Therese Garstenauer

Therese Garstenauer is a Senior Research Fellow (2017-2023) in the Elise Richter Programme (FWF) at the University of Vienna's Department of Economic and Social History. She concurrently holds a Fulbright Visiting Professorship (2023-2024) at the University of Minnesota's College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Her academic journey includes a 2000 Diploma in Sociology/Russian Language and Literature and a 2010 PhD in History, both from the University of Vienna.

Her research focuses on the history of work, government employees, gender studies, and geometric data analysis. Notable projects include the Elise Richter-funded study of Austrian public employees' livelihoods (1918–1940) and collaborative work on post-Habsburg civil service transformations. She has authored over 30 publications, including the edited volume Hofratsdämmerung? (2020), exploring bureaucratic transitions in post-imperial Austria.

Garstenauer's articles analyze disciplinary procedures in civil service, gender dynamics in Soviet and Austrian contexts, and the socio-professional lives of interwar public servants. Her work frequently bridges historical analysis with contemporary social sciences, emphasizing transnational comparisons and archival methodologies.

Her research has been supported by grants such as the FWF Elise Richter Programme and the Jubiläumsfonds der Stadt Wien für die ÖAW. She actively engages with public scholarship through her project blog, discussing topics like civil service ethics, archival discoveries, and disciplinary case studies.

Gardstenauer’s academic contributions span multiple disciplines, with a focus on how bureaucratic systems, national identity, and gender intersect in historical contexts. Her work highlights the importance of civil service as a lens for understanding socio-political transformations in 20th-century Europe.