Council Members

The Council consists of twelve internationally recognised experts appointed by the Federal Government. The chair is appointed by the Federal Chancellor (BKA) in agreement with the Vice Chancellor. Six members are appointed by the Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), four members by the Federal Minister of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) and one member by the Federal Minister of Labour and Economic Affairs (BMAW). The members of the Council are appointed for a term of four years, whereby a single reappointment is permitted.

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Council Members

Chairman
Computer scientist
Institute of Science and Technology Austria

Prof Thomas A. Henzinger, PhD is a computer scientist and was the first President of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) until the end of 2022. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society, the Academia Europaea, the Leopoldina and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He has been a member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council since 2023.

Thomas Henzinger

Deputy Chairwoman
Innovation and transformation expert
Lund University

Dr Sylvia Schwaag Serger is a professor at the Institute of Economic History and the Centre for Innovation Research at Lund University. The internationally renowned expert in innovation and transformation policy has worked in various roles for the Swedish government, the European Commission and the OECD. She has been President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) since June 2024.

Sylvia Schwaag Serger

Sociologist
University of Vienna

Univ-Prof Mag Dr Jörg Flecker is Professor of General Sociology at the Department of Sociology at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on work processes and digitalisation, the labour market, youth, transnationalisation and right-wing populism. From 1991 to 2013, he was scientific director of the Research and Advisory Centre for the World of Work (FORBA).

Jörg Flecker

Neurologist
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.

PD Dr Dietrich Haubenberger, MHSc, FAAN is a neurologist and clinical researcher, a graduate of the Medical University of Vienna and was President of Austrian Scientists and Scholars in North America (ASciNA) until 2024. He is Head of Clinical Translational Research at the biopharmaceutical company Neurocrine Biosciences in San Diego.

Dietrich Haubenberger

Chief Executive Officer
TTTech Computertechnik AG

Mag. Georg Kopetz is co-founder and CEO of TTTech Computertechnik AG, a leading high-tech company in Central Europe. He is also President of the joint venture company TTControl in Brixen/Bressanone, Italy.

Georg Kopetz

Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Boehringer Ingelheim RCV

Philipp von Lattorff, MBA is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Centre Vienna (RCV), which he headed as Country Managing Director until 2023. His international management activities have taken him to Italy, Hungary and the Baltic States, among other places.

Philipp von Lattorff

Science and technology researcher
Former President of the ERC

Em. Univ.-Prof. Dr. jur. Dr. h.c. mult. Helga Nowotny, PhD is an internationally recognised SciSci researcher and professor emeritus at ETH Zurich. She was a founding member of the European Research Council (ERC), which was established in 2007, and its President from 2010 to 2013.

Helga Nowotny

Computer Scientist
Graz University of Technology

Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Johanna Pirker, BSC is a researcher at the Institute for Interactive Systems and Data Science at Graz University of Technology and specialises in AI, data analysis, immersive environments, games research and gamification strategies. She currently holds the Chair of Media Informatics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Johanna Pirker

Physicist
Innsbruck Medical University

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Monika Ritsch-Marte is an Austrian physicist in the field of theoretical quantum optics and biomedical optics, specialising in microscopy methods and optical tweezers. She is an ERC award winner, a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the German Leopoldina, a fellow of the Optical Society of America and an honorary member of the OePG.

Monika Ritsch-Marte

Managing Director
Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR)

Dr Sonja Sheikh holds a doctorate in economic theory and policy from Vienna University of Economics and has been Managing Director of Austrian Cooperative Research (ACR) since 2019. From 2004 to 2018, she was Deputy Director of KMU Forschung Austria. Sonja Sheikh has also been Chairwoman of the Platform for Research and Technology Policy Evaluation since 2020.

Sonja Sheikh

Historian
University of Graz

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Barbara Stelzl-Marx is head of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on the Consequences of War, Graz – Vienna – Raabs, and a contemporary historian at the University of Graz. The 2019 Scientist of the Year is also Vice President of the Austrian UNESCO Commission.

Barbara Stelzl-Marx

Expert for innovation-driven energy transition

DI Theresia Vogel is an independent expert and was head of the Climate and Energy Fund from 2010 to 2022. Prior to this, she worked as a division manager at FFG, and at FH Wr. Neustadt and TU Vienna. Her current focus is on the innovation-driven, climate-friendly transformation of the economy and industry as well as the sustainable design and climate change adaptation of urban spaces.

Theresia Vogel

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