Political scientist Dr Axel Berger new Deputy Director at DIE
Political scientist Dr Axel Berger new Deputy Director at DIE
Bonn, 31.03.2022. On 1 April 2022, Dr Axel Berger will take over the position of the Deputy Director at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE). He replaces Professor Dr Imme Scholz, who had been in this position since 2009, and is now moving to the Executive Board of the Heinrich Böll Foundation from 1 April 2022. The position of Deputy Director (interim) is limited to two years. A permanent appointment to the position at the DIE will be sought through a joint appointment procedure with a North Rhine-Westphalian university in the form of an open call for applications as of 1 April 2024.
Together with the Director, Professor Dr Anna-Katharina Hornidge, and the Head of Service Facilities, Margret Heyen, Dr Berger will shape the strategic and substantive orientation as well as further deepen national, European and international networks of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) over the next two years. In accordance with the principle of joint institute management, Dr Berger will accompany the three training formats for young professionals at DIE: the Postgraduate Training Programme, the Managing Global Governance (MGG) Academy as well as the BMZ African-German Leadership Academy. Furthermore, Dr Berger will closely supervise the research and advisory activities on inter- and transnational cooperation as well as on the transformation of political (dis)order.
Dr Axel Berger has been working as a political scientist at the DIE since 2007. In his role as a senior researcher in the programme 'Transformation of Economic and Social Systems', he helped establishing and internationally promoting research and policy advice in the field of international trade and investment policy. Furthermore, he coordinated the activities of the DIE in the Think 20 (T20) and Think7 (T7) think tank networks and contributed to the Institute's research on club governance formats such as the G20 and G7. Dr Berger, himself an alumnus of the Managing Global Governance programme at DIE, has been teaching in DIE's training formats for years. He also teaches at the University of Bonn in the field of international political economy. Within the Institute, Dr Berger, in his role as a member and long-standing chair of the DIE's works council, constructively shaped the dialogue and exchange processes between staff and the Institute's management, as well as between scientific and service departments.
"With his expertise in international trade and investment policy, Dr Berger strengthens the scientific management of the Institute in central questions concerning the reorganisation of global cooperation systems," emphasises Prof Dr Hornidge. "I am also very pleased about the continued cooperation on issues of Institute strategy and structural development of the Institute."
"I am very pleased to take on the role as Deputy Director of the DIE for the next two years and to work on the further development of the Institute together with the DIE staff from the scientific programmes and the service facilities. It is the combined thinking of research, policy advice and training / teaching which defines the position of the DIE nationally and internationally and attracts innovative minds and committed staff - it is a particular concern of mine to further develop this strength of the DIE", says Dr Axel Berger.
Professor Dr Imme Scholz, who held various positions at the DIE for 30 years, including Deputy Director since 2009, resigned at the end of March 2022 and was bid farewell by shareholders, long-standing research partners and staff at a virtual event. "We thank Professor Dr Imme Scholz for her great commitment, with which she has shaped the DIE over the years and wish her all the best for her new position," said Berger and Hornidge on the change in the directorate.
