About the Team
Wiltrud Weidinger
wiltrud.weidinger@phzh.ch
Wiltrud Weidinger, Dr. phil. (*1973) has worked as a primary school teacher in various bilingual public schools and as a trainer for teachers and students in Austria and Eastern Europe. In 2004 she became a lecturer at the Thurgau University for Teacher Education (CH) in Psychology and Didactics of English as well as a mentor for students at the Zurich University of Teacher Education. Her qualifications include a doctorate in Education and a Master’s degree in Education/Psychology of the University of Vienna, a Master of Science in Education (School Psychology) from the City University of New York. She currently works as a lecturer for Didactics at the Zurich University of Teacher Education. In the IPE she is mainly responsible for management tasks and the conceptualising of projects.
Rolf Gollob
rolf.gollob@phzh.ch
Rolf Gollob, Prof. Dr. h.c. (*1955) was a primary school teacher for years before studying cultural anthropology at University of Zurich. After obtaining his Master’s degree he concentrated on ethnological research and later went on to become a lecturer at Zurich University of Teacher Education. He has focussed his efforts on civic education and intercultural pedagogy. Since 1996, he has repeatedly travelled to East/South East Europe Asia and Africa as an expert in general teaching methodology, human rights and civic education. In the Centre IPE he is responsible for the acquisition and realisation of projects in the field of Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education. Since 2008 Rolf Gollob is the Swiss National Coordinator for Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights for the Council of Europe.
Martin Retzl
martin.retzl@phzh.ch
Martin Retzl, Dr. phil., obtained the teaching diploma for secondary teachers in Austria and studied educational sciences at the University of Vienna (among others with a focus on school pedagogy). In his doctoral thesis, he undertook a democracy-theoretical foundation of school development processes and described their empirical realization. After working in various pedagogical fields (e.g.: Teaching material development, management of summer camps for children and youth, youth program development) he worked at the Institute of Educational Science at the University of Vienna in research and teaching (Department of Education and Society) between 2006 and 2013. Since 2013 he has been a lecturer at the University of Teacher Education Zurich with a focus on participation, school development (participatory school development), democracy education, general didactics. In the Department of International Educational Development he is mainly involved in projects on democracy education and development (research, continuing education, development).
Doris Kuhn
doris.kuhn@phzh.ch
Doris Kuhn, BA (*1964) initially worked in the commercial and tourist industries in various roles. She joined the PH Zurich in 2003 as an assistant in the subject area of education and subsequently studied anthropology, comparative religion and history of art at the University of Zurich. She has worked in various departments of the PH Zurich, including initial teacher training as well as professional development, in both organisational as well as teaching roles. As of 2013, she has been actively engaged as a research assistant at the IPE on the project «Living Democracy South East Europe (Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education)» and on a Roma education project in Romania, in addition to her second job in human resource management for the prorector of education and research.
Angeliki (Gelly) Aroni
gellyaroni@gmail.com
Dr. Gelly Aroni has been working for the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors in the Ministry of Migration & Asylum since September 2020. She was actively involved in the establishment of Greece’s Department of Refugee Education, serving as its head in the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs since 2016. She has extensive experience as a Physical Education teacher in Intercultural Schools, using cooperative games to promote, through active participation and collaborative learning, the principles and values of Democracy education. She has been working as expert and trainer in the Council of Europe and European Wergeland Center’s programs on HRE/EDC, as well as expert collaborator and coordinator for Greece on the “Living Democracy” and “CORE” projects (Children of Refugees in Education).
Peti Wiskemann
peti@petiwiskemann.ch
Peti Wiskemann (*1969) Artist and Illustrator. All the illustrations of the Living Democracy Volumes were drawn by Peti Wiskemann. The drawings are made with pencil on paper, the coloring he made digital.
He lives and works in Zurich. He learned graphic design. As artist he draws a lot, also on drawing-journeys. The drawings can be seen in exhibitions or in printed form. As an illustrator he likes to draw colorful and busy pictures! Peti Wiskemann teaches art, drawing and performance in different schools. With Christine Bänninger he does art-performances in exhibitions and in the public space.
www.petiwiskemann.ch
Katerina Filopoulou
katefilo@gmail.com
Katerina Filopoulou, (*1980) is an Architect (University of Thessaly), has a Masters’ degree on Design / Space / Culture (School of Architecture, National Technological University of Athens) and is a PhD candidate (Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly). At her workspace she explores the socially engaged notions of temporality and condensation in the fields of art, architecture and the everyday life. Since 2013, she has been collaborating with IPE in the context of the educational program “Living Democracy SEE” as website graphic designer, content management and support. She lives with her family in Athens.
Sotirios Roussos
@urbanit
Sotirios studied Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineer @ NTUA and got an MSc on Satellite Communications @UniSurrey. Currently Software Architect messing with cloud, big data and distributed computing. Proud father of a 9yo daughter and lives with his wife in Elefsina, European Capital of Culture, 2023. Code, Basketball, Music, Repeat.
Dimitris Papadopoulos
dimitrispld@gmail.com
Dimitris Papadopoulos a.k.a. Boohaha!, was born in 1983 in a suburb of Athens, Greece. Influenced by skate and graffiti culture from an early age, he discovered his passion for painting and drawing. He then became active in the field of creation, murals and graphic applications. He studied graphic design, 3d animation and illustration. He is now active with various techniques and art fields such as illustration, mural, graphic design, video, sustainable constructions and installations.
Since 2017, he has been working for IPE’s Education program “Living Democracy”, as an illustrator and graphic designer too.
The Living Democracy project is made possible with all these experts. THANK YOU!
Short biographies of the members of the “Living Democracy Advocacy Campaign
