Alice Vadrot is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on marine biodiversity governance, science-policy interfaces, and global environmental agreements. She leads projects like MARIPOLDATA, examining marine biodiversity data politics and negotiation processes. Her work addresses Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water), with expertise in topics like epistemic selectivity, environmental diplomacy, and BBNJ treaty negotiations. Recent projects include MARine Coastal BiOdiversity Long-term Observations (2022–2026) and MARIPOLDATA (2018–2023). Research Interests: Marine biodiversity, science policy, environmental agreements, ecosystem services, knowledge systems Key Contributions: Developed MARIPOLDATAbase for negotiation tracking, analyzed expert authority in global governance Media Engagement: Provided expert commentary on biodiversity crises and ocean protection Publications span 52 works since 2010, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to environmental governance challenges.
Dr. Rajasekaran Murugan is a Researcher at the Institute of Zoology within the Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). His work focuses on soil biodiversity, sustainable agricultural practices, and soil organic carbon dynamics. With an international research background including positions at Bioversity International in India, University of Kassel in Germany, and Université de Rennes 1 in France, Dr. Murugan contributes significantly to soil science and sustainable agriculture research. His educational background includes a Doctoral thesis in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Kassel (2010-2012), an MSc in International Organic Agriculture, and undergraduate studies in Agricultural Sciences. His research interests span soil biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, organic farming systems, soil organic carbon dynamics, earthworm ecology, microbial ecology, and alpine ecosystem studies. Dr. Murugan's publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to soil science, with recent work focusing on meta-analyses of cover crop effects on soil organic carbon, soil biodiversity monitoring across Europe, and the relationship between microbial communities and soil carbon cycling. His research shows particular strength in integrating field studies with meta-analytical approaches to address questions of soil health and carbon sequestration across European agricultural landscapes. As a Project Leader for the European Commission-funded project "Modelling and mapping soil biodiversity patterns and functions across Europe" (2021-2025), Dr. Murugan secures significant research funding and collaborates internationally. He also serves as a Sub Project Leader for the Austrian soil biodiversity monitoring project "BodenBiodiv" and contributes to the EJP SOIL initiative focused on climate-smart sustainable agricultural soil management. Dr. Murugan actively supervises doctoral students, currently guiding Julia Fohrafellner's research on soil organic carbon in agriculture. His community service includes extensive peer review activities for numerous high-impact journals including Frontiers in Microbiology, Nature Communications, and Soil Biology and Biochemistry, demonstrating his standing within the soil science research community.
Franz Suppan is a researcher at the Institute of Geomatics within the Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). With over two decades of research experience, he specializes in applying geospatial technologies to environmental and ecological challenges. His work spans multiple research projects funded by European Commission, Austrian Research Promotion Agency, Federal Ministries, and international organizations. Suppan's research focuses on the application of geomatics, remote sensing, and GIS technologies to wildlife conservation, habitat modeling, and environmental monitoring. His work demonstrates expertise in wildlife corridor extraction, habitat connectivity analysis, biodiversity monitoring, and spatial planning for sustainable land use. He has made significant contributions to transboundary conservation initiatives like the Alpine Carpathian Corridor and has pioneered citizen science approaches for ecological monitoring through projects like Roadkill. His publication record shows a strong trend toward integrating advanced spatial technologies with ecological research questions, with recent work emphasizing automated detection of ecological features, erosion processes in forest ecosystems, and renewable energy planning. Suppan's research demonstrates consistent evolution from foundational work in remote sensing validation to applied projects addressing contemporary environmental challenges including climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. Suppan has successfully supervised multiple Master's theses on wildlife habitat modeling and connectivity, mentoring students on topics including golden jackal habitats, European hare roadkill patterns, and bird species habitat requirements. His grant portfolio includes numerous competitive projects with funding from diverse sources including EU programs, national research agencies, and international organizations, demonstrating his ability to secure research funding across disciplinary boundaries. His work with the DivMoST project represents cutting-edge research in automated biodiversity monitoring, while his contributions to the DECIDE project showcase practical applications of geospatial technologies for climate-adapted forest management. Suppan's research bridges theoretical spatial analysis with practical conservation applications, making significant contributions to both academic knowledge and real-world environmental management.
