Dr. Schnelle, a former German diplomat, studied history at the University of Marburg, Freie Universität Berlin (Degree: „Staatsexamen“), Stanford University (M.A. in History), and at the London School of Economics. He is a specialist in public diplomacy, foreign cultural policy, and transatlantic affairs. In the German Diplomatic Service since 1975, he was posted to the German Embassy in Tokyo, to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in Madrid, and to the United Nations in New York. In the 1990s he was deputy chief of mission in Oslo, Norway, and from 2002-2004 served as German consul general in Boston, Massachusetts. His positions at the Federal Foreign Office included desk officer in the Bureau for U.S. Affairs; head of division for international cooperation in higher education; deputy director general of the Department of Culture and Education and co-chair of the German-American Fulbright Commission (2004-8). Before joining the German foreign service, Mr. Schnelle was a DAAD lecturer at the Polytechnic of Central London, at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris III) and at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (SciencesPo) in Paris, teaching German studies and history. In 2015 he received an honorary doctorate from URI. Currently he is director of the Council of Experts of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR) and an advisor to the Hertie Foundation and the Hertie School of Governance.