The New Fellow Orientation 2017 took place from 20-25 January 2017 in Berlin, Germany.
Over the course of five days, New Fellows, together with experienced trainers and project partners, developed individual and collective global citizenship competencies in hands-on activities and workshops. Together, they built awareness for important global issues and explore how they can leverage their own capacity and that of their peers in order to tackle these issues in a meaningful and tangible way.
The #NFO2017 may be over …
… but the journey continues. Take glimpse at what we learned during the event here!
Meet the trainer team who made our New Fellow Orientation 2017 happen:
Meet Barbara Nietzel
Barbara, a Senior Fellow of the Melton Foundation, is passionate about cultures and understanding the interaction between them.
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Meet Catalina Cárdenas
Catalina works at the Teaching and Learning Center at Universidad de Chile, where she develops tools for assessment and social responsibility and teamwork.
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Meet Claudia Nicolai
Academic director of the HPI School of Design Thinking, Claudia develops curricula, trains, coaches and works with students as well as executives.
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Meet Christine Carabain
Christine is head of research at Kaleidos Research where she researches global issues and global citizenship education to better understand how think and act towards these global issues.
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Meet Francisco Andaur
Francisco is a final year law student at Universidad de La Frontera, with a strong passion for human rights, sustainability and education.
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Meet Jaikar Mohan
As Global Product Manager at ZEISS in Germany, Jaikar develops high tech medical equipment to help medical doctors serve their patients better.
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Meet Julia Maier
Julia is a scholar of Non-Violent Communication and coordinates the Melton Foundation's Global Citizenship Program.
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Meet Lars Dietzel
Lars joined the Melton Foundation as a Fellow in 2002 and today, he manages the Melton Foundation's global network of fellows, partners and collaborators.
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Meet Mana Taheri
Mana is a research fellow at the HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program and a member of the teaching team at HPI D-School.
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Meet Miriam Yasbay
Miriam is a Berlin-based social scientist and design thinking expert with a passion for social innovation.
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Meet Neli Blum
A Melton Fellow, Neli is pursuing her M.A. in Social Work & Social Management and leaves no opportunity to follow her passion for advocating gender equality unused.
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Meet Nickhil Sharma
Nickhil is a Master student of Sustainable Energy Systems and believes in intercultural cooperation and understanding as the core of global problem solving.
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Meet Pooja Channaveerappa
An aerospace engineer by profession, with a passion for engineering and gender empowerment, Pooja has been a Melton Fellow since 2011.
Read BioBarbara, a Senior Fellow of the Melton Foundation, is passionate about cultures and understanding the interaction between them. She is working as Manager of Human Resource Development at Marché international (currently on maternity leave taking care of her new-born son Mateo). Before that, she worked as trainer, coach and teacher in different non-profit organizations and in high schools. Barbara studied intercultural business communications and education of history, German and Spanish language and literature, and holds a Masters in Coaching and Counseling.
Catalina is a sociologist and works at the Teaching and Learning Center at Universidad de Chile. There, she develops tools for assessment and social responsibility and teamwork. Furthermore, she pursues her Masters in Local and Regional Human Development at UFRO. She joined the Melton Foundation in 2011 and as a fellow expanded her world view and she learned to tackle personal and professional challenges, due to the opportunity to develop various skills such as teamwork and intercultural communication.
Claudia is academic director of the HPI School of Design Thinking. She develops the curricula, trains, coaches and works with students as well as executives. Claudia is also responsible for cooperation with international academic institutions. Claudia studied Business Administration, Economics, and Social Science and received her Ph.D. in Strategic Management. She worked as Assistant Professor at Witten University and as Professor for Strategic Communication at the University of Arts Berlin. In her former life, she has also gained experience as a brand manager and strategy consultant for human centered innovation processes.
Christine is head of research at Kaleidos Research (part of NCDO Foundation), which investigates in global issues, such as food security, climate change, sexual and reproductive health and (fair) trade, and global citizenship education to give insights in how people think and act towards these global issues. She has a PhD in Philosophy (social research methodology). Her recent research focuses on global citizenship and how people in the Netherlands relate to global issues and global citizenship education. Her workshop will address the concept of global citizenship and the possibilities of acting like a global citizen to contribute to solving global issues, such as climate change and migration.
Francisco is a final year law student at Universidad de La Frontera, interested in human rights, sustainability and education. Since Francisco joined the Melton Foundation in 2013, he participated in several projects and research regarding indigenous rights, the use of the bicycle as an option to the traditional means of transportation and the promotion of global citizenship in Temuco. Currently he is the Junior Fellow Representative on the Board of Directors of the Melton Foundation and will share insights about the Melton Foundation’ Global Citizenship Program, decision making structures as well as the roles and opportunities that come with being a Melton Fellow.
