Johannes Ebert

Johannes Ebert has been General Secretary and Chairman of the Goethe-Institut since 2012. He studied Islamic scholarship and scientific politics in Freiburg and Damascus. He then trained as a journalist in Heilbronn. In addition to fostering European cooperation and integration, Johannes Ebert's work focuses on increased engagement in crisis regions and countries undergoing upheavals such as Ukraine, North Africa and the Middle East. He is particularly concerned to support refugees in the countries that border Syria and in Germany with cultural and educational projects. For many years he has also been campaigning for the expansion of digital programmes within Germany’s foreign cultural and educational policy (AKBP), the incorporation of global debates in Germany and a continual development of the worldwide Goethe-Institut network.