The WiE Board
Virginia Sondergeld
Chair of the Board
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Virginia leads WiE’s strategic and organisational development. She is responsible for guiding new ideas and activities, coordination of organisational processes and expansion as well as monitoring WiE's mission and impact. Virginia is a PhD candidate at the Berlin School of Economics and DIW Berlin. Her research interests are labour and gender. She gained 3y of experience in economic consulting as an Economic Analyst at NERA Economic Consulting.
Larissa Fuchs
Vice Chair of the Board
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Larissa works on the strategic direction of WiE. She is a PhD researcher at the University of Cologne. Besides her responsibility of WiE's organisational development - she is also involved in events and cooperation with Cologne’s Excellence Cluster ECONtribute. Her research interests include algorithmic fairness in recruiting processes, human capital and labor market related topics. In her free time she loves to dance, kickbox or enjoy Cologne's nightlife.
Sandra Kretschmer
Board Member
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Sandra is a Ph.D. student in Economics at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg where she is analyzing ways to achieve a sustainable and ecologically sound energy market design. Sandra is passionate about sustainability, gender equality, and awakening others to these issues. At WiE, she helps to do just that as coordinator of the research team. In her free time, she loves to spend time with friends, run or hike through nature, do yoga, read fantasy books and grow plants
Jelena Todorović
Board Member
Jelena is a PhD student of Economist at the LMU in Munich. Her research interests span optimal taxation, optimal parental leave policies, complexities of a tax system, and inequalities. She is a Head of Events at WiE and has organized more than 20 online events with her team since 2020. As of 2022, she is a host of the Women in Economics Initiative podcast. She loves to travel, read, cook, run and study foreign languages in her spare time.
Insa Weilage
Board Member & Mentoring Programme
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Insa works as an economist at the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in The Hague, The Netherlands, with a focus on health care. Before that she completed her PhD in labour economics at the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. She is one of the organisers of the mentoring programme.
Admin
Antonia Kurz
HR Coordinator
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Antonia is the HR Coordinator at WiE, supporting the other teams through the advertisement, recruitment, and onboarding of new volunteers. She is maintaining oversight of, and contact with, our growing pool of now more than 50 team members.
Outside of WiE, Antonia is a PhD candidate in the department for Spatial Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research is at the intersection of Environmental Economics and Trade, in particular the impacts of environmental regulation on firm performance and international competitiveness of sectors. She spends her free time mostly on one of her bikes, counting laps in the pool, learning how to play tennis, or creating new dishes in the kitchen.
Sheida Teimouri
Diversity Advocate
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Sheida is currently an associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Her field of research is International Macro and Labour Economics. She is especially interested in the impact of trade and financial integration on the labor market and the policies to mitigate the adverse effects. She is passionate about promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially in the field of Economics. She joined the WiE team as a diversity advocate to put her passion for Diversity & Inclusion promotion into action.
Tabea Krauss
Legal Advisor
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Tabea is a Ph.D. Candidate in law and economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She’s passionate about finding solutions for more sustainability in corporate supply chains and studying the effectiveness of existing regulations in this field. In her free time, she loves running, hiking, and skiing, and you also often find her on her yoga mat or in a café with friends or a good book.
Design & Promotion
Yannik Lamers
Social Media Promoter
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Yannik is currently completing his master’s degree in Socioeconomics at the University Duisburg-Essen. He is especially interested in the fields of inequality in several dimensions; wealth and income distribution and welfare states. Besides from studying, he is following his passion of communications. He has worked in several positions in the field of corporate communications. At WiE he is responsible for all social media related activities.
Marina Fuhrmann
Social Media Coordinator
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After completing her master in Socio-economics at University of Duisburg-Essen, Marina works in Corporate Responsibility at ALDI Nord where she is engaged in making non-food supply chains more sustainable. Her interests are in development economics, international value chains and sustainability. Marina is based in Cologne, Germany. In her free time, she likes to cook, read, do several sports and spend time outside with her friends.
