Michaela has worked more than 25 years on development, humanitarian affairs, migration, global health, and human rights, both at the operational and policy level.  Her work experience spans from starting new projects, facilitating policy development, conceptualizing trainings to managing humanitarian emergencies and conducting evaluations. 

Prior to her independent work with HI5, she co-established and served as Executive Director of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and co-headed the WHO Collaborating Centre on Governance for Health and Global Health Diplomacy. In this role, she was instrumental in positioning global health diplomacy and governance for health as areas of engagement. Earlier in her career, she worked more than 10 years with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in different positions at local, regional and international levels in all continents, among others, as OD Delegate in Lao PDR, Head of Delegation of the Austrian & Swiss Red Cross in the Tsunami Operation in Sri Lanka and as Head of Principles and Values Department of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. She strengthened local branches, set-up and managed large-scale operations, formulated regional (exit) strategies and engagement plans, negotiated policies, and facilitated strategic processes within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Michaela also worked with the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Division of Development Cooperation (today: Austrian Development Agency) and later served as Secretary General of an international women’s peace and human rights NGO based in Geneva.

She holds post-graduate degrees in business administration/development economics, social work,  and development studies/women & development respectively, as well as a PhD in Political Science/Cultural Studies. She is currently teaching on policy and governance at the University of Geneva, the MCI Innsbruck, and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. She is a qualified coach and psychodramatist, as well as a licensed psychotherapist in her home country Austria.