About us

Etienne is President of Polis180. He is responsible for the think tank’s legal affairs as well as institutional questions. In this capacity, he keeps an eye on the organisation’s strategic development to help make young voices heard in foreign and European affairs. Etienne is also involved in fundraising.

Etienne holds a Master’s degree in International Relations with a focus on trade policy, for which he studied in Freiburg, Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Paris and Geneva. He is interested in the intersection of EU trade policy and EU external action, particularly with regards to China and the ASEAN states, as well as the use of narratives in Chinese foreign policy.

Teresa joined Polis in December 2022, supporting the student-led journal “Polis Reflects” on international politics. As of July 2023, she became part of the executive board. Teresa will be responsible for social media and community management. She wants to focus on making the work of Polis visible for a broader audience and bringing the members of Polis closer together after Covid.

Teresa studied and studies social and political science in Berlin. Her areas of expertise are democracy, international cooperation and competition as well as development cooperation.

Jona is responsible for Polis180’s finances as well as the OpenTTN and supports the areas of human resources and IT. He is interested in tech policy as well as economic and security issues. His regional focus is on Southeastern and Eastern Asia and Africa. He currently finishes his studies with a diploma thesis on Quantum Machine Learning for robotic applications.

Dustin is member of the executive board and responsible for data protection and part of our publications team. Working with Polis180 since 2019, he became interim President in 2022. His main research interest is MENA politics.

Holding degrees from the university of Marburg und SOAS (London), he worked in foreign trade promotion in Saudi Arabia, Brussels, Iran, and Germany. Currently, he is a project manager and consultant on cybersecurity, is gathering his first experience in entrepreneurship and volunteers with the development aid organization GafCA e.V. with focus on Afghanistan.

Jonas is responsible for fundraising and public affairs in the executive board. Together with David and Natascha, he wants to help Polis achieve a stronger public perception for the diverse work of the individual program areas in other European countries and in cooperation with external actors. Jonas has been co-program director of the connectingAsia program, where he organized the Young Indo-Pacific Forum 2021 and 2022 with the partner think tanks STEAR and European Guanxi.

He studied international relations and political science in Kleve and Vienna and is currently working on youth participation, democracy and governance at a political foundation in Brussels. His focus besides more youth participation on the European level is mainly the exchange with young people from Europe and Asia.

David is member of the executive board and responsible for fundraising, program coordination and our international network. He aims to strengthen the cooperation between Polis180’s programs and the Open Think Tank Network, and manages the creation of our supporters’ network “180 Freund*innen”. He is an active member of the program “connectingAsia”.

David has studied in Maastricht and Berlin.

Natascha has been a member of Polis since August 2022 and initially focused on the area of “Gender and International Politics” until she decided this year to join the board. Here, she looks forward to collaborating in the departments of Publications, Public Affairs, and, to stay true to her (depending on when this is read, almost or already) completed studies, Finances.

In general, during international finance and economics studies, there isn’t much discussion about politics, sociology, or general social disparities and injustices. Therefore, it’s important for her to incorporate and advocate for these issues in her personal life. Starting in October, she will primarily be found in Amsterdam, but this does not diminish her motivation.

Anile has been a Polis 180 member since 2020, first in the department “Religion and Foreign Policy” and more recently at “Perspective East”. Last year, she supported the production of the Climate Bridge Podcast in cooperation with adelphi as a researcher and is looking forward to pushing this and the other podcasts forward as a board member. In the “Diversity” department, she hopes to make Polis a more inclusive place.

Anile is studying Literary Writing in Leipzig and Medical Anthroplogy in Oxford. Currently, she is writing a poem about the poisoning of 8,000 children and young people in Kosovo in 1990.

Jill has been a member of Polis180 since February 2023. As a member of the executive board, she supports the areas programmes as well as OpenTTN & International.

She achieved her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with the minor Sociology at Heidelberg University. Besides, Jill studied abroad at the Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada during her Bachelor studies. In October 2023, she started her Master’s degree in International Relations in Berlin and Potsdam.

Mo is in charge of any physical events, such as monthly meet-ups, “polis cooks”, member assemblies as well as summer and holiday celebrations. He studies history at China studies at the free University of Berlin , and has before worked as China desk at the Hamburg city government. Mo has a passion for all things, east Asia, cultural exchange and spontaneity.

Klara is responsible for publications and diversity on the board of Polis180. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Maastricht and Montréal, she is currently studying International Affairs in Berlin and works at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Sophia first became involved with Polis through “Polis kocht” in 2019. She led the project “Politisch? Korrekt!” for the German Federal Elections in 2021, which amplified young perspectives in the discourse on foreign and European affairs. As a member of the board, she wants to continue this mission.

Sophia studied Political Communication in Erfurt and London. She specialised in global public spheres, foreign correspondents’ role and postcolonial perspectives on journalistic reporting.

Nico is responsible for publications at Polis180. He joined in early 2022 and has been active mainly at PolisReflects, our student journal, which he leads.

Nico has studied history and International Relations and Diplomacy. He is interested in structural violence in Latin America, development cooperation regarding media and education as well as public diplomacy.

Stephanie supports the board in the association’s management. She is the first contact for members and non-members.