office@vidc.org | +43 1 7133594 | Möllwaldplatz 5/9, 1040 Wien
The VIDC Global Dialogue team introduces itself!
Under our names you will find information about how we like to be addressed and which pronouns we use. With this we want to set a good example and point out that the gender identity of people cannot be determined by their names or their outward appearance. Gender-appropriate language is important and in this spirit we are looking forward to a lively, respectful communication with you!
Lisa Bucksch
Pronouns: she/her
Tel.: +43 1 713 35 94 - 60
bucksch@vidc.org
works at the VIDC in the administration as well as in the VIDC Global Dialogue department as a project assistant. Among other things, she is responsible for the social media presence of the VIDC Global Dialogue department. Currently on maternity leave.
She has a bachelor's degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology and a master's degree in International Development with focus on inequality, economics and natural resources at the University of Vienna. Her Master's thesis was on forced resettlement in Chile.
Michael Fanizadeh
Pronouns: he/him
Tel.: +43 1 713 35 94 - 91
fanizadeh@vidc.org
is a project coordinator at VIDC Global Dialogue. His areas of work are migration and development, climate crisis and displacement, human rights and anti-discrimination, with a regional focus on the Middle East.
From 1997 to 2008 he was the coordinator of the anti-racist sports project "fairplay" and the European network "Football Against Racism in Europe - FARE". From 2011 to 2014 he coordinated the transnational EU project CoMiDe - Initiative for Migration and Development. Since 2012 he has been the head of the Migration & Development working group in Global Responsibility, Platform for Development and Humanitarian Aid.
He earned a master's degree in political science at the University of Vienna.
Faai-Irène Estelle Hochauer-Kpoda
Pronouns: she/her
Tel: +43 1 713 35 94 - 69
hochauer-kpoda@vidc.org
works at the VIDC in the administration as well as an event manager in the VIDC Global Dialogue department - as such she is responsible for the organisation of conferences, panel discussions and workshops.
She was a radio and TV presenter and editor at Radio Afrika TV. Since 2009, she has been deputy chairwoman and co-founder of the association BARKA BARKA, an aid organisation for the town of Foroteon in Burkina Faso. Since 2018 she has been the special representative of the Burkinabè Diaspora in Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and the Czech Republic. Since 2019 she has been an integration ambassador for Zusammen: Austria.
She earned a master's degree in tourism and hotel management at the Institut Supérieur International du Tourisme-Tanger in Morocco as well as a master’s degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management at the Institut for Tourism and Hotel Management in Salzburg. She also has a diploma in Project and Event Management from Vienna Media in Vienna.
Maëlle Nausner
Pronouns: she/her
Tel.: +43 1 713 35 94 - 76
nausner@vidc.org
is responsible for Public Relations in the VIDC Global Dialogue department.
She studied History at the University of Vienna as well as Content Production & Digital Media Management at FH Wien der WKW, University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication in Vienna.
Martina Neuwirth
Pronouns: she/her
Tel. +43 1 713 35 94 - 67
neuwirth@vidc.org
is project officer and responsible for international economic and financial policy. One of her main areas of work deals with illegitimate financial flows and international tax policy and its effects on countries of the Global South.
She is currently the Chairperson of the Mattersburg Circle for Development Policy and a member of the Think 20 (T20) Task Force "International Cooperation in Tax Matters". From 2013 to 2016 she was a member of the Coordination Committee of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, from 2012 to 2018 a member of the Board of Trustees of the Commission for Development Research (KEF) and from 2011 to 2014 a member of the Executive Committee of the European Research Network EADI. Martina led two campaigns for debt relief for countries of the South and worked as a parliamentary assistant.
Martina studied African Studies at the University of Vienna and completed a Post-Graduate on Economic Principles at the University of London.
Ali Ahmad Safi
Pronouns: he/him
aliahmad.kabul@gmail.com
is project officer and responsible for the topics Afghanistan & Diaspora Engagement.
He is a PhD candidate at the Department for Migration and Globalisation at the Danube University Krems (DUK). He received his Master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European Peace University (EPU). Ahmad has also worked as a consultant for VIDC since 2015 and has written research on Afghan refugees and diaspora communities in Europe, as well as on the situation in Afghanistan. As a trained doctor, he has also worked in various international research and media organisations and has published extensively on political, security and social issues in Afghanistan. His research areas include migration, diaspora, labour market and non-state security actors in Afghanistan.
Franz Schmidjell
Pronouns: he/him
Deputy management
Tel.: +43 1 713 35 94 - 82
schmidjell@vidc.org
is deputy manager of the VIDC and project officer responsible for Africa policy at VIDC Global Dialogue.
Initiator of the VIDC department "kulturen in bewegung". Organises information and cultural festivals (Sura Za Africa, Onda Latina, Ke Nako Africa, moving cultures), exchange programmes, tours, exhibitions and workshops; supervises cultural projects in Africa.
Studied commercial sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration with several trips and research stays in South East Asia and South Asia.
Nadja Schuster
Pronouns: she/her
Tel. +43 1 713 35 94 - 80
schuster@vidc.org
is project officer and responsible for gender issues, including the Gender Tandem Workshop Programme, the fight against human trafficking and the online magazine Spotlight.
She was a long-standing staff member of the NorthSouthDialogue of Parliaments and has researched and worked from 2009 to 2011 on the implementation of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) at national level. She has also researched and published on Migration & Development and Diaspora Engagement in 2012 and on Sustainable Reconstruction in Sri Lanka in 2006.
She has a master's degree in Development Evaluation and Management from the University of Antwerp and a master’s degree in Sociology, International Development, Gender from the University of Vienna.
Magda Seewald
Pronouns: she/her
Tel. +43 1 713 35 94 - 75
seewald@vidc.org
is Divisional Director and responsible for the Middle East, Gender and the Gender Tandem Workshop Programme.
She is a board member of the Women*solidarity and co-founder of the network REloading Feminism. From 2012 to 2018 she was a board member of WIDE Austria.
She studied political science with a combination of subjects in contemporary history, international law and international development at the University of Vienna. Diploma thesis on the women's peace movement in Israel and Palestine.
Consultants
Marie Roger Biloa
Pronouns: she/her
Africa
contact@mrb-networks.com
is the editor of the political magazine "Africa International", published in Paris, and CEO of the Africa International Media Group. She has successfully founded two magazines in Cameroon and Gabon. Marie Roger-Biloa is President of the "Club Millenium" in Paris, an Africa think tank and networking centre for leaders, and lives in Paris.
Daniela Paredes Grijalva
Pronouns: she/her
Climate justice and migration
is investigating how (im)mobilities are linked to environmental change in Indonesia in her dissertation project at the Institute of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Vienna. She is also a member of WIDE Austria.
Aleksandra Natalia Wojewska
Pronouns: she/her
Economy
aleksandra.natalia.wojewska@univie.ac.at
Aleksandra is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Development Studies of the University of Vienna and holds an MSc in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from the University of Copenhagen. In her PhD research, she analyses price-making processes in metal GPNs and associated outcomes in producing countries with a focus on DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe.