Lecturers

Professor Dr. Christoph Schmidt studied Business and Economics at the University of Siegen and holds a PhD from the University of Cologne. He was Marketing Manager at Philips AG in Frankfurt and later worked as a consultant and manager for numerous companies. Prof. Dr. Schmidt joined the Deutsche Welle in 1995 and has since held several leading positions within the company. In 2000, he also began lecturing at universities in Germany and abroad. Prof. Dr. Schmidt was appointed Head of DW Akademie's Administration and Academic Department in 2006 and is an Honorary Professor at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. 

Modules: Media Economics; Media Management 

Dr. Maryann Ijeoma Egbujor holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Education from the Catholic University of West Africa, a Master of Arts in International Media Studies from the DW Akademie, and a Diploma in Journalism from the London School of Journalism. She completed her PhD in Journalism Professionalization, Christian Social Ethics and Cultural Values within the Faculty of Theology at the University of Freiburg. She has conducted field research in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, among other countries. Dr. Egbujor also worked as a guest researcher at the Franciscan University of Ohio (2017-2020). Her areas of research include media projects, media ethics, social ethics, cultural studies, globalization, media policy and digital literacy.  

Modules:Media, Education and Communication  

Grahame Lucas joined the Deutsche Welle in 1983 after graduating from the universities of London and Bonn. Initially working as a news and features writer and anchor, he soon moved on to the Bonn Bureau as a correspondent, where he pioneered bi-medial reporting for radio and television, alongside hosting and producing Deutsche Welle TV’s first English language weekly politics show. As the host of the show, Grahame interviewed top politicians from Germany and abroad, including former chancellor Helmut Schmidt. In 1999 he was appointed as DW’s Europe correspondent based in Brussels, interviewing a range of world and European leaders. After his time in Brussels, he returned to the DW headquarters as the head of news and current affairs in the English Radio Service, where he also served as deputy chief. In the following years, he modernized output and led the introduction of DW‘s Content Management System. He also wrote DW‘s Manual of Journalism. From 2007 to 2016, Grahame was responsible for the South and South-East Asia departments, leading the successful transition from radio to social media and video output. Since leaving DW in 2016, he has intensified his work for public broadcasters as an expert on European and British affairs. He has taught the IMS course Forms of Journalistic Writing since 2009. 

Modules: Journalism 

Dr. Esther Dorn-Fellermann earned her doctorate in Media Studies at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn on the topic of "Civil Society Engagement in Community Radios - Opportunities and Limitations of Participatory Media Work in South Africa”. After completing her master's degree in the fields of Political Science, Media Studies and European Cultural Studies, Dr. Dorn-Fellermann worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Bonn. Her research focuses on participatory media and democratization. Since 2014, she has held various positions at the DW Akademie. Dr. Dorn-Fellermann is currently a project manager in the film industry team and consults for both the Bangladesh country team and DW Akademie's Displacement and Dialogue program. She also teaches Political Communication and Media and Development Cooperation in the Master's program International Media Studies. 

Modules: Media, Politics and Society II; Media and Development  

Dr. Hao Gui studied German Language and Literature, Communication and Journalism in Beijing and Dortmund. He holds a PhD of Culture Sciences from University Dortmund. Later, he joined the journalism traineeship with Germany’s largest public broadcaster, WDR, before serving as Senior Editor and Managing Editor at the Deutsche Welle. Dr. Gui currently works as an advising trainer for different foundations and academic institutions. He has published works in the areas of media and journalism within the context of globalization. Since 2015, Dr. Gui has been teaching Journalism Theory in the IMS Master’s program.  

Module: Journalism  

Dr. Leon Tsvasman teaches at several public and private universities worldwide, especially in Germany and the USA. His interdisciplinary research addresses the perspective of strategic intelligence and innovation, complexity cybernetics and artificial intelligence, as well as global governance, media ethics, information economics and other related topics. He is author of several encyclopedic, philosophical, educational and non-fiction books. His education at the University of Essen ((M.A. 1997) and University of Münster (Dr.phil./Ph.D. 2002) focused on Communication, Media and Information Sciences, Journalism and Publicity. In the past 15 years, Dr. Tsvasmann has been lecturing, consulting and publishing in these areas. He teaches Media Concentration and Media Governance as well as Project Management in the IMS Master’s program. 

Modules: Media and Communication Science; Management Techniques 

Dr. Michael Thomas P. Sprenger-Menzel studied Business Administration and Economics, Law, Political Science, English, Roman Languages, Sociology, Philosophy, Theology, African Studies and Global Economic Studies at a variety of universities across Europe. He worked as a Chartered Public Accountant for KPMG, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, and taught Business Administration at high schools and technical colleges before working as a controller, CPA auditor and management consultant within Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior – later earning the titles Director and Senior Government Official in the position. As professor of Business Administration and Economics in Cologne, Dr. Sprenger-Menzel has authored several scientific textbooks in the field and teaches at different universities and Universities of Applied Sciences. Since the founding of the International Media Studies program, he has been a lecturer for Controlling. His research is primarily focused on International Political Economics, Business Ethics and Controlling. 

Modules: Controlling, Media Management 

Irene Najjemba studied English Literature and Cultures as well as Media Communication at the University of Bonn. She obtained her Master’s degree in International Media Studies from the DW Akademie, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and University of Bonn. She has worked in the fields of journalism, communication, and development in both the German and international sphere. Irene Najjemba joined the Deutsche Welle in 2016 as a Master’s student and has worked in the IMS office as a research associate since 2019. Her research interests lie in the areas of journalistic standards and practice, media literacy and press freedom – especially within the context of the East African Community. She is currently co-teaching the Academic Work and Research Project sem

inars along with Prof. Christoph Schmidt. 

Modules: Media and Development 

Ira Katharina Fröhlich studierte “Kulturwirt” an der Universität Duisburg-Essen. Von 2011-2016 lebte sie in Mexiko, wo sie im Deutschen Konsulat arbeitete und für die Amtsbezirke Puebla und Tlaxcala den Rechts- und Konsularbereich leitete, sowie die Organisation im Presse- und Kulturbereich übernahm. Seit 2017 ist sie bei der DW Akademie in der Abteilung „Academic Education” angestellt. Dort arbeitet sie als Administratorin für den Masterstudiengang International Media Studies. Sie unterstützt in der Koordination des Studiengangs und betreut die internationalen Studierenden im Onboarding-Prozess vor und während ihres Aufenthaltes in Bonn, insbesondere aus administrativer Seite. 

Administration