Dr. des. Michèle Brand
ميشيل براند
PhD | Dr. des.

Michèle Brand is research associate at the Chair of Cultural and Media Policy Studies at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany. She is academic coordinator of the “تواصل [Tawasol] Cultural Production and Policy Network“, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). In December 2024, she completed her PhD at the University of Hildesheim on the topic “Cultural Funding and Foreign Cultural Policy in the Context of Crisis Prevention by the Example of ‘Donko ni Maaya’ in Mali.”

She holds a B.A. in Cultural Studies and French Philology from the University of Potsdam, and a French-German M.A. in Cultural Mediation/Médiation Culturelle des Arts from the University of Hildesheim and Aix-Marseille Université (Marseille, France). From 2017 to 2022, Michèle Brand worked as a research associate at the Department of Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim. She was responsible for coordinating the research collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in Mali at the UNESCO Chair, and for the academic support of the GIZ project “Donko ni Maaya – Crisis Prevention and Strengthening Social Cohesion through the Promotion of the Cultural Sector in Mali.” She also worked as program coordinator for the ARTS RIGHTS JUSTICE project, which promotes artistic freedom of expression and the protection of persecuted artists, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. As part of her position, she organized various research ateliers and training workshops with academic and civil society partners in Lebanon, Tunisia, Mali, Egypt, Ghana, Uganda, and Germany.

In addition to her academic work, Michèle Brand has worked as a freelance evaluator, including for the Grimmwelt Kassel museum, and in project coordination for the non-profit organization coculture e.V., supporting artists at risk or in exile. As a CrossCulture Program fellow of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa), she worked with the cultural organizations Al Mawred Al Thaqafy and Action for Hope in Beirut (Lebanon). In addition, she has also completed a training in conflict mediation at the Berlin-based association ImKonsens e.V.