WAVE Office
Anca Ciupa
Team Leader
Anca Ciupa has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law at the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and a Master’s Degree in European and National Business Law also obtained in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Babes-Bolyai University. Additionally, Anca has obtained a postgraduate diploma in International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna in June 2014. Before working at WAVE, Anca was a co-author on a research project, “Analysis of the draft law to permit the Rosia Montana mining proposal”, where she was in charge with reviewing environmental legislation, decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and illustrating opinions in the report. Anca is a strong advocate of human rights and passionate about bringing her own contribution in this environment.
Léa Dudouet
Office Administrator & Project Assistant
Léa Dudouet recently completed her MPhil in the Reproductive Sociology Research Group at the University of Cambridge. Her thesis focused on the use and experiences fertility-related apps which can be used to avoid pregnancy through qualitative interviews with women based in the UK, in order to understand the role of technology in contraceptive decision-making. Prior to this Léa completed her BSc in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2018, graduating with First Class Honors. Her studies were geared towards intersecting aspects of sociology, focusing on gender, race and sexuality. She was also the treasurer of the Intersectional Feminist Society for two years and acted as a Consent Champion in her final year where she helped facilitate consent and active by-stander workshops and campaigned to introduce mandatory consent training for all incoming students.
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Aside from academia, Léa has been involved with different feminist groups and non-profit organisations both in London as well as in Berlin. In 2018, she interned on a voluntary basis at Frauenkreise, a Berlin-based government-funded feminist project committed to creating a space for intercultural feminist work from an intersectional and antiracist standpoint. Léa has additionally worked at the Berghof Foundation, an independent, non-profit organisation that supports efforts to prevent political and social violence worldwide, and to achieve sustainable peace through conflict transformation.
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Diva Adelaide Edosini
Intern
Adelaide has a bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences, and she is currently concluding her master’s in International and Diplomatic Sciences at the University of Bologna (Italy). After studying in Italy and in the Netherlands topics like international relations, law, migration and security, she tried to focus on Europe, studying the framework and the structures of EU interventions and actions.
Adelaide is taking part in the Europe Direct project funded by the European Commission to spread the knowledge of the EU and its values. At the moment, she is finishing her master’s degree and writing her dissertation thesis on Human trafficking and sexual exploitation, proposing an analysis on the European approach towards trafficking, security and the vulnerability of victims.
Aside from her studies, Adelaide is passionate about gender equality, feminism and social justice. At WAVE, she is willing to learn how networking organizations work, and gain some experience in campaign-building related activities. Considering the importance of tackling violence against women, Adelaide is enthusiastic about giving her contribution to this environment.
Elena Floriani
Communications & Research Officer
Elena Floriani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural mediation and a Master’s degree in Comparative international relations. After study and work experiences in Italy, France, Germany, Tanzania and Austria, she joined the WAVE Office as Communication and Research Officer in May 2019. In the last years, Elena made of her interest in feminism and women’s rights her area of research and work. Following an experience in the field of development cooperation in Tanzania, she decided to focus her Master’s thesis on the legal protection of women’s rights in Africa, conducting a research on the recent developments of the African Union’s human rights system.
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After her graduation, Elena interned at WAVE for three months, a great opportunity to get familiar with the fight against VAW from a European perspective. Later on, she started working for one of WAVE’s members, the Domestic violence intervention center of Vienna, in the public affairs office. Elena is now collaborating with the WAVE team on data collection, publication of country reports and communication strategies for WAVE’s projects.
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Stephanie Futter-Orel
Executive Manager
Stephanie is passionate about fighting Violence Against Women and has a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Vienna as well as a Master’s degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics. Austrian by birth, she has lived in London for the past 9 years and worked for over 7 years in women’s specialist organisations dedicated to fighting Violence Against women (frontline roles as well as Senior Management).
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Verena Henneberger
Intern
Verena holds a bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies and is currently pursuing her master’s in Gender Studies at the University of Vienna. Some of her main interests are body politics, the political economy of violence against women and orientalism/othering.
Pre-Covid she was responsible for the awareness team of a Viennese techno collective, aiming to prevent and dealing with sexualized harassment and consent violations during clubbing events. Verena also co-organizes a sex-positive festival usually taking place in Vienna and Berlin. She is part of various queer-feminist and leftist groups, among them an open network that holds a public vigil in response to every femicide committed in Austria.
Verena is passionate about bringing people together, discussing utopian theories and dreaming about a good life for all.
Maria Knaub
Grant Development & Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator
Maria has a Bachelor’s Degree in East Asian Studies and is currently finishing her Master’s in Development Studies at the University of Vienna. She is passionate about feminism, gender equality and social justice. Previously, she has worked in a variety of positions and industries, spanning from algorithm research to editorial offices. She started as the interim Grant Development and Advisory Board Coordinator at the WAVE Network and is now the Grant Development & Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator. During her work at WAVE, she is looking forward to putting her prior experiences into social use for ending gender-based violence.
Beverly Mtui
Digital & Social Media Coordinator (cover)
Beverly Mtui has a Bachelor’s Degree in Transcultural Communication (German, English & French) and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Development Studies at the University of Vienna. In 2018, she interned with one of our Members “Work With Perpetrators European Network – WWP EN” for half a year and in 2019, she was an intern at Austrian WAVE Member AÖF. From 2018-2020, she volunteered for FOOTPRINT, a NGO based in Vienna which provides free social and legal advice as well as language courses to survivors of violence and/or human trafficking. She supported them as the head of the undraising team and as board member (treasurer) in her last year with the NGO. Besides being passionate about intersectional feminism and gender equality, she also believes in social equality.
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Lina Piskernik
Digital & Social Media Coordinator (educational leave)
Lina Piskernik is currently on educational leave. She is the Digital & Social Media Coordinator, ensuring that WAVE’s many projects and achievements are as visible as possible across several social media networks. She is also Communications Coordinator for the Erasmus project DIS.CO & UN Women project CSSP, and assists the WAVE Step Up! campaign. She has a Bachelor degree in International Affairs & German from Florida State University as well as a Master of Science in International Relations & Environmental Technology from
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Elizabeth Spouse
Data Manager & Researcher
Elizabeth has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Political Science from the University of Washington in Seattle, and is currently completing her Master’s of International Development at the University of Vienna with a focus on Gender Studies. She is responsible for research and database administration; ensuring effective data collection for, as well as the creation of the WAVE Country Report. In addition, she manages the WAVE Fempower Magazine and the WAVE Newsletter, and is the co-organizer of the WAVE Gender Neutrality Working Group. Outside of her work at WAVE, she is passionate about supporting social projects within her community, volunteering at a non-profit cultural platform in Vienna called Improper Walls, where she brings her expertise on gender equality and human rights to the art world.
Renate Tomenendal
Accountant
After her traineeship in the retail trade and several years in this area as a manager, Renate Tomenendal completed a part time training course to become a proofed and graduated balance accountant and personnel accountant. After completing this training, she switched to work as an accountant. After the birth of her son and her maternity leave, Renate resumed her employment in 2014 at WAVE, where she has now been working in the non-profit sector for 7 years. Currently, she is working for the non-profit women’s rights associations AÖF and WAVE. In her very demanding job, she is responsible for accounting, personnel administration, balance sheets, budgeting and reporting. As such, her working day is not only very varied but also entertaining and fulfilling. An important balance to this is her much loved sideline as a highly and fully qualified dance instructor in Vienna and Lower Austria.