Mona Friedrich

Mona Friedrich worked at the MPIWG from August 2016 until August 2023. For the first four years she predominantly worked with Professor Jürgen Renn in his capacity as Section Head of the HSS. She later worked as a research scholar and contributed to several research projects at the Institute, both Department I and also cross-institutional projects.

Mona completed her PhD at the Institute for Dark Tourism Research (iDTR) at the University of Central Lancashire (UK) in 2016. Her thesis, Heritage Interpretation of the Dead as a Tool for Peace and Reconciliation: The Case of Visitor Development at Rwanda's Post-conflict Memorialscape, explores the complexities of memorialization processes in Rwanda and the resulting consequences of following tourism development in post-conflict spaces. She has previously completed a BA at the University of Sussex in Development Studies, and later an MA in Tourism, Environment and Development at the Geography Department at King’s College London. She has published her findings in the Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies, the definitive reference text for the subject of “dark tourism” and “difficult heritage.” Moreover, she has contributed to the Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change and to the collective volume Dark Tourism: Practice and Interpretation. She has presented her work at several conferences, including the 2013 Peace Conference in Wageningen, Netherlands.