Prof. Dr. Kenan Engin
Director
Prof. Dr. Kenan Engin is a political scientist specialising in international relations. His expertise covers international politics, socio-political transformation processes and migration.
Prof. Dr. Kenan Engin is a political scientist specialising in international relations with many years of international and intercultural experience. His areas of expertise are international politics, socio-political transformation processes, migration and conflict research.
He studied and conducted research at Istanbul University, Heidelberg University, the University of London and Harvard University, and received his doctorate from Heidelberg University. He also gained research experience in the context of the United Nations (UN) in New York. Study, research and professional stays have taken him to the USA, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, among other places.
As founder of BIKE – Berlin International Knowledge Exchange, he brings his international experience, intercultural competence and institutional network to the design and support of delegation programmes. The focus is on professional dialogue, institutional exchange and sustainable knowledge transfer.
Markus Priesterath M.A.
Markus Priesterath is a lawyer by training and worked at the Federal Ministry of the Interior from 1999 to 2024, focusing on integration, migration and international cooperation, including assignments in Russia, Hungary, Iraq and Afghanistan. Today he advises diaspora associations and networks at the interface of politics, public administration and civil society, in particular on recruiting skilled workers from Africa.
Markus Priesterath is a lawyer by training with more than three decades of experience at the interface of politics, public administration, civil society and international cooperation.
He studied law as well as political science, history and psychology in Bonn and completed the First State Examination in Law. At the same time, he worked for many years in political adult education, including for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and as a freelance contributor to the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government in Bonn and Berlin. From 1991 to 1998 he worked as a policy adviser to members of the German Bundestag.
In 1999 he moved to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where he worked until 2024. His main areas of work were integration and migration at national and international level, building up public authority structures and civic education. Longer assignments abroad took him to the Russian Federation, Hungary, Iraq and Afghanistan. He also led and supported EU twinning projects as an expert, including in Turkey, the Russian Federation and Estonia.
In his final years at the ministry, he focused on promoting civic engagement and volunteering and helped to set up the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering (Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt, DSEE). From 2022 to 2024 he coordinated support for people seeking protection from Ukraine, together with federal ministries, associations, civil society and the diaspora.
Since leaving the ministry, he has worked as a freelance consultant. Initially, he advised the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Chancellery on networking between politics, public authorities, civil society, diaspora organisations and business. Today he mainly supports diaspora associations as well as national and international networks, for example in preparing young skilled workers from Ghana and Nigeria and in developing services that accompany traumatised people on their way to participation in society.
He works in German and English.
Sara Ehsan M.A.
She is a scholar of literature and art and an experienced nonprofit expert. She combines many years of work in international organizations with extensive expertise in nonprofit management and governance. As an author, coach, and anti-discrimination consultant, she is particularly committed to the social and cultural sectors. She is also a sworn interpreter and translator for Farsi and Dari.
She is a scholar of literature and art and an experienced nonprofit expert. She combines many years of work in international organizations with extensive expertise in nonprofit management and governance. As an author, coach, and anti-discrimination consultant, she is particularly committed to the social and cultural sectors. She is also a sworn interpreter and translator for Farsi and Dari.
In addition to her work in the cultural sector, she has many years of experience in various civil-society organisations in Germany, combining cultural work with intercultural competence and experience in working with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
At BIKE – Berlin International Knowledge Exchange, she contributes her expertise particularly in the areas of education, interculturality and civil-society exchange. She works in German, English, French and Persian and supports professional and intercultural dialogue within national and international delegation programmes.
Alka Khanal M.A.
She is an intercultural trainer and coach with more than 25 years of experience in international communication. Her regional focus is on India and Nepal. For many years she has worked for organisations including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and as a language trainer at the Federal Office of Languages (Bundessprachenamt) in Hürth. She is a publicly sworn interpreter for Hindi and Nepali.
Alka Khanal has more than 25 years of experience as an intercultural trainer, coach and language and country tutor. At the University of Bonn she studied nutritional and household sciences and Asian studies, focusing on the languages, culture and society of South and West Asia, as well as German as a foreign language.
Her regional focus is on India and Nepal. Her areas of work include intercultural communication, country analyses, culturally sensitive cooperation and the linguistic and intercultural preparation for professional assignments in South Asia. For many years she has worked for organisations including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and its predecessor organisations. She is also a publicly sworn interpreter and authorised translator for Hindi and Nepali.
As first deputy chair of the German-Nepal Society (Deutsch-Nepalische Gesellschaft, DNG), she is also committed to exchange between Germany and Nepal. At BIKE – Berlin International Knowledge Exchange, she contributes above all her long-standing international experience and her expertise in intercultural communication, country and cultural competence and international cooperation.