Name
Affiliation
CV & Linkedin
SPCE Hub is a participative, purpose-driven project promoted by IPGT Berlin.
Oyuna Baldakova
Oyuna Baldakova is a PhD Candidate at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Free University of Berlin and a 2016-2019 fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Her interests lie in the fields of political economy for development, China’s foreign economic policy, and sustainable development in Eurasia. In her doctoral project, Oyuna investigates how China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a regional development and infrastructure building platform, is being institutionalized in Beijing and implemented in light of the economic, political, and social realities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Originally from Siberia, Oyuna completed her Bachelor’s in Foreign Languages (English, Chinese) at Buryat State University in Russia and a Master’s degree in Modern East Asian Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany. After that, she worked in the field of international development interning at UNESCO Bangkok, managing an EU-funded project for Central Asia, and running communications at the International Organization of Folk Art (IOV). During her doctoral research fieldwork, Oyuna was affiliated with Peking University in China and KIMEP University in Kazakhstan, she was also a visiting fellow at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) and the University of California at Berkeley.
Prof. Dr. Monika Gonser
Monika Gonser is Professor of Intersectoral Studies at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University. She is head of the Intersectoral School of Governance Baden-Württemberg (ISoG BW) at the DHBW Center for Advanced Studies.
Previously, she was Visiting Professor of Sociology at the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability and research associate of the research project “Flight, Migration and Work in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region”.
She studied Social Sciences at the University of Nuremberg-Erlangen and is a state-certified translator and interpreter for Russian. She has been working on issues of intersectoral cooperation, i.e. cooperation between the state, business and civil society.
Prior to her appointment as professor, she was Visiting Professor of Sociology at the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability and research associate of the research project “Flight, Migration and Work in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region”.
Teaching
Dina Iglikova
Dina is a security analyst and an international affairs specialist by training. As an Executive Director of the Kazakhstan Association of Family Physicians (KAFP), together with a team of dedicated physicians, she is currently addressing the COVID-19 pandemic at a primary care level.
Dina is a founder and a resident-coordinator of the mampassi collective. The collective unites twenty residents in Central Asia and beyond who run individual and collective projects across five themes: education, climate change, healthcare, good governance, business & tech. Previously, Dina has worked in the politico-military affairs in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and later specialized on the youth of Central Asia by curating in 2009-2018 the OSCE funded project the Central Asian Youth Network that tackled the emerging leaders of the region. Since 2012 Dina is heading a healthcare nonprofit (KAFP) and additionally serves as a board member for a private environmental fund. Dina’s interests include the visual art of storytelling (filmmaking, VR/AR), Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), Decentralized Finances (Defi), biology, vipassana, bicycling, and free diving.
Dr Aksana Ismailbekova
Aksana Ismailbekova is a research fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum-Moderner Orient (ZMO). Her research work focuses on kinship, ethnicity, peacebuilding, patronage, conflict and gender in Central Asia.
Her monograph Blood Ties and the Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan was published by Indiana University Press in 2017, co-edited a monograph on Surviving Everyday Life: The Securityscapes of Threatened People in Kyrgyzstan, published with Bristol University Press in 2020.
Dr Özgecan Kesici-Ayoubi
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Özgecan is a social scientist and writer. After graduating with an MA in Political Science from the University of Munich, she spent two semesters at the Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan as a Visiting Scholar. She completed her PhD in Sociology at University College Dublin in Ireland on the 20th Century Kazakh Alash Movement. Besides the social aspects of societies, she is fascinated with all things lyrical. She regularly publishes poetry and is currently working on a longer piece. She is active in the arts scene and intends to bring artists and historians together for sustainability projects.
Izzat Khushbakov
Izzat is Project Manager in the European Division at Berghof Foundation in Berlin, where he gained extensive experience in facilitating intercultural and participatory processes.
Originally from Uzbekistan, he studied International Relations at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent and obtained a Master’s degree in Peace and Security Studies from the Hamburg University in Germany. In between his two study programs, he worked as a researcher at the Tashkent-based Centre for Political Studies (CPS).
Izzat is actively involved in the NGO MitOst, where he served a member of the board from 2016-2018. Izzat enjoys to co-create spaces where people can learn from each other and transform the world to more sustainable place. Izzat is married and father of a child.
