Responsibilities
- Member of Research group ‘Culture and Sports Policy’ at USN
- Member of Research project ‘Football and Religion in the Middle East’ (FORM)
- Member of ‘PROFRES’ Research school
Competences
In the build up to taking up this PhD, I worked as a Sports Programs Manager at Saudi Arabia’s public sport park which was part of Misk City in Riyadh. I planned and delivered programs on women sports in the Kingdom during which I witnessed rapid developments in the sport sector. These insightful experiences spurred my interest to further understand the role of sport for women alongside the role women play in the evolution of sport in Saudi Arabia. As I continue with my PhD, I will focus essentially on women’s football by means of an ethnographic fieldwork. Furthermore, I am part of the research project Football and religion in the Middle East.
Prior to my involvement in Saudi Arabia, I worked on various Sport for Development and Peace projects and initiatives. These encompass program coordination for the NGO Yoga and Sports with Refugees based in Lesvos, Greece, and project management for sport-for-development projects in Germany.
I also hold a Master of Science degree in Sport Management, Politics, and International Development from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. My master thesis on Assistive Technologies (AT) as an Enabler for the Development of Para Sport was part of the Para Sport Against Stigma project of the International Paralympic Committee. This study identified issues and opportunities of AT in Germany and Ghana, as representative countries of the Global North and South, and how these contribute to the participation in Para Sport. Further, I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Sport Science at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in Germany with two exchange semesters at Université de Lausanne in Switzerland.
Besides my Ph.D., I am currently volunteering in the role of Club Manager for the German Societal Club Equaletics e.V., an entity promoting equality in sports with a particular focus on gender and diversity. Also, I participate continuously in ENGSO Youth activities, the youth body of European grassroot sport, promoting sport-for-all initiatives.
As a sports enthusiast and former athlete, I am passionate about utilizing sports as a tool for fostering cross-sectional sustainable development goals (SDGs). Due to my previous experiences, I am especially interested in the SDGs 4 – quality education, 5 – gender equality, 10 – reduced inequalities and 17 – partnerships for the goals. By means of my work I particularly target these goals and aim to contribute knowledge in these fields within the sport for development and peace sector.