Jaikar is Global Product Manager responsible for surgical microscopes at ZEISS in Germany. He works towards helping medical doctors serve their patients better by developing high tech medical equipment. Prior to his current professional career, Jaikar pursued graduate studies in Sweden and Germany and has spent the last 6 years of his life in Europe. He joined the Melton Foundation in 2006 and in his 10 years of fellowship, has worked with numerous intercultural, virtual teams in varied projects across the globe. He currently chairs the Melton Foundation’s Grant Committee, which oversees the management of Action Grants and supports Melton Fellows as they translate their ideas of global citizenship into action.
Julia coordinates the Global Citizenship Program for New and Junior Fellows of the Melton Foundation. She is also a Senior Fellow who joined the foundation in 2009. She holds a B.A. in Culture and Economic Studies from FSU, an M.A. in Sustainable Economics from Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico and an M.A. in Sustainability and Quality Management from the Berlin School of Economics and Law. She is a scholar of Non-Violent Communication and feels passionate about facilitating meaningful interactions among individuals.
Lars first joined the Melton Foundation as a Fellow in 2002 and served as chair of the Melton Foundation’s Grant Committee as well as an intern in the Melton Foundation’s Chile office. He now manages the Melton Foundation’s global network of fellows, partners and collaborators. Prior to joining the Melton Foundation staff, he worked as a community and child-care worker in the Wishing Well Family Centre in Belfast (No. Ireland). He also interned at Culture et Expression, an organization working with migrants in Le Luc en Provence (France). In 2010 and 2011, Lars was part of the senior management team of an international summer school in Salisbury (UK). He has an MA in Education Science and Languages.
Mana is a research fellow at the HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program and a member of the teaching team at HPI D-School. She has several years’ experience designing and leading workshops in various international settings, from Tehran to Berlin to Havana. In her research projects, she investigates the potentials and challenges of teaching design thinking at scale and to a global audience with diverse cultural backgrounds. Mana was born and raised in Tehran, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics before moving to Berlin to complete her Master’s in Economics and Management.
Miriam is a Berlin-based social scientist and design thinking expert with a passion for social innovation. She offers trainings and workshops for children, students, companies and organizations from the business and non-profit sectors. At the HPI School of Design Thinking, she co-led and co-designed the academic program, and trained international, interdisciplinary student teams to design innovative solutions to complex problems. Her mission in life is to support and enable social innovation around the world.
A Senior Fellow from FSU campus, Neli is currently pursuing her M.A. in Social Work & Social Management. Her professional career is particularly related to her passion for advocating gender equality. In 2016, she helped build a social start-up that empowers adolescents through health education in India. Having worked in several social organizations, and planned and implemented her own projects, Neli has a deep insight into the complexity of the social sector. This, combined with her experience working with the Melton Foundation, led her to focus her work on observing and tackling challenges in intercultural, virtual teams, which includes team management and coordination. At the NFO, she will help participants navigate the challenges of team-work and leadership in Melton Foundation projects, fellowship, and their professional careers.
Nickhil was born in Delhi and raised in Bangalore, India. A Melton Fellow since 2012, he believes in intercultural cooperation and understanding as the core of global problem solving. He is currently studying Sustainable Energy Systems at Chalmers, Gothenburg, Sweden, with focus areas of carbon pricing, environmental policies and clean energy. Issues that interests him: sustainable development, community building and social justice. He loves writing, watching films, having a few beers with friends, cooking, and running. He speaks English, Hindi, and a lot of broken Spanish.
An aerospace engineer by profession, with a passion for engineering and gender empowerment, Pooja has been a part of the Melton Foundation since 2011. She credits her Melton experience for refining the principles she stands for today. She has been actively involved in different projects and activities as a fellow, drawing gratifying experiences as a GCC coordinator. Whether helping to solve global issues or researching space science, she finds virtual collaboration to be one of the common denominators in the MF and her professional field. Thus motivated to address challenges in virtual teams, she will help you be mindful and train for effective online connection.
Participants and trainers arrive at the hostel and check into their rooms.
Sharing food for the first time in person - expect nothing less than exciting travel stories, a fair number of laughs and the opportunity to get to know each other a little better.
Setting sails for the days to come, that's what this session is about.
