Michael Sauer
Michael Sauer is Professor of Social Policy at Bonn Rhein Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS), Germany, and serves as Vice Dean of the Department of Social Policy and Social Security. His research focuses on social policy, labour migration, and labour market governance, with a particular emphasis on South-Eastern Europe. Before joining H-BRS in 2018, he worked as an integrated CIM advisor to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of the Republic of Kosovo, where he supported the design and implementation of labour migration programmes. Michael has initiated and strengthened long-term institutional partnerships between H-BRS and universities across South-Eastern Europe. Among other initiatives, he founded the international internship programme Get Balkanized, which promotes academic exchange and practical learning in the Western Balkans.
Kalie Kërpaçi
Kalie Kërpaçi is an independent researcher working on return and labor migration. Her earlier research focused on return migration, the processes of reintegration and re-migration, as well as concepts such as alienation, better life, hybrid identity, and home. Her recent work examines the migration of health professionals from Albania and Kosovo to Germany. More specifically, she explores migration and return dynamics, migration channels, qualification recognition, integration, and transnational processes. Kalie was recently an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation postdoctoral fellow, hosted by Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University and the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies.