Milena Canzler🔸

Project manager @ EA Germany (EAD)
270 karmaJoined Working (0-5 years)

Bio

Participation
4

  • Born and raised in west Germany (NRW)
  • studied Bioscience in MĂĽnster (focus on neuroscience, botany and genetics)
  • went to Bonn for an internship at the UN and decided international diplomatic work isn't for me
  • spent 6 months as teaching assistant for a botany course at the University in MĂĽnster
  • moved to Utrecht (NL) for my masters (Neuroscience, Ecology, Behaviour and Science Communication)
  • lived in Australia for 2 years for fun (hit me up for chats about van life, traveling on a budget and working at a winery)
  • landed in Freiburg i.Br. in Germany in 2018 and loving it so far
  • worked in the medical tech field for two years before starting to work for EAD in 2023
  • cause areas I personally regard important & interesting: global health & development, mental health, reducing extreme suffering, inclusion & equity, peacekeeping & improving democratic governance, improving institutional decision making, biorisks, EA community building
  • interests/hobbies: nature, bouldering, cooking & eating, mountain biking, hiking, reading, yoga, meditation, self reflection, birds, psychology, art, history, ... 

How others can help me

I am keen to learn more about:

  •  project management
  • coaching
  • community health
  • diversity & inclusion
  • moral philosophy

How I can help others

  • medical tech field in Germany (though I'm no expert by far)
  • biology / animal behavior (it's been a while though)
  • communication, introspection & reflection

Comments
49

Thanks for this insightful post, for the self-reflection and transparent handling of your past mistakes! I think this could be a very valuable resource for all leaders of volunteer groups! 

Thanks for this write-up, I'm hoping to see where ACTRA heads in the coming year! I wish you the best of luck. Have you received any additional funding so far?

Slightly leaning towards devoting more funds to GHD, even though I think there's enough likelihood that animals can suffer as intensely as humans.
My main reason for favouring GHD slightly is that improvements in human wellbeing, education and (political) empowerment seem paramount to the goal of increasing animal welfare long-term. 

I still don't understand why the University of Oxford was not cooperative with the institute, and why later it decided to freeze it completely. What was that about?

Maybe some of it comes down to differences in the broader environment. The UK has larger (visible) proportion of People of Colour compared to, I guess, Sweden and in my case, Germany. So while that doesnt mean that all people in the UK are anti-racist or so, having more interactions with a diverse range of people might make it more likely that you'll learn a thing about not offending. Plus, it might not be that interesting for someone to ask the "Where do you come from?"-question if they've heard the same answer a hundred times: "From Bristol". 

I think it's good idea not to move fast and break more things with this stuff. I've made that experience, and will likely make that experience a few times more. But trying small, collaborative experiments sounds good!

Hehe, it certainly is ascetic! 
I actually eat smoked tofu the same way, no need to fry it, it's super tasty that way :)

Thanks for publishing this take, it was interesting to read!
What do you think are the main differences from the EA community to your work environment in Bristol? Can't be the level of education, EA rates pretty high on that. 
And do you have any ideas what single groups could do to tackle this issue? So not necessarily "the community" at large, but a group that wants to change the way they act?

Super interesting, and it seems like a good alternative to food in a bottle for sure. Unfortunately I don't think I could live on this, because I derive so much joy from cooking and eating :D 


For anyone else considering this diet, but wants more variety/tastiness easily, I have some suggestions: 
 

  • add frozen berries to the porridge, they have amazing nutritional value 
  • use smoked tofu instead of plain, it adds so much taste 
  • rotate the green veggies in winter: kale and brussel sprouts are in season, and more nutritionally valuable than out-of-season broccoli
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