Spotlight on … New Research Fellow Jonas von Hoffmann

What sparked your interest in working at the GIGA in this position? Three things came together to spark my interest. First, I was looking for a new job. Second, being born and raised in Hamburg, coming to the GIGA is a home coming for me after more than a decade abroad. Third, working at the GIGA represents a unique opportunity to pursue research that combines theoretical and empirical work in a methodologically rigorous and comparative manner and engage, interact and collaborate with colleagues who do excellent and interesting work. What is the focus of your research and what are you most looking forward to in this position at the GIGA? I am a comparativist who works on drug policy and cannabis reforms in Latin America. At the GIGA, I hope to be able to continue pursuing my extant lines of inquiry and extend them to new issue areas and methodological approaches, learn from and work with incredible colleagues and find a more permanent intellectual home in Germany. After living for three years in a Mexican desert, I do not really look forward to Hamburg’s world-renown grey skies and incessant drizzle, but I do not mind a bit of Hamburger Shietwetter for a change. How do you hope to contribute to your team or the institute in general? I hope to be able to both constructively and critically contribute to the work we do at the ILAS, actively help to make the Institute a lively, friendly and intellectually stimulating place and work with, be helpful to and learn from both more junior and senior colleagues. Big conference or small workshop? Small workshop: Better opportunities to interact, exchange ideas and actually receive feedback. Paperback book or eBook? Paperback: For now, nothing beats reading printed words on a page and being able to scribble in the margins.