Arthur Schindelegger is a Research Fellow at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), affiliated with the Institute for Landscape Planning. His research focuses on spatial planning frameworks for climate change adaptation, land policy instruments, and natural hazard management, with emphasis on flood resilience and agricultural interfaces. Key research areas include: Integration of climate adaptation measures into statutory planning instruments Land policy mechanisms for affordable housing development Legal frameworks for natural hazard governance Transnational approaches to Alpine spatial development Equity dimensions of environmental interventions Schindelegger's publications demonstrate a strong focus on policy implementation, with recurring themes of climate-proofing planning systems (76% of recent works), comparative land governance (63%), and justice aspects of environmental interventions (41%). Methodologies frequently combine legal analysis with spatial modeling. He leads four active research projects including LAND4CLIMATE (EU-funded, 2023-2027) on nature-based solutions for climate resilience, and Klimafitte Raumplanung Implementation developing climate adaptation frameworks for Austrian municipalities. Additional collaborations include consultancy for the World Bank (2020-2024) and visiting professorships. Schindelegger maintains active roles in professional networks including the AlpPlan Network and Austrian Society for Spatial Planning, and serves as reviewer for journals like Land Use Policy and Environmental Science & Policy .
Simon Pickl is an Associate Professor in German Studies at the University of Salzburg, with a focus on historical sociolinguistics, dialectology, and corpus linguistics. He has held visiting positions at the University of Cambridge (2017–2019) and serves as a co-editor for the Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics . His research integrates stochastic image analysis and geolinguistic data to model regional language variation. Research Interests: Historical language variation, dialectometry, spoken German analysis, sociolinguistic change, and corpus-based methodologies. His recent work explores the interplay between spatial patterns, occupational complexity, and life events in shaping colloquial German variation. He has developed the GeoLing software for geolinguistic data analysis and leads the MuSt project on regional language structures. Scientific Awards: Feodor-Lynen Fellowship (2017), Johann-Andreas-Schmeller Prize (2013), Hugo-Moser Prize (2019). Academic Roles: Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge (2018–2020), Postdoctoral Research Associate (2017–2019). Pickl contributes to conferences like the International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE) and maintains the Historical Sociolinguistics Network (HiSoN) website. His 58 publications span dialectology, historical syntax, and sociolinguistic theory.
Dirk Schmidt-Arras serves as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medical Biology at the University of Salzburg, Austria. His research program focuses on molecular signaling pathways in cancer development and progression, with particular emphasis on metalloproteases and cytokine signaling networks. He maintains an active research laboratory with multiple ongoing projects funded through 2029, including significant contributions to the Cancer Cluster Salzburg III initiative. Dr. Schmidt-Arras's research interests span several interconnected domains in molecular oncology. His primary focus involves the ADAM family of metalloproteases, particularly ADAM17, and their critical roles in cancer progression through regulation of cytokine signaling. His work extensively investigates IL-6/gp130 signaling pathways in liver and breast cancer contexts, examining how these pathways influence tumor microenvironment, DNA damage response, and metastasis. His laboratory also explores therapeutic targeting of these pathways, with recent work on NLRP3 inhibition in leukemia and spatial cross-talk in immuno-oncology. The publication record of Dr. Schmidt-Arras reveals a strong thematic continuity in cancer signaling research spanning two decades, with increasing focus on translational applications in recent years. His most recent work demonstrates sophisticated integration of multiple signaling pathways (IL-6, EGFR, gp130) in cancer contexts, with particular attention to tumor microenvironment and therapeutic targeting. The research demonstrates methodological diversity across cell biology, molecular signaling, and in vivo models, with growing emphasis on clinical translation as evidenced by multiple therapeutic targeting studies in the past five years. Dr. Schmidt-Arras has secured significant research funding, including leadership roles in multiple multi-year projects: the SAA axis project investigating IL-6 signaling in hepatic tumors (2024-2028), the spaXio project on spatial cross-talk in immuno-oncology (2025-2029), and the Micro-environmental ADAM17 project focused on breast cancer (2025-2029). He also serves as a key staff member in the Cancer Cluster Salzburg III initiative, which has received millions in funding as highlighted in press coverage from April 2025. His research activities extend to active participation in the scientific community through numerous guest lectures on paracrine signaling mechanisms, contributions to major conferences like the ÖGMBT Annual Meeting, and service on appointment committees including chairing the committee for Biochemistry and Metabolism professorship. His laboratory appears to be part of a larger collaborative network focused on cancer research at the University of Salzburg, with particular emphasis on molecular mechanisms of tumor development and potential therapeutic interventions.
