Irene Weipert-Fenner

 Irene Weipert-Fenner
  • Political Science

Areas of Expertise:
Comparative politics of the MENA; Authoritarian regimes; Political transformation; Democratization; Political institutions; Social movements; Contentious politics

Membership:
since 2019

Contact

Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany

Baseler Str. 27-31
60329 Frankfurt
Germany

+49 699 591 0471
weipert-fenner(at)hsfk.de
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About me

I am a senior research fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), where I co-direct the international research project ‘Struggles over Socioeconomic Reforms: Political Conflict and Social Contention in Egypt and Tunisia post 2011 in Interregional Comparison’ , carried out in cooperation with the Egyptian think-tank Arab Forum for Alternatives and the University of Sfax in Tunisia. My main research interests include authoritarian regimes, democratization, as well as protests and social movements in Egypt and Tunisia. My previous research has dealt with authoritarian political institutions, particularly parliaments, as well as labour and trade unions and unemployed activism.

AGYA offers fascinating possibilities to enlarge my networks with colleagues from the MENA region, to create new projects in interdisciplinary teams, and to think outside of the box and engage in new forms of exchange beyond traditional academic settings.


Academic career
2019 - 2020 Mentee in the Leibniz Association Mentoring Program for Outstanding Female Researchers, Germany
2019 Visiting Professor in Middle Eastern Politics, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
2014 - today Project Director and Senior Research Fellow, Intrastate Conflict Research Department, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
2013 - 2015 Postdoc Position in the Research Network ‘Re-configurations: History, Remembrance and Transformation Processes in the Middle East and North Africa’, Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
2014 Dissertation Award, German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO)
2009 - 2013 Ph.D. in Political Science, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
2008 - 2009 Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Middle East Department, Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, Germany
2008 M.A. in Political Science, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

 

My Commitment to AGYA
Member in Charge of the Working Group 'Transformation'

On a personal note

Must read in my discipline:
Life as Politics by Asef Bayat

Favourite novel:
Unterleuten by Juli Zeh