From 07/01/2016 to 06/30/2017, Daniel Stockemer was a visiting professor and Humboldt Research Fellow at the Institute for Political Science at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. He is normally an associate professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. His research units [im Rahmen der Forschungsinitiative 2008-11] include political participation, political representation, right-wing extremism in Europe, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Since his appointment to professor in 2010, Dr. Stockemer has published one book as a sole author, one collection, and more than 60 articles in subjects journals. He is co-editor of European Political Science (EPS), the subjects journal of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). In 2015, he was also the local organizer of the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association.

Associate professor (Privatdozent) Dr. habil. Julian Bergmann has been an academic staff member in the research unit “Inter- and transnational cooperation” at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), formerly Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), since January 2018. There, his research focuses on EU development policy, EU foreign and security policy, EU-Africa relations, EU support for the reconstruction of Ukraine, and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus, conflict prevention and mediation – with regional expertise in Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

In 2023, he completed his habilitation at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and received the “venia legendi” in Political Science; since then, he has been teaching there as an associate professor (Privatdozent) at the Institute of Political Science. He completed his doctorate on the topic “Bargaining for Peace, Striving for Stability. A Study on the European Union’s Effectiveness as International Mediator” in March 2017, also at JGU.

Bergmann has been closely associated with Political Science in Mainz since his doctorate: from 2011 to 2017 as an academic staff member in the research unit International Politics, since 2023 as an associate professor (Privatdozent) and habilitated lecturer. His academic career there includes research, teaching and academic supervision – especially with a focus on EU integration, international mediation and normative Political Science.

Through his qualification as an associate professor (Privatdozent) and habilitation at JGU Mainz, he is formally part of the university’s teaching and research operations – a connection that goes beyond purely external research at IDOS and actively involves him in Political Science teaching and academic self-administration at the University of Mainz.

Associate professor (Privatdozent) Dr. habil. Christine Hackenesch is a Political Scientist as well as Senior Researcher and project manager in the research unit “Inter- and transnational cooperation” at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS, formerly DIE) in Bonn.

Her research focuses in particular on EU-Africa relations, China-Africa policy, democracy promotion, human rights and good governance, as well as EU development policy in general. Within IDOS, she leads significant projects, for example on the challenges facing the EU in its global role and the connection between crisis management and long-term sustainability policy.

Her academic career includes a doctorate at the Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies (doctoral dissertation on the EU-China relationship in authoritarian regimes in Africa, 2014), and a habilitation with venia legendi in Political Science at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in 2023. Since 2023, she has been working there as an associate professor (Privatdozent) and also teaches at the University of Bonn and Mainz on the side

Prof. Dr. Natascha Zaun is Professor of Political Science with a focus on Public Policy and Law at the Institute of Political Science (IPW) at Leuphana University Lüneburg, where she has held the professorship of the same name since September 2023.

Main research areas:

• European and international asylum, migration and border policy
• Role of populism, scientific evidence and independent courts in the legislation and implementation of migration policies

From 2015 to 2016, Zaun was an academic staff member at the chair for International Politics at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. During this time, she was part of the scientific community of political science research in Mainz – a connection that ended, however, with the move to the LSE and later back to Germany. There is no evidence of formal current teaching or a professorship in Mainz.

Ramin Asadi (M.A.) was an academic staff member and teaching post for special duties at the chair for International Political Science from 2023-12-03 to 2024-10-30 and again from 2025-04-01 to 2025-09-30. Previously, he was employed as an academic staff member and adjunct lecturer at the Hochschule Düsseldorf and at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he is currently working towards his doctoral degree.

Johanna Speyer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) in the LOEWE research association “World Orders in Conflict” and researches international norms, authority and order conflicts. Previously, she was an academic staff member and doctoral candidate at the chair for International Politics at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz for several years, where she continues to work as a lecturer. In her research, she focuses in particular on the contestation of international norms and institutions, as well as on the role of reflexivity in normative order research. She has published in renowned journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies and the Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen. She completed her academic training at the Universities of Frankfurt and Passau. With her dual role as a researcher at PRIF and a lecturer in Mainz, she combines theoretically sound Political Science with practical teaching and is committed to a critical reflection of international order systems.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Brand has been Professor of Political Science with a focus on International Relations at the Hochschule Rhein-Waal in Kleve since August 2014. He also heads the bachelor’s program “International Relations” and is deputy chairperson of the examination committee of the School of Society and Economics.

Born in Jena, Brand studied Political Science, Philosophy and Communication Studies in Dresden, Leipzig and New York; in 2010 he received his doctorate in Dresden on media effects in international politics. He then worked as a Postdoc and lecturer at JGU Mainz before moving to Rhein-Waal.

His research includes development policy in international comparison, US foreign policy, media effects in IR, IR theories and the interaction of sport/football and politics. He was co-editor of the journal “Sport & EU Review” and is a member of, among others, the Forum Sportpolitik Köln and the scientific advisory board of the Cologne Forum for International Relations.

Brand combines academic teaching with practical research and diverse international networking.