Dr. Leonie Schoelen

Schoelen recently defended her PhD entitled Facing the Global – Ambivalent Coping Strategies in the Algerian Academic Field in Sociology and Education Sciences. After her Bachelor's and Master's in Politics and Society, International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies, she started working as a consultant for GIZ German International Cooperation.

She has supported the establishment of the Pan-African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences (including Climate Change) (PAUWES) in Algeria in the capacity of Student and Academic Affairs (2014-2016) and the PAU Rectorate in Cameroon in terms of strategic planning, monitoring and reporting, quality assurance, and financial sustainability (2020).

She also previously worked as a Project Associate at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), as a Research Assistant at the University of Bonn's Centre for Development Research (ZEF) and as a facilitator and guide for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. She is a member of numerous international academic societies in higher education studies and research, among them, the African Network for Internationalization in Education (ANIE).

From 2021, she embarks on a PostDoc fellowship researching higher education internationalisation policies and practices at the Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Office, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa, and continues to work as an instructor and lecturer for the German federal Academy of International Cooperation (AIZ, part of GIZ). She is fluent in English, French and German, and has basic knowledge of Arabic and Portuguese.