At the beginning of September, Mirjam Hirzel joined the Usthi team. From now on, she will be responsible for coordinating the Usthi projects. This makes her the first point of contact for the project partners in India and Nepal. Together with Executive Director Alessandra Grosse, she is in charge of the operations abroad.
As was already the case for Alessandra Grosse, the times in which Mirjam Hirzel takes on these new tasks are challenging. Familiarizing herself with the projects is currently only possible from afar, and local operations are still severely restricted by Covid-19. The next project visit cannot be planned at present. Nevertheless, Mirjam is looking forward to her new tasks and to establishing at least virtual contact with the partners.
After completing a Bachelor in International Development and Food Policy at University College Cork (Ireland), Mirjam moved back to Switzerland, where she did a Master in Comparative and International Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. She gained professional experience in several assistant positions already during these initial studies and after graduation she joined the Chair for International Conflict Research, also at ETH Zurich.
It was during this time that her interest in India developed. As part of her doctoral thesis she did field research on the situation of indigenous peoples in Central India. She spent eight months in Mumbai, Delhi and Chhattisgarh, where she led a small local research team and worked closely with Indian scientists. Working together with local actors is therefore not uncharted territory for her, and she is very familiar with the Indian context.
She also has experience in the humanitarian field, which she gathered during several volunteer assignments abroad. Her career has prepared her very well for working with the project partners, providing support for the activities in India and carrying out regular project visits. The team is looking forward to the additional assistance in the programs and to working with Mirjam and wishes her all the best for her start at Usthi.
