The Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives (TLI) team is pleased to announce the Tanja Wunderlich Memorial Grant for an alumni leadership action project. Tanja Wunderlich was a compassionate colleague at GMF for over 9 years, whose life was tragically taken by a car accident in November 2014. She dedicated her academic and her professional lives to the topics of migration and integration, always aiming to provide accurate facts and figures in often heated debates. She believed that the biggest policy advances come about if people from different disciplines come together, exchange, discuss and move innovative ideas and projects forward. Under her leadership, a worldwide network of young leaders—the Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration (TFMI) – was formed. To pay tribute to her achievements and her gentle spirit, we have established an annual Tanja Wunderlich Memorial Grant for Alumni, which will commemorate the power of networks and GMF alumni in the field of migration and integration.

The TLI team has identified a group of alumni representing various countries in the Central & Eastern European region as the recipient of the inaugural Tanja Wunderlich Memorial Grant. This group came forward with concrete project ideas and a commitment to addressing the most pressing needs concerning humanitarian crises, as well as drawing conclusions for policy recommendations affecting the mid-term policy planning in the Visegrad countries and Central Europe. The group is co-chaired by two alumni who will drive the project.

The goal of the joint alumni team representing various expertise in the subject and GMF’s fellowships is as follows:

• Connecting MMF alumni resources to immediate humanitarian need and resettlement. It appears this will take place in the Balkans region, specifically Serbia & Croatia.
• Stimulating civic and political dialogue on social inclusion.

The joint alumni team includes:

• Mpanzu Bamenga (TILN '15), Netherlands
• Bhanu Bhatnagar (TFMI '11), Qatar
• Adam Bodnar (MMF’13), Poland
• Petra Despot Domjlanovic, (MMF '14) Croatia
• Istvan Hegedus (MMF’93), Hungary, Co-Chair
• Vanya Ivanova (TFMI '10), Bulgaria
• Anna Ludwinek, (TFMI '12), Poland/Ireland
• ​Gyorgy Kakuk (MMF’96), Hungary
• Lamis Khalilova (MMF’09), Czech Republic
• Igor Ujhazi (TILN ’15), Serbia, Co-Chair