Meike Schneiders
Social Media Coordinator
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After finishing the MSc programme “Philosophy & Public Policy” at the LSE, Meike just joined the German publisher “Nomos” as an Editor for humanities. Passionate about Gender Equality, during her studies, she co-hosted a feminist reading group, wrote a feminist column for her university paper, and did a lot of voluntary social media work. Carrying this passion into her working life she now joins the WiE Social Media Team.
Edith Wong
Website Manager
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Edith is a high school student studying in Canada, originally from Hong Kong. She is intending to pursue behavioral economics in her post-secondary studies. Having worked for rural schools in China and behavioral research with local universities, her interests in economics include choice architecture and group decision-making. She is also an active advocate for gender and racial equality. In her free time, she likes to read, go on runs and connect with her friends.
Vaibhavi Mayya
Website Team
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Vaibhavi is a member of WiE's website team!
Events
Janaki Shibu
Events Coordinator
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Janaki is pursuing a Master’s in Economics at the University of Bonn. Her research interests lie at the intersection of labour and feminist economics. In her undergraduate thesis, she examined the pattern of occupational segregation in the formal and informal labour market in India, and its relationship with wage inequality within a feminist political economy framework. She is an event coordinator and is currently organizing events with Uni Bonn and the University of Warwick. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing several musical instruments and cooking.
Martha Fiehn
Events Organiser
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Martha is originally from Berlin, Germany and grew up in California. She is currently a research fellow at Harvard for Stefanie Stantcheva. Previously, she graduated with honors in Economics from UC Berkeley and summa cum laude with a Master in International Economic Policy from SciencesPo Paris. She is particularly interested in taxation, tax evasion, inequality, and law. In her free time, she enjoys biking, hiking, and swimming.
Francesca Rinaldi
Events Organiser
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Francesca is a M2 candidate in Analysis and Policy in Economics at the Paris School of Economics, having previously earned a master’s in Economics and Philosophy from LSE and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. She works as a research assistant at LEAP - Bocconi University on projects in Italian middle schools. Her research interests cover theories of well-being, gender and education economics..
June Mariette Monteiro
Events Organiser
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I am currently a master's student in Economics at Azim Premji University. My interests primarily lie in the economics of education and micro-economics and gender economics. I also enjoy coordinating events, so joining the Events team at WiE gives me an opportunity to pursue two things I have always wanted to: co-ordinate events to promote gender equality. I enjoy reading books, dancing, or cooking in my free time.
Lena Michaelis
Events Organiser
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Lena is currently completing her Master’s degree in Economics at the Humboldt-University of Berlin. Her economic interests include health and behavioral economics, as well as labor markets. During her Bachelor studies in Bonn, she has been an active member of the economics students’ association, organizing events and advocating the students’ interests in various bodies. At WiE, she is responsible for university collaborations as part of the events team.
Veerangna Kohli
Events Organiser
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Veerangna is a Research Assistant in Public Policy at the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government. She has a Master's degree in Development Economics from the University of Göttingen in Germany and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women in India. She has extensive expertise through her work with many organisations in India and Germany, including the Planning Commission of India, RWI, Essen, and the University of Göttingen. Her research interests include Development Economics, Economics of Education, Empirical Economics, Gender Economics, and Behavioural Economics. She is highly committed to feminism and also hopes to improve access to and quality of education in low and middle-income countries. Outside of work, she enjoys table tennis, drawing mandalas, playing the piano, cooking, and volunteering (3 years of experience).
Anushka Vasudev
Events Organiser
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Anushka is currently a junior in high school from the United States and is interested in pursuing economics in future academic and career pathways. She is passionate about providing other students with platforms to explore the field of economics and enjoys getting involved in local economic policy initiatives to learn more about the community around her. In her free time, she loves writing for her local newspaper, playing badminton, and experimenting with new baking recipes.
