Staff
- Photo: Christian Kaiser
Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director
Ole leads and coordinates the work of the Foundation. His main tasks are strategy development, representation, fundraising, financial management and research. He has evaluated candidates for the Right Livelihood Award in more than 30 countries around the globe.
Ole holds Masters degrees in Environmental Science (Lund University) and European Studies (Freie Universität, Humboldt Universität, and Technische Universität Berlin). After his studies, he won a fellowship for the Postgraduate Programme in International Affairs of the Robert Bosch Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, and the German Foreign Office.
Ole has worked at the German Parliament in Berlin, the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, and the European Parliament in Brussels.
Kajsa Övergaard, Foundation Manager
E-mail: kajsa(at)rightlivelihood.org
Phone: +46 (0)8 702 03 40
Kajsa manages the work at the office and coordinates the programme for the Laureates when they come to Stockholm to receive the Award. She is also the contact person for Swedish media.
She holds a BA (Cultural Anthropology/Third World Studies/Tropical Environmental Studies) from the universities of Uppsala and Stockholm and has previously worked at the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, the Nordic Africa Institute, Life Link, Swedish Save the Children and the Swedish Development Forum.
Since the mid-80s, she has arranged numerous conferences and meetings all over the world in cooperation with individuals, research institutions and NGOs both in Sweden and abroad.
Sharan Srinivas, Programme and Research Manager
Sharan conducts desk and field research on candidates for the award, and manages the Right Livelihood College project for the Foundation. He is also responsible for the protection of laureates whose work has put their lives at risk. In addition, he assists the Executive Director in the field of resource mobilization.
Sharan holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy, with a focus on International Law from Seton Hall University and a B.A. (Honors) in Political Science from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Prior to joining the foundation, Sharan has worked on police reform with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in New Delhi, India, and with the Right Livelihood College Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS) in Penang, Malaysia. He is passionate about working for the advancement of international relations, human rights, development and international law.
Sharan will be working from Penang until the end of February and start working at the Stockholm office in April 2012.
Birgit Jaeckel, Communications Consultant to the Foundation
Birgit is a freelance consultant to the Foundation responsible for press and communications. Birgit joined the Foundation first as an intern in 2005. She lives in Germany and holds a Masters degree combined honours in Prehistory, Palaeontology and Ancient History from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Birgit is a professional writer. Her first novel was published in Germany in April 2007.
- Matthea Dörrich
Matthea Dörrich, Communications Intern
Matthea Dörrich joined the staff in spring 2011 and is taking care of website updates, the foundation's facebook page and general email requests. She also works with photo and film material.
Having studied Philosophy, Media and Culture at University of Hildesheim, she holds a Bachelor of Arts.
Lovisa Lönegren, Research Intern
Lovisa has joined the team as a research intern for the spring of 2012 and is mainly handling the proposals for the 2012 Award.
She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science from the Right Livelihood College LUCSUS at Lund University. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Malmö University.
Tina Nyfors, Right Livelihood Collage intern
Tina joined the Foundation in early 2012, and is writing a report about the impact of the Right Livelihood Award. She is a journalist and human ecologist, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Media and communication studies (University of Helsinki), a Bachelor's degree in Human ecology and a Master's degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science (Lund University).
