.) at the University of Hamburg. She holds a scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation. During her bachelor studies of political science, sociology, and psychology at the University of Bonn, she gained work experience at a research project about the relationship of experiences of hurt and ressentiment at the University of Münster. Maryam also worked as a project assistant at the foreign office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Tunis and as a research assistant at the public broadcasting channel “Phoenix”.
Meike Roth, Former Student Research Assistant
Meike studies Sociology and Political Science at the University of Hamburg. Recently, she worked as a student research assistant in the Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change and Society” at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (Project B3 – Conflict and Cooperation at the Climate-Security Nexus) and at the University of Hamburg (Project B2 – Dynamics of Climate Governance: Norms, Contestation, and Policies). She also studied one year at the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom.
David Weiß, Former Student Research Assistant
David holds an MA in Political Theory from Goethe University Frankfurt and Technical University Darmstadt, building on a BA in Political Science from the University of Hamburg. During his studies, he was a recipient of a scholarship with the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. David also studied and worked at Virginia Tech in the United States and completed internships with the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and Yerevan, Armenia, as well as with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in Bonn and the German Development Bank (KfW) in Frankfurt. David worked for the project from its launch in June 2022 until September 2024.
Pauline Frankenberger, Former Student Research Assistant
Citizens in Foreign Policy 