Marielle Zill (1987) grew up in the city of Augsburg, Germany. After obtaining her ‘Abitur’ diploma at an all-girl gymnasium in Bavaria, she studied acting at a private
acting school in Hamburg for one year. Wanting to learn more about the world, she followed her second big passion and went on to study Geography at the University of
Bonn. During her bachelor studies she also spent one year at the University of Bristol, which proved highly influential for her future career. Bristol introduced her to feminist
geography, with the result that she wrote her Bachelor thesis on the combined works of her favorite feminist geographer, Doreen Massey. She then decided to continue her
education in Geography at Utrecht University, where she graduated cum laude from the Research Master Human Geography. The decision to write her master’s thesis on an
innovative ‘integration project’ in her hometown, Augsburg, proved a fateful decision. For the next ten years she remained connected to the ‘Grandhotel Cosmopolis’. She not
only wrote her master’s thesis on the project, but was able to continue her collaboration with the project during her PhD, made possible through an NWO Talent Grant. She
presented her research at numerous conferences, including the RGS in London and Cardiff, and published in several international journals and edited books. After working
at the Athena Institute of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the field of community service learning, she is now Assistant Professor Societal Learning at the department of Human Geography and Planning at Utrecht University.