Ayşe Güleç
The educator, curator and art mediator works as a consultant in the Intersectional Events department at the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Gera. Previously, she worked for many years at the Schlachthof cultural centre in Kassel, where she supported exemplary projects to empower and promote immigrant women. In addition, she developed formats between art, art education and education for several documenta. She is active in anti-racist, anti-racism and anti-discrimination networks and groups.
Inga Gertmann
She coordinates the Workshop for Encounter & Cohesion at More in Common Germany. In the workshop, she advises civil society organisations on how to make their work on encounters in everyday places and reaching out to people more effective, thereby strengthening democracy and cohesion. Previously, she worked as a consultant for public administration and as a Teach First Germany Fellow at a school. She has a degree in political science and international political economy.
Mario Zenner
The managing director of the Alter Gasometer socio-cultural centre in Zwickau, Sachsen, is involved in various voluntary roles in the fields of democracy, youth and culture. He is a board member of the Saxony Socio-Cultural Association, chairman of the advisory board of the Vogtland Zwickau Cultural Centre, a board member of the West Saxony Youth Ring and a member of the advisory board of the local Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance.
Nina Lüders
As Senior Project Manager in the Democracy Team of the Robert Bosch Stiftung's Global Issues, Nina Lüders focuses on strengthening democratic skills. Among other things, she is responsible for the Business Council for Democracy (BC4D) project, which reaches people in their professional environment. She is also the project manager for "Alltime Places. Moving more together". Previously, she worked for many years as managing director of Kreisau-Initiative e.V., a European youth political education organisation.
Simon Lengemann
Simon Lengemann, born in 1987, studied history and American studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Copenhagen. His work focuses on outreach, socio-economic, anti-Semitism-critical and historical-political education, with a special emphasis on social spaces in transition regions and the world of work. He is head of the department "Political Education in Processes of Change" at the Federal Agency for Civic Education and lives in Berlin and Gera.
Susanna Steinbach
The administrative scientist and organisational developer has been working as a consultant for the Federal Government Commissioner for Combating Racism and Supporting Victims of Racism since April 2023. From 2015 to 2023 she was part of the management of the Turkish Community in Germany. Before that, she was the managing director of a district youth organisation in Baden-Württemberg. Projects in the field of participation, diversity and political participation have always been a focus of her work. Susanna Steinbach will not be on the jury as part of her work for the Federal Chancellery or the Anti-Racism Commissioner.
Ulrich Ballhausen
A research fellow at the Institute for Democratic Education at the Leibniz University of Hanover, he also teaches at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Koblenz and the University of Vienna. Among other things, he was a board member and chairman of the Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten e.V., chairman of the program advisory board of the International Youth Meeting Centre in Kreisau, Poland, a founding member of the mobile counselling service in Thuringia, and a member of the expert advisory board "Zusammenhalt durch Teilhabe" (Cohesion through Participation). From 1997 to 2012 he was Director of the European Youth Education and Youth Exchange Centre in Weimar.