Our Team

Director and founder of Social Science Works is Hans Blokland. Team-members are Mirjam Neebe, Nadia Lejaille, Zak Reimer and Philipp Bautz. Various interns and visiting scholars additionally are part of our team.

Moreover, we are supported by a growing number of Fellows. Please find more about them here.

Prof. Dr. Hans Blokland

Mirjam Neebe MA

Nadia Lejaille MA

Nadia Lejaille is a German-French lawyer, specialized in German tax law, and project management.

She worked for 4 years as a project manager and tax compliance officer for a German cooperative bank. She is interested in cultural differences and the integration of refugees in Germany. For several years she has been involved with the association Start with a Friend e.V. as an intercultural mediator. At Social Science Works, she is responsible for the project management of children’s projects, among other things. In her free time she loves to bake and cook for others.

Arjun Joshi MA

Arjun Joshi holds a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is a UK Government funded Chevening Scholar.

He lives in Berlin and conducts research as a German Chancellor Fellow from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation along with Social Science Works.

He has worked in government and politics for several years and has formulated Education, Water and Health Policy for the Government of Delhi as an advisor to the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the Delhi Government.

Arjun has served as an advisor at the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), a statutory body of the Government of Delhi constituted to investigate and examine all matters related to the safety and security of women under the constitution and other laws in Delhi, India. During his tenure at the DCW, Arjun actively worked on numerous cases of crimes against women.

His dedication to gender rights extended beyond policy work into activism. He led the grassroots movement known as the ‘Rape Roko Movement’ or the ‘Stop Rape Movement’ in 2018.

He is currently working as Research Fellow at Social Science Works. The topic of his research is: “Strengthening the social sector landscape of India: Building public discourse through civil society instead of political parties in India.”

Zak Reimer MA

Zak Reimer was a German Chancellor Fellow from the Humboldt Foundation conducting research at Social Science Works into grassroots refugee integration efforts in Germany. More information about his project can be found here.

Zak grew up in the state of Montana, USA and first became interested in the subject of migration after studying the issue at the US/Mexico border in 2016. In 2017, Zak began work with refugees at the newly opened office of the International Rescue Committee in Missoula, Montana. While working to help the community welcome refugees, Zak began asking the questions that led him to pursue his research in partnership with Social Science Works: chiefly, what factors strengthen the role a community plays in integrating refugees and how can successful programs in Germany be replicated in the US?

Zak holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Montana State University and a Masters of Social Work from the University of Montana.  His other areas of research interest include childhood development, economic justice, and conflict mediation.

Philipp Bautz BA

Philipp studied Public Economics and sociology at the University of Potsdam, as part of a dual-subject bachelor. A wide variety of subjects were at the center of his studies, such as resource and environmental economics, organizational structures, micro economics, statistics and survey design. He is a especially interested in how the economic and ecological spheres influence each other. Also for this reason he wrote a bachelor thesis on the international protection efforts regarding the river Oder, which he approached from a game theory angle. In his spare time he enjoys art, animation, movies, cooking and baking, especially pizza.

Yasmine Benyoussef BA

Yasmine is a Gender and Diversity student from Tunisia, currently studying at the University of Applied Sciences Rhine-Waal in Kleve. Before finding her true passion, she finished a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in her home country. Her interests include women’s rights, equality, awareness, consciousness, and inclusion of minorities. In 2017, she volunteered in a Kindergarten for children with a migration background in Hamburg as part of the federal voluntary service with the NGO Diakonie. She spent the summer of 2023 volunteering and working in several events as part of the awareness team, preventing and dealing with harassment, discrimination, violence, and conflicts.

During her 6-month-internship with Social Science Works, she wants to contribute to the project interviews with refugees and other projects, as well as gain practical skills in the local NGO field.