Susanne Zels

I am working on better politics and democracies and have been involved in policy-making myself in various functions and roles. Through my involvement in specialist committees of the Christian Democrats, as a member of the local parliament and as candidate for the European elections, I have gained deep insights into our party political structures. As a donor at a foundation, activist, think tanker and political advisor, I am also familiar with the various facets of the civil society perspective. In the past, I have been particularly involved in energy and security policy and political education, but as a generalist I am always looking to delve into new policy areas.

Over the past two years, I have been working as a team leader at the Robert Bosch Foundation to strengthen evidence-based decision-making processes in politics. Before that, I specialized in energy security policy and the European level during my studies and as an analyst, consultant and project manager. I worked primarily at the interface of digitalization and energy infrastructure and dealt with the protection of critical infrastructures.

As a volunteer, leader and founder of civil society organisations, however, I have always been involved in the civil space, especially at the grassroots think tank Polis180 and my own political initiative VALUES UNITE. I have mainly worked on European values, identity and civic education in this space. As party member, I have also been engaged in committees of the Christian Democrats on European policy.