Clara Schäper
Events Organiser
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Clara is a Doctoral Researcher in the Gender Economics Research Group of the Public Economics Department at DIW Berlin and a PhD candidate of the Berlin School of Economics (BSE) and the DIW Graduate Center. She also is a member and lecturer at the Center for Economic Policy Analysis (CEPA / University of Potsdam) and a guest researcher at the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). Her main research interests are labour economics, gender and family economics, and economics of discrimination. In her free time, she frequently attends cultural, and especially live music events, enjoys exploring good food around the world and spending time with her friends and family.
Finance
Maria Hofbauer Pérez
Head of Finance
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Maria is a Ph.D. Candidate in economics at LMU Munich. Her research in empirical economics focuses on topics in inequality, health, and gender economics. In her free time, she loves hiking, cross-country skiing, yoga, cooking, choir singing, and attending cultural events such as concerts and the theatre.
Clara Wobbe
Financial Management
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Clara is currently in her last semester of studying the Master of Economic Policy at the University of Siegen. Her economic interests include European economics and economic development, and she will complete her master thesis topic on a sustainable EU debt landscape. At WiE, she will assist in the administrative work of the finance team, while in her free time she likes reading, hiking, and singing in a choir.
Partnership & Outreach
Kate Milne
Partnership Manager
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Kate is currently studying towards her MSc in Economics from the University of Edinburgh whilst working at The Fraser of Allander Institute, Glasgow. Her main research interests cover development, health, and gender economics, while her undergraduate thesis explored the relationship between women’s empowerment and economic development through reproductive rights. During the week, she enjoys reading, cooking, and thinking up new recipes for her vegetarian food blog. On the weekends, she loves to see friends, volunteer, and go for long walks with her dogs.
Aayushi Chandra
Partnership Management & Fundraising
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Aayushi is currently studying Economics and International Studies at Ohio State University. Her most recent research experience was through the Middlebury Institute of International Studies where she understood the mechanisms of U.S. sanctions and evaluated their effectiveness in curbing global proliferation. She is interested in creating equal representation in the realm of economic foreign policy and emphasizing women’s economic contributions throughout history. In her free time, she enjoys reading, Facetiming friends, and hiking.
Anina Harter
Strategic Partnership Management
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Anina joined the WiE strategic partnerships team as a Ph.D. student in economics at LMU Munich. She works as an empirical researcher at the Ifo Institute and focuses on sovereign debt and political economy topics. Anina holds a master’s degree from UCL and has lived in London, Montréal, and Heidelberg. In her free time, she loves to explore nature, cook, read, travel & discuss politics.
Altair Breckwoldt Jurado
Fundraising & Grants
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Altair is currently working as an Analyst in the Banking Sector. After a two-year traineeship in the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, Altair decided to do a Ph.D. in Industrial Economics at the University of Valencia about innovating and patenting activities of European Firms specifically in digitization technologies belonging to the so called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Vickie Menjivar
Outreach
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After completing her B.Sc in Economics, Vickie worked in the Belize public sector as a Social Policy Officer for a year and is now an economic analyst at a private consultancy firm. She seeks equality through a balanced capitalistic and socialistic economic approach. Thus, her research interests include development economics, labor economics, and macroeconomics. Outside economics, she dedicates time to Lions Clubs International as a community volunteer and to WiE as an outreach volunteer.
Gill Geng
Outreach
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Gill currently works as a competition economist. She studied (BSc) Economics & Econometrics at the University of Bristol and obtained a MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford. Her main interests in Economics are applied microeconomics and econometrics. Her Master’s thesis focused on investigating households’ willingness-to-pay for goods and the variation by demographics. In her free time, Gill enjoys cooking and doing Pilates.
