Sub-project 2 examines the career trajectories of exiled, refugee and BPoC scholars at ASH Berlin and develops targeted measures to recruit them as professors in the SAGE disciplines.
This strengthens the role of critical diversity, international perspectives and cooperation in teaching, research and organisational development. Strategies and instruments for staff development are being designed and tested to better integrate international, refugee, exiled and BPoC scholars into universities of applied sciences.
Through targeted recruitment and support measures, the project contributes to enabling ASH Berlin to respond more effectively to increasingly complex societal demands in a globalised world.
Prof. Dr. María do Mar Castro Varela (2024-2027)
Prof. Dr. María do Mar Castro Varela’s research focuses on social justice, postcolonial theory, critical migration and racism studies, gender and queer studies, as well as protest, authoritarianism and processes of fascisation.
Within her focal professorship, she works on:
- Professional and social perspectives of international and refugee scholars in SAGE institutions
- Attacks on academic freedom
- Internationalisation strategies and solidarity within higher education
The aim is to develop and test organisational strategies that strengthen universities’ resilience against threats to their autonomy. A key focus is also the integration of global knowledge systems and theoretical-methodological approaches in order to address complex societal demands and foster institutional reflection and transformation.
Visiting Professors / Lecturers and Research Associates
Dr Meral Apak
Dr Meral Apak is a Research Associate in the Sage SAGE! project and completed her doctorate at Boğaziçi University. Her research is situated at the intersection of Critical Pedagogy, Sociology of Education, and Gender Studies. In her academic work, she focuses in particular on power relations and inequalities within education systems, mechanisms of discrimination in educational institutions, and the role of gender and care work in educational policies and pedagogical practices.
A particular focus of her research lies in adult education, biographical learning processes, and questions of social participation. She examines how institutional structures, social norms, and power relations shape and influence individual educational biographies.
As part of the Sage SAGE! project, she is also involved in teaching and conducts training sessions on therapeutic communication and counselling techniques for Social Work students. These practice-oriented teaching formats provide students with fundamental skills in professional communication, counselling approaches, and sensitive communication in complex psychosocial situations.
Another central interest in her work is the connection between theory and practice. Alongside her academic activities, she also works as a systemic therapist and explores transdisciplinary approaches linking educational research, psychosocial practice, and social transformation. Her particular focus is on reflective and emancipatory approaches in educational and counselling work.
Dr Zafer Yılmaz
Dr Zafer Yılmaz is a Research Associate in the Sage SAGE! project. His main research interests include the global rise of authoritarianism, the crisis of democracy, the growing hegemony of the far right, and the transformation of the university. He has published extensively on populism, authoritarian governance, and the restructuring of the Turkish state.
He is the author of the books The Spirit of New Turkey: Resentment, Domination and Destitution, Erdogan’s Presidential Regime: From Exceptional Republic to Parcelled State, The Gloom of the Right: Authoritarian Leaders and the Stolen Rebellion (in Turkish), and Empire of Authoritarian Leaders: The End of Liberal Utopia and the Stolen Rebellion (in English, forthcoming in 2026), in which he examines the social and political dynamics of global authoritarianism.
Selected Sub-project Outcomes
The study has been designed and is currently in the implementation phase. It examines the knowledge and experiences (including requirements, needs, and suggestions) of university staff working in administration, technical services, the International Office, and related areas regarding internationalisation at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. The project is conceived as a collective process of reflection aimed at transforming university structures.
The colloquium “Stop Burning Books!” focused on the critical examination of systems of knowledge that increasingly restrict academic freedom and university autonomy, while advancing the criminalisation of certain disciplines such as Postcolonial Studies within the humanities. Questions such as “What forms does the current destruction/restriction of critical knowledge take?” and “What responsibility and obligation do universities have within socio-political discourse, particularly through the complementarity of freedom of teaching and learning as a counter-public to the destruction of critical knowledge?” were discussed from a range of perspectives.
The public colloquium took place during the summer semester of 2025 and has since continued internally.
Attacks on university autonomy and the increasing restriction of freedom of expression and academic freedom are identified as serious threats. These developments are also seen as obstacles to the further internationalisation of universities and place their solidaristic structures under pressure. According to the current Academic Freedom Index, which measures academic freedom across 179 countries, Germany has experienced a noticeable decline in this area. Whereas the country previously occupied a leading position, it has now fallen to 27th place.
For the winter semester 2026/27, distinguished scholars will be invited to discuss the latest findings on restrictions to academic freedom and their consequences for universities.
Former project members 2021-2025
Focal Professorship:
- Prof. Dr. Esra Erdem (2021-2024): International and in solidarity
Visiting Professors / Lecturers and Research Associates:
- Dr. Sezai Ozan Zeybek (Research Associate)
Tutor:
- Daniela Baresch B.A.
