Joanna Katharina Comendant (née Hornik) studied in the US, Munich and Bonn before completing her MA with distinction (magna cum laude) in European Studies: Transnational and Global Perspectives at the KULeuven in Belgium. The Global Governance framework, and therein the EU's external governance approach is of special interest to her, thus leading her to write her MA Thesis about EU-Moldova-Relations.

She has been working at the FIW since 2017, supporting the Managing Director in her research and in organisational tasks.