Team

Katharina Fourier took up her post as Director of the DWIH São Paulo and the DAAD Office in Rio de Janeiro on 1 September. She studied Regional Studies of Latin America at the University of Cologne and completed part of her studies at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

Katharina has been working at the DAAD Head Office in Bonn since 2010 and has been involved in various projects and programmes. From 2013 to 2016 she was responsible for the development and coordination of the governmental scholarship programme “Ciência sem Fronteiras” (CsF), which supported numerous Brazilian students internationally. She then headed the Refugee University Programs department and developed programmes for the integration of refugees at German universities. Most recently, she was head of the Digitalisation Department.

Marcio Weichert studied Social Communication (Journalism) at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) in Niterói (State of Rio de Janeiro). He worked as a journalist, e.g. for newspapers and a magazine publisher. He lived for seven years in Germany as editor for the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle. After coming back to Brazil, he did a specialization course in the field of Strategic Management at the Cândido Mendes University (UCAM) and has joined the DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service as Marketing Officer, in São Paulo, in 2006. In 2011, Marcio Weichert attended the Transfer Leadership Training at the University of Münster (WWU). Since May 2012, he has been the Head of Programme of the German Centre for Research and Innovation São Paulo (DWIH São Paulo).

Silke Bell has completed the international German Latin-American Business Administration course (CALA) at the Münster University of Applied Sciences and studied as well at the partner university in Curitiba. After completing her studies, she stayed in Brazil and worked from 2009 to 2015 for the German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo, among other things, as a project manager for foreign trade and trade fairs. In the meantime, she worked as a freelance German teacher and translator and was already in contact with the DWIH. Since February 2024, she has been the new program officer at the German Centre for Research and Innovation (DWIH) in São Paulo.

Yrani Albisser has worked as coordination assistant at the German Centre for Research and Innovation since December 2015. In this position she is responsible for the financial and administrative area. She has previously worked as executive secretary for German companies.

She has studied translation at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and is a certified intercultural translator by the Federal Office for Migration and the Federal Commission on Migration.

Pâmela de Oliveira is in charge of Public Relations and Marketing at the German Centre for Research and Innovation (DWIH São Paulo).

Before DWIH São Paulo, she worked in NGOs and as a translator.

She graduated from Universidade de São Paulo, taking part in two exchange programmes, at Universität Leipzing and Université Paris Nanterre.