Anna Rachel Heckhausen

Anna Rachel Heckhausen was an intern at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, where she contributed to the institute’s work on peace and security. Anna is interested in the impact of political structures and democracy on security and stability, as well as psychological perspectives on conflict roots, mitigation and reconciliation. 

Before joining GPPi, Anna worked as a junior project manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, where she supported its project on democracy and participation in Europe. In this role, she researched innovative participation formats and digital democracy as well as organized events on challenges to democracy in countries like France, the United States and Israel. Previously, she worked in public and private sector consulting with the Boston Consulting Group and Moysies & Partners. Beyond these positions, Anna co-founded Young Global Thinker, an international youth organization that hosts online conferences for participants to connect, exchange perspectives and empower each other to politically engage.

Anna holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and sciences with a focus on international relations and political psychology from Maastricht University. During her undergraduate program, she spent a semester at Korea University in Seoul to engage with non-Western perspectives on democracy and conflicts in international settings. Anna’s studies have been supported by scholarships from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and the Republic of Korea.