Ms Menike was a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Dr Winnie-Karen Giera at the University of Potsdam and Prof. Dr Thorsten Roelcke at the Technical University of Berlin. Born in Sri Lanka, a university lecturer and former international scholarship holder of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, she completed her Master’s degree in German as a Foreign and Second Language/German Studies Abroad at Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2017. Immediately after completing her Bachelor’s degree in German Studies at the University of Kelaniya, she began her first professional role as an Assistant Lecturer in German at the same university in 2008. Following five years of teaching experience in German, she was appointed in 2013 as the first lecturer in German for Tourism in the Department of Tourism Management at Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. She has been working there as a Senior Lecturer in German since May 2018. During her academic career, she has gained experience as a researcher in German as a Foreign Language (DaF) and German as a Second Language (DaZ) teaching, as an intern at the ÜAG Language Institute in Jena, and as a student mentor both in Germany and abroad. She has also worked as a lecturer in German for vocational training at Arugambay in Sri Lanka and as a guest lecturer at University College, Batangala, and Sabaragamuwa University. In addition, she supervises bachelor’s theses, organises conferences and sets A-level examinations in German in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, she coordinated the Diploma in Tourism Management at Sabaragamuwa University. An experienced university lecturer in Sri Lanka, she had been enrolled as a PhD candidate at the University of Potsdam since the 2021/22 winter semester. In her doctoral thesis, she examined the development of German language teaching in Sri Lanka. Ms Menike successfully defended her thesis on 24 November 2025 and was awarded the grade ‘magna cum laude’ for her dissertation. On 20 April 2026, her doctoral thesis, entitled The Implementation and Promotion of Speaking Skills in German Lessons at State Schools in Sri Lanka, was published by Universitätsverlag Potsdam.

Born in Berlin and a native of Brandenburg, he studied German and history at the University of Potsdam from 2013-2019 to become a teacher for secondary levels I and II and obtained his Master of Education with a very good grade (1.4) in 2019. Following his studies, he completed his traineeship in the state of Brandenburg at Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Fürstenwalde and also passed the state examination for the teaching profession with ‘very good’ in January 2020. This was followed by a civil service appointment in the state of Brandenburg and continued teaching at Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium.

When he took up full-time employment as a teacher, he also taught the subject Life Studies-Ethics-Religion (LER) in addition to German and History. After ending his teaching position at Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium in July 2021, he has held the position of academic assistant at the Junior Professorship for Inclusive German Didactics under the direction of Prof. Dr Giera since 1 August 2021. This task is linked to a doctoral project. It focuses on the first adaptation of the SRSD model (Graham & Harris, 2018) for the examination-relevant text type ‘dialectical discussion’ in the 9th grade at non-high schools and the scaffolding-based conception of a corresponding series of lessons. Mr Deutzmann's dissertation entitled Ein Lerngerüst bauen" - das Schreiben dialektischer Erörterungen durch den SRSD-Ansatz vermitteln was submitted in January 2024. This and the subsequent defence in July 2024 were graded ‘magna cum laude’. The monograph was published by Universitätsverlag Potsdam in  June 2025 https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-67898.

His other interests also include the investigation of language education and promotion in the classroom from an inclusion pedagogical perspective and its transfer to teacher (further) training. The courses supervised by Mr Deutzmann focus in particular on the diagnosis and promotion of writing and reading skills.