Silke Baer, project leader
Silke Baer holds an M.A. in journalism/communication studies and North American studies from Freie Universität Berlin, and a degree in social work and social pedagogy from the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences, Berlin. She is also a certified mediator.
Silke is co-founder and educational director of the NGO cultures interactive (CI). Since 2001, she has worked in youth culture work, right-wing extremism and violence prevention and has designed, led and evaluated pilot projects. Before this, she worked in district and community work, for example, in activating civic participation in Berlin and Brandenburg (cf. Dr. Ingeborg Beer), in social work at the youth welfare office and for mother and child groups in the Berlin districts Wedding and Neukölln, in organising cultural projects (Akademie der Künste, Berlin) and as a freelance journalist (print, radio, specialised journalist).
Her work focuses on handling right-wing incidents, prevention and distancing work strategies, gender-reflective approaches, equal opportunities through new educational approaches and strengthening the political participation of young people and social space-oriented concepts. Among other things, she is an appointed member in the deradicalisation working group of the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) and is co-editor of “Verantwortlich Handeln: Praxis der Sozialen Arbeit mit rechtsextrem orientierten und gefährdeten Jugendlichen” (responsible behaviour: practice of social work with right-wing oriented and at-risk youth) (Barbara Budrich Verlag, 2014).
Anika Posselius, project assistant
Since she grew up in a small town with a strong right-wing subculture, Anika Posselius was confronted early on as a teenager with inhuman attitudes and has since worked at various levels with the issue of of prevention and intervention, both theoretically in her studies, as well as in practice through pedagogical work, cultural work and political education. Key topics were and are how to combine theoretical and practical experience and what applying aspects of knowledge from political science, sociology and education to practical work may look like.
The main topics addressed during her studies were ideology and strategy of right-wing movements and parties in Germany and the post-socialist countries, especially the question of how civil societies with right-wing subcultures, political parties and movements can handle them.
She lives and is actively involved in Frankfurt/Oder and, due to several longer periods spent in Poland where she studied and worked, has developed great affection for the neighbouring country on the other side of the Oder river.
She has worked as a freelance employee for cultures interactive e.V. since 2007, for example, on the pilot project Fair Skills, among others. Since 2013, she has been a research assistant for the project WomEx, a project about the role of girls and women in right-wing radicalism. She is also involved in adult education where her main focuses are right-wing radicalism and civil society as well as group dynamics and team building.
Harald Weilnböck, scientific lead
Harald Weilnböck’s areas of scientific expertise (PD/ Prof., Ph.D.) are culture/media studies, social research, and qualitative psychology. HW works as researcher, psychotherapist and deradicalisation practitioner in prison and community contexts. Recent EU projects ‘Creating Resilient Communities’; ‘Youth Cultures, Fictional Narratives and Self-Awareness Groups for Adolescents Vulnerable to Extremism and Violence’; ‘Towards Preventing Violent Radicalisation’ London Probation Trust and Violence Prevention Network (VPN, NGO, Berlin), the ‘Challenge Hate Crime’-project of Niacro and the Northern Ireland Prison Services, Belfast. HW serves as steering committee member of the EC’s ‘Radicalisation Awareness Network’ (RAN, Brussels/ DG Home Affairs) and leads on the section ‘Firstline deradicalisation interventions/ practitioners’. Since 2012 he conducts the EDNA project (European Platform of Deradicalising Narratives, ISEC), the ENoD project (‘European Network of Deradicalisation’), and the WomEx project (Women, Girls/ Gender in Extremism).