Team

In addition to her role as Director of the DWIH Tokyo, Dorothea Mahnke serves as Director of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Japan. She took up her role in both capacities in January 2017. 

She has been working as a Coordinator of International Relations in Kumamoto and Ishikawa, Japan and in the field of development cooperation in the Philippines and Ghana. In 2005 she changed to a German start-up company before she took up a position as a Program Manager for alumni programs at the DAAD in 2008. Between 2010 to 2017 Mahnke continued as the head of the unit “GATE-Germany Office and Marketing Expertise” (GATE-Germany: Consortium for International Higher Education Marketing). She holds a master degree in Japanese studies as well as a master of public administration in Higher Education Management. 

Axel Karpenstein is the Program Manager of the German Centre for Research and Innovation in Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo). He manages the centre’s day-to-day operations, closely stays in touch with the Advisory Board members and Japanese partners at place and develops the DWIHs event concepts. 

Tamayo Suzuki is a Program Officer to the German Centre for Research and Innovation Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo) and in charge of logistic management of events and partly accounting. She has been working at the centre since 2009.

Yu Takeuchi is in charge of communication and public relations at the German Centre for Research and Innovation Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo). She is responsible for marketing and outreach including the DWIH newsletter and social media presence.