Jasmine Chen
Outreach & Mentoring Program
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Jasmine is doing a master's thesis at Bonn University Graduate School of Economics. Soon, she will start her Ph.D. life at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Her passion for Financial Economics combined with both Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. In WiE, she is mainly focusing on Mentoring Programme to empower more female economists for better development in their future careers. Meanwhile, she is co-founder of Education Without Barriers, where she improves education inequality to develop underprivileged children worldwide.
Wiebke Stein
Mentoring Program
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Wiebke currently works as an evaluator and researcher at the German Institute for Development Evaluation (Deval) in Bonn. She studied Economics (BSc) in Hannover and Bristol and International Development Studies (MSc) at the University of Amsterdam. She also obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of Hannover. Her research focuses on topics related to economic development in Southeast Asia. Wiebke is also a consultant for the World Bank where she works on topics related to adaptive social protection in the Pacific. In her free time Wiebke enjoys cooking and playing music.
Jenny Peters
Country Ambassador
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Jenny is a PhD candidate and tutor in Economics at the University of Edinburgh, funded by the Carnegie Trust. Her research interest is macro labour, specifically focusing on the cyclical dynamics of gender inequality. Jenny previously obtained her MSc in Economics from the University of St Andrews, funded by the ECB’s Women in Economics Scholarship. At WiE she is the Country Ambassador for Scotland, and her goal is to create an empowering and inclusive community of female and non-binary economists.
Anastasiia Zharinova
Outreach
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Anastasiia is a Senior Economic Manager in the NHS England, having previously completed a BSc in Economics and MSc in Health Economics and Econometrics. As part of her work, she focuses on economic analysis of the NHS, including productivity analysis and econometric research of waiting times. Anastasiia is also passionate about use of open-source software in healthcare analysis. Outside of work, she is a keen baker and a novice piano player.
Research
Sandra Kretschmer
Head of Research
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Sandra is a Ph.D. student in Economics at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg where she is analyzing ways to achieve a sustainable and ecologically sound energy market design. Sandra is passionate about sustainability, gender equality, and awakening others to these issues. At WiE, she helps to do just that as coordinator of the research team. In her free time, she loves to spend time with friends, run or hike through nature, do yoga, read fantasy books and grow plants
Carolin Formella
Researcher
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Carolin is a Graduate Economics Student at the LMU Munich and recently completed an exchange semester at the Université Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. Besides studying, she works as a Research Assistant at the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition. Her fields of interest include trade, migration and inequality.
Yuki Takahashi
Researcher
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Yuki is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bologna, working on topics in behavioral and labor economics with a particular interest in how bias and discrimination affect people’s labor market outcomes. At WiE, Yuki is a part of the research team and eager to know more about gender and other diversity issues.
Kaneta Zillur
Researcher
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Kaneta recently completed her master’s degree in Economics at LMU Munich. Prior to moving to Germany, she worked in Bangladesh on issues of governance, urban poverty, and social networks. During her graduate studies, she became more interested in gender inequality and wrote her thesis on the impact of Covid-19 through a gender lens. Currently, she is working remotely for PPRC, on issues of urban development and Covid recovery. Kaneta is also a street photographer and is trying to promote more women photographers into the genre.
Yashveer Singh
Researcher
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Yashveer is an economics student and a dedicated Research Associate at Flame University. He is passionate about policy research and strives to make government data accessible to public. His focus lies in analyzing critical societal issues and developing effective solutions to address them. Yashveer is particularly enthusiastic about promoting Gender Equality and Inclusion and has a keen interest in Public Finance and the Agrarian Economy. Beyond academics, he is an equestrian and national tennis player.
Qquillaccori García López
Researcher
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Qquillaccori is a Ph.D. Research Scholar in Economics at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). Her main research interests are labor economics, social insurance, gender, and the study of inequalities. She is engaged in advocacy both in and outside the university environment, which motivated her to join WiE as part of the Research team. In her free time and when she’s not at the gym, Qquillaccori enjoys dancing, writing, and going to the theatre.
