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8 March 2018 - Diana Bluhm

How five women made their careers in Bremen

Success stories

Stories of successful entrepreneurs in the Hanseatic city

Whether it is constructing the first commercial offshore wind farm in the North Sea, building housing units for the moon and Mars, or designing handmade products together with persons with disabilities – these people do a great job. The following five stories show women in Bremen, who are successful at their jobs and passionate for their work.

The local IAC 2018 organising committee at ZARM are pictured here (from left to right): Claus Lämmerzahl, Marc Avila, Birgit Kinkeldey and Peter von Kampen
The local organising committee at ZARM(from left to right): Claus Lämmerzahl, Marc Avila, Birgit Kinkeldey and Peter von Kampen © ZARM, University of Bremen

How the 2018 International Astronautical Congress in Bremen is becoming a reality

Bremen, October 2018: around 4,000 industry experts from all over the world are in the city to attend the International Astronautical Congress. But it’s not just at the congress that people are talking about space. It is also a topic of conversation in pubs, schools and even nurseries. The organising committee is working flat out to make sure this all becomes a reality. Birgit Kinkeldey is part of the committee that is based at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM). In this interview , she and Peter von Kampen talk about programming and planning for the world’s biggest space industry conference – the theme which is ‘Involving everyone’ – and about good news from Mexico.

Fiona Moore
Living in Bremen for 17 years: Fiona Moore has found a new home in the Hanseatic city © Bremeninvest/Merle Burghart

Dual citizenship due to the Brexit vote

Fiona Moore is originally from Burton-on-Trent, near Birmingham, UK, and now works as a freelance translator in Bremen. She fell in love with Bremen in her early twenties. That was back in 2000, but she is still as enchanted by the city now as she was on the first day. The Brexit vote made her decide to apply for German citizenship – now she has dual nationality. In this interview, she tells us about the importance of the EU passport for her, settling in Bremen and being fortunate to have found a home in here.

Irina Lucke
Irina Lucke © WAB, Lucke

Pioneer of offshore wind power

She is the pioneer of offshore wind power: Irina Lucke. Besides working as managing director for EWE Offshore Service & Solutions GmbH, she is also the chairperson of WAB – the network for the wind energy industry. It is the most important German association of the wind energy sector. In this interview, Lucke talks about her role in the German-wide trade association and the challenges that an ever-changing business and regulatory environment poses for the international wind energy industry.

Dr Christiane Heinicke – a geophysicist from Bremen
Dr Christiane Heinicke, a geophysicist from Bremen, spent a year living with five colleagues from different countries in a housing unit measuring around 100 square metres in order to gain experience for future Mars missions. © WFB/Focke Strangmann

Living and Working on the moon and on Mars

One day, astronauts will live and carry out research on the moon – and even a colony on Mars is no longer the distant utopian dream it once was. But how will people be able to live in an extraterrestrial environment? That is what Dr Christiane Heinicke is researching and developing. The geophysicist is working at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) at the University of Bremen. After studying and working in Germany, Sweden, Finland and Hawaii, she and her team are developing a housing facility which could be used on the moon or on Mars in the future. Her MaMBA (Moon and Mars Base Analog) project focuses on the technical aspects of the housing units. Read more about her story in our article “Moon Living”.

hey ju design: Juie Jittinan Kitsumritiroj and Andreas Hensinger
hey ju design: Juie Jittinan Kitsumritiroj and Andreas Hensinger © Bremeninvest/Frank Pusch

hey ju design – the inclusive design company

Art, design and people with disabilities make up the fascinating focus of the work of two young designers from Bremen. Juie Jittinan Kitsumritiroj is a 31-year-old designer from Thailand. She studied for her Bachelor’s degree in her home country, where she was also involved in community work. She came to study in Bremen for a semester and then fully relocated to Bremen at the end of 2011 to continue her studies, and worked towards a Master’s degree in Integrated Design. At the end of 2015, she and her co-founder Andreas Hensinger started their company hey ju design. Working together with employees from community-based workshops, they develop and improve on designs for handmade products – and are continually thrilled by the potential they see in their co-designers. Read their story here.


Want to find out more about Bremen?

You can read all about living in Bremen in our Marketing for Bremen section.

You can find out about other things that Bremen has to offer from our city showcase: the city portal bremen.de has more information and useful tips for getting to know, and love, Bremen.

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