Three years after its foundation in 2019, the Graduate School of SCRIPTS held an inaugural event directed exclusively at former graduate students and other affiliates of the BGTS and the former Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies (BTS). SCRIPTS directors Prof. Tanja A. Börzel and Prof. Michael Zürn, BIRT director Prof. Thomas Risse and doctoral researcher Rasmus Ollroge participated. In addition to keynotes and a research forum organised by current doctoral students, the event focused on a roundtable on the transfer of research to policy. As one-third of BIRT graduates work in government agencies and another third work in academia, this knowledge exchange is especially relevant to current and former BGTS members. 

The aim of the alumni event was to celebrate the achievements of SCRIPTS-alumni, update the community on the development of SCRIPTS, and to facilitate networking within the community as well as exchange over the diverse career paths open to doctoral researchers after graduation.

Career Paths: Participating BIRT alumni

Oheneba Boateng is a non-resident fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin and a Visiting Assistant Professor of International Relations at Bucknell University (Pennsylvania). Oheneba researched migration policy in the EuraAfrica Corridor as a postdoctoral Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin where he also earned his PhD in political science. For his doctoral work, he investigated the impact of power imbalances on humanitarian outcomes.

Tobias Bunde is Director of Research & Policy at the Munich Security Conference (MSC). He is also a
member of the Executive Board of the Munich Security Conference Foundation. Tobias has studied International Relations in Dresden, Strasbourg, Berlin/Potsdam and Washington, DC, and holds a PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin. In addition to his work for the Munich Security Conference, Tobias is also a postdoctoral researcher at the Hertie School’s Centre for International Security. He publishes in both academic and policy-oriented outlets – mostly on German foreign and security policy, security cooperation among liberal democracies, and international order.

Olivia Gippner works at the European Commission where she is currently Policy Assistant to the Director-General for Climate Action. She joined the commission after her Phd at Freie Universität Berlin and a postdoc at the London School of Economics and Political Science, working, inter alia, in the cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans. She is the author of a book and several articles on China’s Climate Change Policy.

Sonja Schiffers is the Head of Office at the Regional Office of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation in Tbilisi, Georgia. She began her career in policy as foreign affairs advisor with the Green parliamentary group at the Bundestag, followed by a position as advisor to Cem Özdemir (MdB). She holds a PhD from Freie Universität Berlin where she researched the illiberal influence of Russia and Turkey on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Georgia. She also led the program division on gender and international politics at the grassroots thinktank Polis180 and served as the organizations president.