Dr Sebastian Schiek
SPCE Hub
IPGT Berlin, Friedrichstr. 246, 10969 Berlin, DE
Fon: +49 (0)30 3977 2765
Email: schiek@spce-hub.org
Sebastian Schiek is a Political Scientist studying Central Eurasian Societies and Politics for more then ten years. He is the co-founder of SPCE Hub and a Visiting Lecturer at the Institute for East-European Studies (OEI) at Freie Universität Berlin.
At OEI, he teaches political economy and political ecology of Central Asia. Previously, he was a researcher and foreign policy advisor at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik) and at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) in Hamburg. He studied political science at FU Berlin and obtained a PhD in political science from the University of Hamburg.
He is actively engaged in numerous sustainability initiatives. He is a group founder and group coordinator in one of Germany’s largest community-supported agriculture organizations. He has been coordinator in participative sustainable city projects involving Berlin district governments and civil society. Sebastian is also founder and executive director of the social business IPGT Beriln, which serves as the promoter of the SPCE Hub.
Yana Zabanova
Yana Zabanova is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen and a Visiting Fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin researching energy transitions in Eurasia with a special focus on Kazakhstan and Russia.
Prior to starting her PhD, she spent seven years as a research analyst on the Eastern Partnership region and Russia at two Berlin-based think tanks, the European Stability Initiative (ESI) and the SWP. She has also worked as an independent consultant, most recently for the German Energy Agency (dena). Yana completed her undergraduate studies in Russia, the US, and Germany, and holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University in Budapest (2007) and a Master’s degree in public policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin (2009).
Dr Teresa Lappe-Osthege
Teresa is a political scientist with a background in political ecology and green political economy in contexts of peace and conflict.
Her work has led her to the Western Balkans, where she conducted extensive research on sustainable development and questions of socio-ecological (in)justice in peacebuilding processes. She currently works as a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the ESRC-funded BEaStly Business Project at the University of Sheffield, exploring the intersections of green criminology and political ecology in the context of the illegal wildlife trade in Europe.
Previously, Teresa worked as Programme Manager at THE NEW INSTITUTE in Hamburg, developing a programme on the role of behavioural change in socio-economic and ecological transformations, and as a Research Associate on the EU-funded Biodiversity and Security Project (BIOSEC) at the University of Sheffield. She was also a Visiting Fellow at the Marjan Centre for Conflict and the Environment at King’s College London. Teresa is currently a trustee for the NGO Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) and acted as Co-Chair of the NGO Balkans Peace Park Project. She holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield (UK) and studied in London and Maastricht.
Devin Toletti
Devin grew up in Northern Italy, on his parents` homestead. He studied political science at Bologna University and Freie Universität Berlin.
His focus is on ecological design, that aims to store the potential energy of water in an efficient way, sequester carbon in soil and create systems where water is saved and not lost while creating problems like erosion and flooding. He took part and taught numerous courses about regenerative agriculture, water management, soil biology and permaculture.
He prides himself to rethink problems as solutions when he is tasked with a challenge. He created the concept of ecological education for an open air museum of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum (Berlin City Museum Foundation) in Berlin, adding ecological school tours and permaculture courses for adults in its educational offerings. He also conceptualized ecological management of the museum area with a natural agricultural field, water management applications and compost toilets. He is currently working on regenerative farming and community projects in Italy, Germany and Turkey.
Email: wepermaplay@gmail.com
Ceren Hic Toletti
Ceren grew up in Istanbul. Her interest in agricultural and environmental politics emerged while studying political science at Bogazici University Istanbul and FU Berlin.
She continued her studies in Agricultural Economics at HU Berlin where she researched on biodiversity effects of allotment gardens and food waste impacts on climate change. She is a naturepedagogue and outdoor educator for the Foundation for Nature Protection Berlin (Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin) and Berlin City Museum Foundation (Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin). During her allotment gardener years in Berlin she started studying permaculture & holistic management, which she continues learning and teaching in workshops in Berlin, Italy and Turkey.
Ceren is an ambassador for an ecological education initiative for immigrants. She is also a trainer for a self-defense & awareness school in Berlin that trains women and children. Ceren believes that surviving the present and future requires regeneration of the connection between humans and ecology. This can be done through experiences in nature, holistic (re)thinking and mindfulness. She is passionate about fostering soil life, preventing erosion, producing nurturing food and creating community. She incorporates play and imagination into her trainings. She is often outside foraging wild foods.
Email: wepermaplay@gmail.com