Johanna Raith
Researcher
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Johanna is a Ph.D. student in Economics at the Leibniz institute for economic research Halle. She is interested in drivers of income inequality and thus doing research within the realm of labor economics, the economics of education and gender economics. At WiE, Johanna is part of the research team. In her free time, she likes to do sports such as swimming or running.
Dorothee Bühler
Researcher
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Dorothee works as a Programme Officer at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. Her work concentrates on European Territorial Cooperation funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Dorothee studied European Business (BA) in Münster and Portsmouth (UK) and International Economics and Economic Policy (MSc) at the University of Frankfurt. She obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of Hannover. Her research focuses on topics related to economic development and environmental economics in Southeast Asia. Before joining the Ministry, Dorothee was a postdoc at the University of Hannover, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade. She also worked as a consultant for the World Bank and C4ED on topics related to social protection in Eastern Europe and Asia. In her free time, Dorothee enjoys hiking or biking in the mountains surrounding Munich.
Writing & Editing
Ella Needler
Editor, Design Contributor
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Ella is an undergraduate student in her final year at Washington University in St. Louis studying economics and finance. Her academic interests include macroeconomics, behavioral economics, philosophy of economics and the history of economic thought. At WiE, Ella works on content for the editing team and helps coordinate design materials for other various teams. Outside the world of economics, Ella is passionate about sustainable fashion, enjoys attending concerts, and practicing yoga.
Jordan Sheridan
Content
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Jordan is a British Luxembourgish national with a Master degree in political sciences from University College London. After 5 years of professional experience in public policy and public finance at the European Investment Bank and PwC Luxembourg, Jordan took the entrepreneurial leap and is working as a freelance consultant in the field of sustainability and scale-up advisory. She is passionate about promoting sustainable development and the possibilities degrowth economics has to offer. In her free time you can find her out on (or under!) the ocean, with the plants in the garden, or curled up with a good book
Malaika Rana
Content
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Malaika is a Master in Economics student at MIT- World Peace University (Pune) hailing from the diversified lands of India. With a passion for economics and studying it for 8 years now, she aspires to undertake research work on the role of technology and finance in gender economics, international markets, and economic development. A love for dance, dogs, and books keep her busy on weekends along with cooking and social volunteering.
Jana Schütz
Content
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Jana is currently an Economics Ph.D. student at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, interested in pension economics and gender economics. At WiE she is part of the research team. In her free time, Jana likes to go to concerts, watch movies, or do sports such as running.
Eliana Coschignano
Content Creator
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Eliana holds a BA in Economics from Durham University and an MSc in Economics from Heidelberg University. After a two-year work experience at the European Central bank doing research on payment behaviour, she is currently a Researcher/PhD student at the RWI-Leibniz Institute in Berlin. She is interested in Gender Economics, Labour Economics, and Applied Microeconomics. Beyond academia, she enjoys trekking, reading, skating, and volunteering. Eliana has joined WiE to connect with like-minded individuals passionate about empowering women in economics.
Vanessa Betz
Podcast Editor
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After finishing her master's in German language and literature/media culture studies at the University of Cologne, Vanessa is now working as a journalist for a local newspaper. During her studies, she also worked for the radio station "Kölncampus," where she learned to host different broadcasts and create short radio reports. As a member of the events team, Vanessa is using that knowledge to do the editing for the Women in Economics podcast. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her friends, travel to new places, go sailing or diving, and do pretty much everything else that involves being outside.
Khabibakhon Ubaydullaeva
Podcast Editor
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Khabiba graduated from the University of Westminster with a Bachelor's degree in Economics with Finance. Currently, she works part-time as a research assistant for a PhD student, delivering data collection, cleaning, and analysis on their dissertation-book project about the effects of forced labor on institutions and societies across Central Asia. In her free time, she enjoys bike tours and mountain hiking. At WiE, Khabiba is part of the Podcasts Team and is eager to learn more about the role of women in the field of economic research.
