Yasmin Koppen, Ph.D
Young Scholars Group Representative

Yasmin Koppen is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for the 
Study of Religion at the University of Leipzig. In her PhD project, 
she developed a methodological approach to the analysis of spatial 
reconfigurations in historic sites and their effects on sovereignty 
discourses between China, Sichuan and Vietnam. Her current project 
focuses on hydrolatry (water veneration) and identity negotiation in 
East Asia. Her research interests include popular religion, social 
resilience, the history of non-conformism, religious architecture and 
iconography, history of women and the relationship between religion and 
state legitimation in China and Vietnam.

Munkhzul Bat-Erdene, M.A.
Young Scholars Group Representative

Munkhzul Bat-Erdene is a Doctoral Candidate at the Institute of Korean Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. She accepted her master’s degree in politics and economics at the Academy of Korean Studies in South Korea. She had a work experience in an international project against Global Warming in Mongolia. She speaks Korean, English and German. Recently she attended the 7th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security, the 32nd Annual Conference of Northeast Asian Economic Forum and the 16th Emerging Leaders Program. Her recent primary research interests are Northeast Asian cooperation, security, and relationships with the Korean peninsula and Mongolia. She is the Young Scholars Group Representative of the German Association for Asian Studies.

Lars Konheiser, M.A.
Young Scholars Group Representative

Lars Konheiser is a research associate and lecturer at the Institute for Chinese Studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany), where he is also enrolled as a PhD student. Previously, he worked as a research associate and lecturer at the Institute of Political Science (Chair of Comparative Politics) at the University of Freiburg. His main research interests are politics in authoritarian regimes – especially in the People’s Republic of China –, China’s role in international human rights politics, political thought and ideology in contemporary China, as well as the political and societal dimensions of sports.

Katharina Dreßen, M.A.
Young Scholars Group Representative

Katharina Dreßen, M.A., is a PhD student and Research Assistant with teaching responsibilities at the Institute of Modern Japanese Studies at Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf. Her doctoral research focuses on the influence of Japan’s norms and values on its use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool. Her research interests include Japan’s role in Asia, its bilateral and multilateral relations in the Asia-Pacific and the role of norms and values in its foreign policy.

Dan Petersen, M.A.
Young Scholars Group Representative

Dan Petersen is a PhD candidate in Sinology at the Center for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at the University of Hamburg. In his doctoral research, he conducts a regional study of Dongba manuscripts from the Naxi people who live around the Yangzi loop in Yunnan Province’s northwest. His research interests include manuscript studies, and the intersections of local cultures and written artefacts in Southwest China.