Our Team

Claudia has been working in international research and innovation projects for more than 15 years, supporting successful applications to a wide array of national and international funding programs such as BMBF, MRC/UKRI, NIH, the EU Framework Programmes, IMI, EDCTP or EIT Health. She has guided more than 40 resulting projects with funding of up to 28 million EUR through grant preparation and implementation, and many of those to successful follow-up initiatives. Claudia has strong people skills and thrives on new challenges. Her particular focus in recent years have been clinical studies and collaboration with industry.

At LINQ, Claudia uses her experience in supporting international research projects primarily to facilitate the planning and preparation of new initiatives. She guides and coordinates project design and proposal writing and supports new consortia in their set-up phase. Moreover, she develops actionable risk mitigation strategies and monitors their implementation to ensure successful completion of each project and help maximise impact. Claudia supports stakeholder management and guides networking both within the context of individual projects and beyond.

Phone. +49 (0)175 927 16 31

Vera did her PhD in the field of Molecular Biology and Tropical Medicine at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, and the Department of Infectious Diseases & Tropical Medicine at the LMU, Munich, Germany. As part of her PhD she developed diagnostic PCR assays for mycobacterial diseases under tropical and field conditions and established field laboratories in several countries in Africa. Vera has more than 15 years of experience in the field of collaborative research and innovation management. In her previous position, she oversaw project planning, proposal management and proposal writing and supported large interdisciplinary consortia in a variety of different funding schemes, including BMBF, the EU Framework Programmes, and IMI/IHI.

At LINQ, Vera will be involved in the final steps of the Horizon 2020 project EUCANCan and support two new projects funded by the EDCTP and Horizon Europe, respectively. She will also be involved in the planning and set-up of new initiatives, providing strategic advice and hands-on proposal management support.

Caroline has a background in Business Administration (M.A.) and Cross-Cultural-Studies (B.A.). After working as a Key Account Manager at an inter-cultural consultancy company where she was responsible for human resource development and consultancy schemes for international business projects, she turned to project management for large-scale research collaborations. Caroline now has over ten years of experience in managing international projects in the fields of life science and medical research and has worked in a variety of funding schemes, such as FP7, Horizon 2020, IMI, and EDCTP. She is an expert in creating the structural basis for smooth and successful collaboration in large and cross-sector research initiatives and has successfully trained and mentored many junior professionals in the field of research project management.At LINQ, Caroline supports the management of the EDCTP-funded projects TB-CAPT and StatinTB, and helps these projects adapt to the new, more virtual work situation caused by the current pandemic. By coordinating efforts towards the creation of virtual learning and support environments for young scientists, she contributes to the development of timely innovative solutions for capacity building. In addition, Caroline uses her expert knowledge and long-term experience to support proposals in various programmes.

Christoph holds a PhD in Anthropology from Heidelberg University. Before joining LINQ, he worked as an independent research assistant, editor and translator, and provided science management and workshops on intercultural communication for Heidelberg University. His own primary research focused on health, wellness and illness in the South Asian context, and he participated in international research projects on medical tourism in India and on asymmetric relations between European and Asian medicine. His professional experience further includes community work at Y.R.G. CARE in India for HIV/AIDS research and education in South Asia and at the Fundación Norte in Argentina for the empowerment of indigenous groups from South America.

At LINQ, Christoph works with projects in their implementation phase and in their earliest stages, primarily in EDCTP and EIT Health programmes. He supports research teams in project planning, proposal writing, and designing and executing project implementation plans. As a project manager in the two clinical trials PredictTB and StatinTB, both funded by the EDCTP and coordinated in South Africa, he puts much focus on conceptualising, organising, and implementing capacity building activities. Christoph further supports the management of the Immunising Pregnant Women and Infants Network, IMPRINT, funded by the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund. In IMPRINT, he is in charge of different communication and dissemination tasks as well as manages the network’s Public Engagement scheme.

Erika has over seven years of experience developing and implementing effective communication strategies for diverse international companies in the pharmaceutical and media industry, including the European Parliament’s two youth programs European Youth Event and European Youth Press and the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company. Prior to that, she studied journalism in both her home country Sweden and in the US. With a passion for multichannel communication, Erika is comfortable producing all types of texts, including website copy, articles, social media posts, and press releases. Having worked as an Art Director and Graphic Designer in the past, she is also a strong designer of both print and online layouts.

At LINQ, Erika develops and implements dissemination and communication strategies for several projects in the LINQ portfolio and oversees that projects follow the guidelines provided by these strategies. Erika collaborates with project partners’ communication departments and scientists to design and execute communication activities, crafts promotional content for the media and the web, and drafts, reviews, and edits communication deliverables. She supports Anna-Lena in coordinating communication efforts for EUCANCan, works with Malte and Christoph in IMPRINT, and drives dissemination activities in TriageTB together with Julia.