Amelie Schoenenwald
Amelie Schoenenwald was born in 1989 in Germany.
Education
Between 2009 and 2015, Amelie graduated from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biotechnology, a master’s degree in industrial biotechnology and a master’s degree in biochemistry.
Her pursuit of knowledge continued with a 4-year doctorate in Integrative Structural Biology from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, focusing on structural biology, virology, and immunology.
In 2021, Amelie expanded her skill set with a master’s degree in business administration from the Collège des Ingénieurs in Germany, France and Italy.
Fluent in German and English, Amelie also speaks French, Spanish, Norwegian, with basic proficiency in Hebrew and Portuguese.
Experience
Her academic career included research stints and courses in Singapore, the US, Israel, Mozambique and in several European countries.
From 2020 onwards, she held various roles in both start-ups and large corporations. She started as a protein scientist at a biotech start-up. Between 2020 and 2021, Amelie was a business development manager and a process manager for a large healthcare company in Germany. She also gained experience as a part time freelancer and consultant for several German Start-Ups, private universities and large corporations, and holds several project management certifications.
At the time of her selection, she was a medical expert manager in the field of rare immunological diseases. Currently, she works as a Senior Manager in Business Strategy and Operations at a large pharmaceutical company. Besides her full-time job, she enjoys giving lectures as well as keynote speeches, and engages in STEM outreach activities.
Beyond her professional pursuits, Amelie has diverse experience with jungle and speleological expeditions, is a diving instructor and participates in volunteer work as a mentor and for humanitarian projects. In 2022 she was elected president of her MBA alumni association, a role that allows her to foster connections and support alumni development. In her free time, she enjoys mountaineering, motorcycling and scuba diving. Occasionally, she picks up one of her stringed instruments.
ESA experience
In November 2022, Amelie was selected as a member of the ESA astronaut reserve. In October 2024, she began the first, of three, two-month Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) programmes at ESA's European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, preparing members of the European astronaut reserve to support future human spaceflight opportunities.
From early September to late October 2025, she returned to EAC for a second block of intensive training, concluding with the ART patch ceremony.
Between March and May 2026, the group came together once more at EAC for the final phase of the ART programme.
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