Expert on Europe

• Studied mass-media as part of the first degree in politics and sociology (culture, society and media) at the University of Birmingham. • Certified practicioner in documentary film-making from the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) of San Antonio de los Baños (Cuba, Jan.-Feb. 2014) and from the University of Melbourne Cinema Studies Program (Australia, Jan.-June 2006). From October 2015 to April 2016 part-time collaboration as documentaries monitor/evaluator for the Japanese public satellite channel in English language “NHK World”.

Of Italian and German origins, a passionate European, Achim has studied political science, sociology, mass-media, European studies, and geopolitics in Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Louvain la Neuve, Padua and Paris. A former trainee at the Council of the EU, he has been working on European affairs between 1999 and 2004 in Brussels and Strasbourg before joining the United Nations in 2005, undertaking different assignments around the world in both the peace and development sector. A PhD candidate in International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Achim currently lives and works in Tokyo as a researcher in diplomacy (EU-Japan relations). Has been teaching european studies at the American University of Central Asia, at the Kyrgyz National University and at the Bishkek Humanities University.