What's better than learning the tricks of the trade hands and from practitioners in the filed. During the Project Visits, participants will explore local answers to global challenges while experiencing the life and culture of Berlin.
We look forward to visiting our partners at "TrIQ" and "Mit Sicherheit Verliebt". To learn more about these amazing projects, check the section "Collaborators & Partners" below.
Why is it important to meet practitioners and what lessons can a SexEd project in Berlin teach us for rainwater harvest project in Southern Chile? This and other questions concern Christine Carabain when exploring how individual efforts fit into the bigger puzzle that is Global Citizenship.
Having chaired the Melton Foundation's Grant Committee, Jaikar Mohan will give a brief overview of how Fellows can seek financial support for their (future) projects.
What keeps you up at night will keep us busy during this day. Claudia Nicolai, Mana Taheri and Miriam Yasbay will lead through a process of looking at existing challenges from multiple perspectives and start designing tangible projects to make help tackle the issue(s) at hand.
Often overlooked yet a key connector for every successful global team is the ability to understand each other beyond language. Barbara Nietzel will dive deep into the realm of cross-cultural communication, which can be a challenging and one of the most rewarding experiences at the same time.
Getting things done is easier said than actually done, especially when working in a diverse team scattered around the world. In this session, Neli Blum and Pooja Channaveerappa will embark on a journey to explore the kind of 'new leadership' that is necessary to address big issues both locally and globally.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius once wrote: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” In this session, Juli Maier will combine bitter with noble and thus help enrich the learning experience from previous days.
All design work is as good as it's capacity to impact people. In this session, Catalina Cardenas will challenge newly formed project teams to embrace different audiences and result in real impact on the ground.
Time for prime: the project teams formed over the last four days present themselves what they setting out to do.
Pooja Channaveerappa will provide the grease for the wheels of virtual collaboration by sharing tools, methods and some useful good practice examples of way to keeping virtual teams active, motivated and engaged.
Time to talk business. Francisco Andaur will dig into the fine-prints of the Melton Foundation Fellowship - from structure, to participation and opportunities. If you have any questions, this is the moment to get them off your chest.
The time to harvest insights, ideas, learnings and important take-aways has come. Juli Maier and Lars Dietzel will help round off the five day experience.
The New Fellow Orientation is coming to an end, and so is the first part of the Melton Foundation's Global Citizenship Program, which is an important milestone on the journey towards global citizenship. What would be a better reason to celebrate?!
Every good thing must come to an end one day ... In the morning, we can still enjoy breakfast together and then bid farewell - until the #GhanaGCC2017!
The New Fellow Orientation 2017 was possible only because of the incredible support of the following partners and collaborators. Thanks for your support!
Meet BMW Foundation
Meet HPI School of Design Thinking
Meet Kaleidos Research
Meet Recrear International
Meet TrIQ - TransInterQueer
Meet Mit Sicherheit Verliebt (Security In Love)
The BMW Foundation is a corporate foundation of BMW AG that aims to drive social innovation and inspire global dialogue. Founded on the belief that interdisciplinary thinking and cross-sector cooperation is indispensable to understanding and solving the problems of our times, they bring together leaders and influential opinion makers from across cultures, countries and communities to help them utilize their skills and networks in the form of pro-bono or philanthropic engagement, or to cooperate with civil society organizations.
For more information about BMW Foundation and their role as catalyst in contribution to a society based on solidarity, click here.
The HPI School of Design Thinking in Potsdam is a school for innovation and offers academic advanced training in Design Thinking since 2007. Click here to read more about their work.
Doing research in the field of global issues, Kaleidos Research is one of the trademarks of the NCDO foundation. Find out more about their work here.
Recrear is an international youth platform dedicated to involving young people in the development of their communities through youth-led community based participatory research. Learn more about their amazing work here.
TrIQ – TransInterQueer e.V. is a community center promoting the emancipation, acceptance and inclusion of trans, inter and queer people living in Berlin and beyond. Both research as well as political and social activism are at the heart of TrIQ’s work. Among the many activities the association organizes, you can find psychosocial and legal counseling, support group meetings, the transgender radio, expositions, and much more. Their motto: come visit – not only online – and join in!
More about TrIQ and their work here.
Mit Sicherheit Verliebt (Security In Love) is a project by the working group “Sexuality and Prevention” of the German Medical Student’s Association. Led by university students, Mit Sicherheit Verliebt educates teenagers in 6th through 10th grades about sexuality. It aims to support them to develop a self-determined, reflective, and healthy relationship to their sexuality, based on the latest insights from medical research among others.
For more information about the project and their important work, click here.
