Samantha Ruppel
- Political Science,
- Peace and Conflict Studies,
- International Relations
Areas of Expertise:
Civil conflict transformation; Peacebuilding; Partnership in peacebuilding and development cooperation; Critical peace research; Postcolonial and feminist theories
Membership:
since
2026
Contact
RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Frank-Loebsches Haus
Kaufhausgasse 9
76829 Landau
Germany
About me
As Research Associate at the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau) and Managing Director of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies (AFK), I work at the intersection of peace and conflict research, development studies, and science communication. My research examines power asymmetries in peacebuilding and the politics of knowledge production, asking how global inequalities are reproduced through scholarship and practice, drawing on interdisciplinary and ethnographic approaches.
AGYA offers an ideal space to deepen my engagement with scholars from the Arab region and to explore questions such as knowledge production, positionality, and epistemic inequality in a genuinely interdisciplinary setting.
I enjoy contributing to AGYA’s inter- and transdisciplinary community, fostering transregional collaboration, and helping build sustainable, dialogue-based Arab-German partnerships.
Academic career
| Since 2024 | Research Associate at the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau) and Managing Director of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies (AFK) |
| 2022 - 2024 | Head of Shaping Futures: African-European Network on Development and Sustainability (until 2023 BMZ African-German Leadership Academy) at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) |
| Since 2022 | Associate researcher at PRIF - Leibniz Institute for Peace and Conflict Research (until 2023 HSFK) |
| 2022 | PhD in Political Science at the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main |
| 2020 - 2022 | Research Associate at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) |
| 2020 - 2022 | Guest lecturer at the at the Helmut-Schmidt University of the Armed Forces |
| Since 2019 | Consultant and partner at FEIN - Feminist-Intersectional Research and Consulting (until 2023 RESULT - Research Consult) |
| 2019 | Visiting Researcher and Guest lecturer at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya |
| 2019 | Visiting Researcher and Guest lecturer at the Cuttington University, Gbarnga, Liberia |
| 2019 | Visiting Researcher at the University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone |
| 2018 | Visiting Researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada |
| 2018 | Guest lecturer at the German-Kazakh University, Almaty |
| 2016 - 2018 | Project officer at the Kolping Network for Refugees at Kolpingwerk Deutschland GmbH |
| 2016 - 2021 | Research Associate and doctoral candidate at the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main |
| 2015 | Specialist for medium-term volunteer services at the Kolping Youth Community Services |
| 2014 - 2015 | Project Officer at the International Youth Community Services (ijgd e.V.) |
| 2010 - 2013 | Master's degree in International Studies, Peace and Conflict Research at the Goethe University Frankfurt/M. and the Technical University Darmstadt |
| 2009 - 2013 | Magister degree in Historical Anthropology and Political Science at the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main |
- Working Groups
- Arab and German Education
- Dynamics of Transformation
On a personal note
Must read in my discipline:
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
Favourite novel:
Der Schwarm (The Swarm) by Frank Schätzing
The best thinker from my country you should know:
Rosa Luxemburg, Political Economy & Political Theory