Ms. Apin, MA graduated with a master’s degree in International Development from the University of Vienna. Her focus is on critical development and race studies. Her research focuses on racism, intersectionality and the African diaspora. She wrote her master’s thesis on the topic “Black EU citizens with othering experiences in the Austrian white dominance society: the meaning of perceptions and appearances from an anti-racist perspective”. She is mainly concerned with the visibility of Black narratives and People of African Descent in Europe (Germany & Austria), anti-discrimination and approaches that deconstruct power structures. She is active in the field of political education and deals with the visibility of Black narratives in Europe (Germany & Austria). She also publishes articles on these topics in professional journals. In 2021 she started working as an assistant to the first Afro-German MEP Dr. Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana..

Dr Gomes Is an African Studies scholar with a focus in Critical Racism Studies. Since October 2019 she is a retired member at the University of Vienna. 

She has several publications, including:

Themenheft “Rassistische Dimensionen afrikanischer Geschichte und Gegenwart” (2004, ed. Bea Gomes, Veronika Bilger, Arno Sonderegger) Stichproben – Wiener Zeitschrift für kritische Afrikastudien 4 (6).  “Rassismus – Beiträge zu einem vielgesichtigen Phänomen” (2008, eds. Bea Gomes, Walter Schicho, Arno Sonderegger) Vienna: Mandelbaum Verlag.

Mag. Ada Diagne studierte Rechtswissenschaft an der Universität Wien. Sie absolvierte diverse Praktika u.a. beim Goethe-Institut Dakar (Sénégal), beim Institut für Kulturkonzepte in Wien und der Umweltschutzorganisation Global 2000. Es folgte die Ausbildung zur Lektorin beim Goldegg-Verlag in Wien sowie eine Fortbildung in Social-Media-Management an der Universität Graz. Seit 2021 arbeitet sie als freie Schriftstellerin. Mit ihrem Kurzgeschichtenband „Menschen“ erzielte sie den ersten Platz beim Young Storyteller Award 2021 von story.one-publishing und sprach u.a. in der Sendung ErLesen im ORF3 zum Thema Rassismus in Kinder- und Jugendliteratur.

Mr Harisch completed his MA studies in African Studies (focus on African History, language training Kiswahili) and International Development (focus on Global Development Policies, Racism Studies) at the University of Vienna and University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) with distinction. 
He is currently pursuing a PhD in History with a scholöarship of the Doctoral School of Historical Studies at the University of Vienna. Between 2018 and 2021 he was employed as a university assistant (Pre-Doc) at the research platform “Mobile Cultures and Societies”. Other activities include working as an managing editor of the academic journal “Stichproben. Vienna Journal of African Studies“ and organizer of numerous high-profile events at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Vienna.
Mr Harisch’s main research interests are in the field of African history with a focus on the modern era as well as on the processes of interdependence and interaction between Africa and other world regions. He is the co-editor of an international academic anthology dedicated to these topics on a broad empirical and transdisciplinary basis and has published several peer-reviewed articles in academic journals.

Mag. Jerry Jarvis Essandoh studied cultural and social anthropology at the University of Vienna. Since 2008, he has been working with young people in many different settings: initially working for several years in park supervision and a youth club, he has been holding workshops in the areas of diversity, anti-discrimination, global learning and intercultural skills in sports since 2010. Since 2014 he has been working at the Youth Parliament, a participation project for young people and is a member of the Fairplay Team. He serves as sports coach for Kinder gesund bewegen/Fit for Austria (Ministry of Sport), and he is board member at the association Grenzenlos – Interkultureller Austausch. He has provided project assistance for 6 Erasmus Plus (EU-) projects & foreign assignments Furthermore, he is a sports coach with teaching assignments at the University Sports Institute Vienna; ZARA workshop leader – civil courage & anti-racism work; co-author for manuals/handbooks.

