Christoph Schmitt, Academic Affiliate at UNU-FLORES.
Christoph started his professional career in Saxony in 1993. He worked for the Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment. In 1998 and 1999, he worked for the German Federal Foreign Office in Bonn during Germany's EU Presidency. In 1999, he moved to Brussels to work in Saxony’s liaison office until the end of 2002. In 2003, he returned to Saxony to work on international issues of the Saxon State Ministry for Environment and Agriculture. As Policy Adviser, he managed several business delegation trips to Poland, Belgium, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia, Syria, and the United States of America. He represented Saxony in bilateral meetings with the Polish voivodship of Lower Silesia and was concerned with cross-border environmental issues.
In 2020, he moved to the State Chancellery of Saxony. Since then, he has managed a small project fund to support non-governmental organisations implementing development projects in the global south. He managed the procedure to identify Uganda as a preferred partner for cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2021, he has undertaken the first fact-finding mission to Uganda. Since then, he organised two visits of delegations to Uganda, headed by the former state minister and today member of the European Parliament, Mr Oliver Schenk.
At UNU FLORES, he is involved in a wide range of activities, e.g., as a speaker at the Three-Annual-Nexus Conference, in role-playing exercises on policy briefs, or when incoming staff are happy to receive some support.
Christoph is a member of the Patients' Advisory Board of the German Cancer Research Centre. His work includes drafting Policy Briefs, speaking at public and scientific events, and serving as a patient advisor on medicinal research projects.
Christoph loves to introduce Saxony’s culture and history to foreign guests. He likes theatre, cabaret, poetry and overall science-slam. He initiated “science slam meets cancer research”, which started in 2025 as a regular contribution to the “night of science” in Dresden.
Research Interest:
- Environment
- Agriculture
- International Relations