Ercan Canhasi
Dr. Ercan Canhasi is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Prizren, Kosovo, with extensive expertise in machine learning, software development, and natural language processing. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and has significantly contributed to academia, industry, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Balkans. Ercan is a cofounder of Gjirafa Inc., a pioneering regional tech company, where he served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Science Officer (CSO), leading the initiatives in search technologies and data-driven solutions.
In academia, Dr. Canhasi has taught and mentored students at all levels, fostering innovation and critical thinking. He is deeply committed to exploring the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, with a focus on creating real-world solutions to complex challenges.
During his Obermann International Fellowship, Dr. Canhasi will focus on enhancing digital transformation strategies and advancing AI research in wireless networking, particularly in healthcare environments.
Thomas Horky
Dr. Thomas Horky is a professor for sports journalism at the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany since 2009. After studying sports science, journalism and linguistics he worked as a journalist for the German press agency dpa and as a freelance journalist for several other media. He was research assistant at the department of sports science at the University of Hamburg and the Hamburg Institute of Sports Journalism as well as a lecturer at the Institute of Sports Journalism at the German Sports University in Cologne.
Horky is a member of the editorial board of several international journals (Communication & Sport, Global Sport Business Journal, Modern Sport Communication, Journal of Chengdu Sport University) and adviser of the Bung Karno Center for Sport and Communication in Indonesia. The last three years he served as International Liaison for the Sports Interest Group of the International Communication Association (ICA) and before five years in the board of directors of the International Association for Communication and Sport (IACS). In addition, he was invited keynote speaker and panelist at conferences in Australia, South Africa, China, Poland, and the United States. In 2022, he stayed for a Three-Day-Visit Program at the University of Iowa in Iowa-City. In 2024, he was invited to a two week’s tour with several keynotes to Indonesia and Australia.
His main research projects are the quality of journalism (international comparison), media sports, sport management, sport sociology, the staging of sports journalism and entertainment. He has published several international contributions related to sports, journalism, management and media, some books, and is editor of the German journal “Journal für Sportkommunikation und Mediensport”, as well as the book-series „Sportkommunikation” and „Sport & Kommunikation”. In 2018, he was invited as a Visiting Professor at the Media School of the Indiana University in Bloomington/IN. Most recently, he was invited as Roper Visiting Professor at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln/NE.
During his Obermann International Fellowship, Dr. Horky will "make an initial assessment of the extent to which a development towards virtualization can be demonstrated in sport, the media, and communication and what effects this possible virtualization of media sport has on sport, the media, and sport communication." His aim is to draft a theoretical concept for virtual media sport based on interaction and immersion that might help scholars understand the future of sport and sport communication and the influence of media sport on society.
Gabriela Román Fuentes
Gabriela Román Fuentes is a Mexican author whose work has focused on childhood, youth, identity, and gender. She has developed projects regarding human rights and violence, especially towards women and minority ethnic groups in Mexico. Her texts have been translated into English and Portuguese, and published and performed in London, Madrid, Lilongwe, Buenos Aires, and many cities in the United States and Mexico. She has published several books, notably Cosmica (IntiPress, NoPassport Press and Assitej-España).
In 2019, she was Playwright in Residence at the Lark Play Development Center in New York and Writer in Residence at the IWP at the University of Iowa, where she also earned an MFA in Spanish Creative Writing. She has won several awards, among them the National Drama Prize Manuel Herrera for her play Playa Paraíso. She has received grants from the U.S. Department of State, National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA, Mexico), Canada Council for Arts, and the Banff Centre. She is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (National System of Art Creators), the most prestigious arts grant in Mexico.
During her Obermann International Fellowship, Fuentes plans to investigate the representation and significance of maladies and female bodies in contemporary Latin-American narrative. She writes, "I am interested in the way diseases are depicted, and how authors approach pain and intimacy in their writing. I am also interested in the work of Latin American writers José Donoso, Cristina Rivera Garza, and Guadalupe Nettel. I would also like to look into the interconnection between body and pain, caused by violence, in the work of artist Ana Mendieta."
Rasheedah Liman
Rasheedah Liman is Professor of Theatre and Development Communication at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. Her research interests include Development Communication, Stage Directing, Playwriting, and Media Studies. She is the lead researcher at the Centre of Excellence on Development Communication A.B.U Zaria. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Scholars, a World Learning Alumni TIES 2022 awardee, a SONTA lifetime Achievement awardee, and a Heidelberg Spring Academy Awardee. She has served as project coordinator and consultant for several National and International leadership organizations. She was one of the three Judges of the 2023 NLNG prize for literature. Her recent research interests center on theatre and environmental awareness.
During her Obermann International Fellowship, Dr. Liman will collaborate with Theatre Arts faculty and study the arts performance spaces at the University of Iowa with an eye toward mapping out new trends in eco-theatre and creating, developing, and presenting new works on and around eco-theatre.
Musawenkosi Ndlovu
Dr. Musawenkosi Ndlovu is a senior lecturer in media studies in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa; a Mandela Mellon Fellow in the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University; and a visiting academic in the School of Social Science at Loughbourgh University. He holds a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a certificate in Political Consulting and Strategic Campaign Communication, and a certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. He has lectured in media studies at Technikon Northern Gauteng’s Department of Journalism and at University of South Africa’s Department of Communication Science.
Musa has been one of the main researchers in the national survey "A baseline study of youth identity, the media and the public sphere in South Africa" (Jane Duncan et al, 2013). He is currently the co-researcher for the chapter "Towards a Typology of the ‘BRICS Journalists’" to be included in the book Mapping the BRICS Media (Internationalizing Media Studies series).
During his Obermann International Fellowship, Dr. Ndlovu will perform research for his book-in-progress, Challenging the West and Scrambling for Africa: Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern Transnational News Media in Africa. The book explores the reasons behind the growth of Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern transnational news media in Africa, considers whether these media serve as new forms of media imperialism and neocoloniality, and ascertains what international news media functions are being served by the growth of transnational news media in Africa.