Dr. Anna Schwan studied History and Communication Studies in Hamburg, Germany and Seville, Spain. After graduation, she moved to the U. S. where she worked as a project manager in the PR department of the German embassy, the German Information Center. In 2005, she returned to Germany where she worked as project director of the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” with Scholz&Friends Agenda. She strengthened her reputation as a consultant for PR and Public Affairs with her Ph.D. thesis on strategic foreign communication which was written at the University of Hamburg. She was a postgraduate-fellow of the "Friedrich-Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit". In her recently published book “Werbung statt Waffen: Wie Strategische Außenkommunikation die Außenpolitik verändert” she analyzed the methods used by governments to improve their image abroad and found that they are experiencing new professional forms of communication, combining PR, Marketing, Public Diplomacy, Nation Branding and Strategic Communication.