Dr. Uwe Optenhögel is a political scientist and economist. Uwe studied in Bonn, Washington D.C., Hamburg, and Lisbon and holds a master’s degree and a PhD from the University of Hamburg. He is an expert on European and International Politics, Security and Defence policy, Labour Relations and the Role of Think-Tanks and Foundations.

During his long professional career in the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Uwe worked 20 years abroad as head of different offices in countries of the global south (Brazil, Madagascar/ Mauritius, Cuba/ Dominican Republic) and the global north (Nordic Countries, Belgium). His last assignment was head of the Foundation’s EU office in Brussels until 2018. At FES Headquarters in Bonn and Berlin in the 1990 and early 2000 he was head of the Department for Central and Eastern Europe, setting up the Foundations network of offices in this region, in Central Asia, and the Caucasus after 1989. From 1999 to 2004 he was International Director of the Foundation.

Prior to his work with FES, he was a research associate at the Cultural Authority of the city of Hamburg, a visiting lecturer at the University of Hamburg and CEO of an international language cooperative in Lisbon, Portugal (1982-1984). From 2016-2017 Uwe was network coordinator of the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) in Brussels. As of 2017 he is publisher at the traditional German publishing House J.H.W. Dietz. Apart from his work for FES, Uwe Optenhögel has been a freelance political analyst and consultant to a broad range of public and private organizations in Germany, Europe and beyond.