Dr Klein holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester, where she spent four years researching multiculturalism and anti-racism in the education system. During a twelve-month research stay in Brazil, she studied both classroom materials and classes in two public high schools concerning the construction of images of Africa and the reproduction of racisms. In addition to academic publications on racism in the education system, she has been discussing racism in Austria in the newspaper “Augustin” on a quarterly basis since 2016. Apart from teaching at the university, she taught philosophy in a public middle school in England and coordinated anti-racism workshops in Rio De Janeiro. As of September 2020 she has been teaching at a Neue Mittelschule in Vienna as part of Teach for Austria.

Anna Lönhard, MA graduated in African Studies at the University of Leipzig and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania).

She has obtained her Master’s degree in International Development at the University of Vienna and is writing her Master’s thesis on “Wahrnehmung des weißen Engagements in antirassistischen Initiativen in Wien”.

In addition to AEWTASS, she is involved with the Initiative für ein diskriminierungsfreies Bildungswesen (IDB).

From November 2021, Lönhard will be working for the non-profit association FAIRTRADE Austria.

Modupe Laja graduated in Anglophone Literatures (specialising herself in African and Diasporean, Black Studies, respectively), English and Hispanic Studies, and Economics from Justus Liebig University in Giessen. She is an educational consultant and a process guide leading multipliers workshops on discriminatory and racism sensitive topics in schools and in social work, among other places. As a scholar, author and editor she participated in a book project of the academic network “Black Diaspora and Germany”. The book of the same name was published by Edition Assemblage. Modupe Laja is co-author in the German publication “Wie Rassismus aus Schulbüchern spricht” (How Racism within schoolbooks speaks to us) and co-authored a didactic race critcal educational training and learning manual on “Reflecting the image of Blackness, Africa and her Diaspora” within the framework of the academic project IMAFREDU.

Maida Schuller, MA studied Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten and at the Alice-Salomon-Hochschule Berlin and completed her Master’s degree in International Development at the University of Vienna. During her academic career she has worked on topics such as political economy, intersectionality, critical race studies, Blackness in Austria and on a global scale, anti-discrimination and equality. She has also held workshops on topics such as racism and political education with students aged 14 years and older. Furthermore, she was a tutor at the University of Vienna from 2018 to 2021. Maida Schuller currently works as a social worker in the field of long-term unemployment, is an external lecturer at the FH Campus Wien and an employee at the Mattersburger Kreis für Entwicklungspolitik.Presentations to teachers and school assemblies on African Achievement as well as African history and its misrepresentation in schools. Active for 11 years specifically in the Austrian school system for lower and upper grades at a Gymnasium and in freelance teaching; was named Teacher of the Year by WBS in 2012
Qualified Teacher Status QTS; BSc Chemistry).

MMag. Anna Steinbauer studied Geography and Economics (GE), Spanish and and the University of Seville. Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Vienna. In her diploma thesis entitled “Das Afrikabild in österreichischen GW-Schulbüchern der fünften und achten Schulstufe” (The image of Africa in Austrian textbooks for fifth and eighth grade), she analysed GE-textbooks for their portrayal of the African continent and interviewed students about their perception of African political, economic and social structures. The result of the research suggests a correlation between biased representations in GE-textbooks and students’ stereotypical images of Africa.

iShe is currently working as an AEWTASS member at the Veritas publishing house on a textbook for upper secondary schools and teaches in an International School

Mag. a Mariama Sow studied International Development at the University of Vienna and at the University of Paris Diderot. Her MA research focuses on migration theories, migration & development and migration & integration. She worked as a research assistant at the “Association pour Favoriser l’Integration Professionelle” in Pantin, France, and is co-author of the publication “Discriminations et carrieres – Entretiens sur des carrières de noir-e-s et d’arabes”, a series of interviews on discrimination experiences of academics with migration background in France. Currently, Mag Sow works as an executive director in international volunteer management. In this capacity, she designs and conducts workshops in the areas of awareness in development policy and public relations work with a critical view of racism in the context of international volunteer assignments.