Title Name Surname: Prof. Dr. Brikena Kadzadej-Zavalani
Full-time Lecturer of German Language at the Department of German Language, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Tirana.
Prof. Kadzadej-Zavalani has over 30 years of work experience as a lecturer and researcher.
After graduating in Albanian language-Albanian literature, German language and literature at the “History-Philology” Faculty in Tirana in 1990, in 2000-2004 she completed her postgraduate and doctoral studies at the Justus-Liebig-Gießen University, Germany (Doctoral Title: “Forms of addressing and greeting in Albanian and in German. Comparative comparison”), related to linguistics, intercultural communication, methodology and didactics.
2012- Obtaining the academic title “Professor”
Visiting professor at the State and Southeast European University Tetovo, Nord Macedonia (2008-2015), and at the State University “Ukshin Hoti” Prizren, Kosovo. (2019).
Main research areas
German linguistics and its grammatical and historical-cultural references.
Phonetics/Phonology, German grammar, intercultural communication, methodology and didactics, teaching practice, scientific writing.
National and international projects
• Coordinator and Director of the course for qualification of teachers of German as a second language, organized by University Kassel, Germany, Ministry of Education Tirana and Goethe-Institute Germany. (2002-2004).
• Scientific Coordinator of the Institutional Partnership between the Institute for German Studies for Foreigners of the Friedrich-Schiller Jena University and the Department of German Studies of the University of Tirana (2007-2010, supported by the DAAD – Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst)
• Organizer of more than 30 national and international conferences with German, Swiss, Austrian Universities, etc. Supported by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), the Herder Foundation, German-speaking universities and developed countries. (2008-2016)
• Project Manager of the University of Bohum – Summer University for the Western Balkans: “Cultural Exchange and the European Periphery”, supported by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst). Developed in Albania and Germany. 2018
• Co-founder and Co-editor of scientific review “Zeitschrift für Germanistische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft – Dituria”, published in Germany from the University Heidelberg (Prof. dr Jörg Riecke, Dean of Heidelberg University) with the support of HRK (Conference of Rectors of German Universities) and DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst). Since 2006.
This Project is supported by the DAAD, in the first numbers and by the Conference of Rectors of Higher Schools (HRK).
• Co-editor and Co-founder of study series “Albanische Studien” AUS, published in Germany Athena-Verlag Oberhausen. (2008-2016)
• International Project for Education (Member): NEZI (Netzwerk Erst-, Zweit- und Interkultur) International Project in Education from Zurich University for Teacher Education (2015-2017) Switzerland.
• Cooperation with the Archaeological Institute of Finland, Prof. dr. Harald Haarmann (Research project: Das Rätsel der Donauzivilisation: Die Entdeckung der ältesten Hochkultur Europas.) (2019-2021)
• Head of the Research and Research Project of the Faculty of Foreign Languages “Eqerem Çabej, from the point of view of German-researchers who speak Albanian through his correspondence with potential researchers”. (2022 -2024).
Scientific publications
2 – Monographs (Germany) supported by the Herder Foundation, publishers of scientific journals (2- Germany), university books (1 Albania), references, scientific articles in international journals in developed countries (over 70), teaching text for German as a language foreign for secondary schools (3 volumes) etc..
Translation
– Translations for German-speaking institutions (Konrad-Adenauer Foundation, Hans Seidel, European Community, Zurich Pedagogical School, Swiss publishing house Orell Füssli Verlag AG, etc.) from German-Albanian and Albanian-German, published in the German-speaking area by artistic, legal, social, etc. fields.
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Participation in Professional Associations/Functions
• President of the Albanian Association of German Language Teachers and Researchers 2003-2011.
• Member of the Council of Professors of the Faculty of Foreign Languages since 2011-2019
• Member of the Permanent Titles Committee from 2019 to today
• Head of the German Language Department 2008-2016.
• Leader of the Commission for the State Teacher Examination with the Ministry of Education
• Member of the Association of Germans of Southeast Europe since 2004 – SOEGV.
• Part of FIBAA, German organization for the accreditation of German and foreign Universities, Berlin, Germany. (since 2012)
• Member of the Senate, two terms.
• Part of the Commissions for Doctorates in Germany and Austria.
