Since 2005, Gabriele Bäcker serves as the Executive Director of the IEE. With a broad experience related to the development, acquisition of funding, and management of cross border higher education projects she leads the ADAPTED management team as well as the management of the international study programmes at IEE (MA in Development Management, PhD in International Development Studies. She is member of the Steering Board of the UA Ruhr Graduate Centre for Development Studies (since 2011) and the Steering Committee of the “South African – German Centre for Development Research” at the University of the Western Cape (since 2008).
As an economist, she is a lecturer of the MA in Development Management and the PhD in International Development Studies. Since 2002 she has also been a guest lecturer at University of the Western Cape.

• Economic Reforms, Income, and Poverty (MADM)
• Financial Management (MADM)
• Economic Tutorial (MADM)
• Research Logic (MADM)
• Research Methodology and Management (PhD IDS)

Supervision of more than 40 Master theses (Master programme in Development Management at Ruhr-University Bochum and the University of the Western Cape) with the following recent examples:

• Müller, Sanja (2024): (De)Motivating Factors for Youth Civic Engagement and their Application for the Conceptualisation of Youth Development Programmes - the Case of the 'Jeunes Leaders du Bénin' - Programme of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Benin
• Restrepo Caicedo, Catalina (2024): The Effect of Vocational Education and Training Programs on the Sustainable Employability of Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia - Case Study Oportunidades Sin Fronteras Project, Barranquilla City
• Pedro Mourão de Moura Magalhães (2022): Financial inclusion of agroecological producers in Southern Brazil: A case study on the experience of farmers associated with the Landless Worker’s Movement (MST) in being financed by the National Program for Strengthening Family Farmers (PRONAF)
• Patricia Proaño (2022): Perceived livelihoods effects of the HIAS entrepreneurship program with a gender lens on displaced Venezuelan female in Ecuador
• Chenai Tsorayi (2022): The role of microfinance in promoting youth financial inclusion for entrepreneurial activities in Zimbabwe
• Charles Henderson (2020): Major Motivations for Foreign Direct Investment in Ghana – The Role of the Investment Policy Framework
• Avelino da Silva Junior (2020): Sustainable Livelihood: A case study of the context, challenges and strategies used by female community leaders in rural areas of São Luís - Brazil
• Patience Teiko Ogbordjor (2019): Exploring the livelihood outcomes of women in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in Ghana- A case of Wassa Amenfi East Municipality