Philip Riris is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeological & Palaeoenvironmental Modelling at Bournemouth University's Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions (IMSET), following postdoctoral work at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. His research integrates archaeology, historical ecology, and computational methods to investigate past human societies in tropical South America through extensive fieldwork across Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Oman. Dr Riris earned his PhD in 2015 from the University of Southampton, focusing on hunter-gatherer land use in northern Argentina. His educational trajectory reflects deep specialization in quantitative archaeological methods and environmental reconstruction. His research centers on two interconnected domains: coupled human-environmental systems and computational approaches to rock art and sacred landscapes . Employing spatial analysis and agent-based modeling, he draws from physical geography, quantitative ecology, and complex systems theory to explore how ancient populations interacted with environmental change. Recent work demonstrates how frequent disturbances enhanced societal resilience, revealing sophisticated adaptation strategies to climate pressures in prehistory. His methodologies bridge archaeological data with ecological theory to model long-term socio-environmental dynamics. Analysis of his 2019-2024 publications reveals consistent focus on South American archaeology, particularly the Orinoco region and Amazonia. His work integrates computational techniques with traditional archaeological analysis to examine rock art sequences, demographic responses to climate change, and spatiotemporal patterns of cultural transmission. Key methodological contributions include developing resolution-aware approaches for cultural dispersal studies and formal resilience metrics for archaeological time series. Dr Riris has secured major research funding including the AHRC-funded Comparative Legacies of Human Land Use in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (2023), British Academy's Connected Communities: Network approaches to rock art (2018), and Sainsbury Research Unit's Ancient Networks of Art project (2017). His external roles include Honorary Research Fellow at UCL Institute of Archaeology (2018-present) and visiting positions at Venezuelan and Argentinean research institutions. Media coverage of his work in National Geographic, Newsweek, and Archaeology Magazine highlights discoveries of monumental rock art in Venezuela and climate-demerography linkages in ancient South America.
Piotr Majdak serves as a Senior Lecturer (Privatdozent) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG), Austria, affiliated with the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics. His institutional presence spans both Graz (Inffeldgasse 10/III) and Vienna (Wohllebengasse 12-14), reflecting active engagement across locations. The institute operates under KUG's umbrella as a dedicated research unit in sound science and technology. Research Expertise: Dr. Majdak's mission statement explicitly defines his specialization in binaural psychoacoustics, cochlear implants, virtual acoustics, sound source localization, and spatial hearing. His work bridges auditory neuroscience and engineering, focusing on how humans perceive 3D sound environments and developing solutions for hearing impairment through advanced acoustic modeling. This research has direct applications in medical device innovation and immersive audio systems. Contact details include email piotr.majdak@kug.ac.at, private telephone 01/51 581-2511, mobile 0699/81 33 50 70, and fax 01/51 581-2530. Consultation hours are arranged by appointment, with professional work accessible via his homepage http://piotr.majdak.com. No students, awards, or publications are listed in the provided text.
Manfred Dorninger serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Vienna's Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy. His research spans meteorological modeling, renewable energy systems, and atmospheric observation techniques. His primary research interests focus on weather forecasting in complex terrain , cloud physics and classification , lightning phenomena , and renewable energy integration . Recent work leverages machine learning for ground-based cloud observations and improves photovoltaic efficiency under variable cloud conditions. His fingerprint analysis reveals significant contributions to Complex Terrain (100%), Lightning (72%), and Weather Forecast (42%) research domains. Analysis of his 111 publications shows increasing emphasis on AI-driven meteorological analysis (2024-2025), with recent papers developing neural network ensembles for cloud classification and novel metrics for ensemble forecast verification. His work bridges fundamental atmospheric science with practical applications in renewable energy and weather impact assessment. He has led significant research projects including NWP-Modellverifikation (2008-2011) and actively participates in the MesoVICT (Mesoscale Verification in Complex Terrain) initiative. His 120 recorded activities include 78 scientific talks and 38 poster presentations, demonstrating extensive knowledge dissemination. Dorninger maintains strong collaborative networks with researchers like Markus Rosenberger and Martin Weißmann, focusing on computational meteorology and atmospheric observation systems. His laboratory work centers on ground-based optical radar systems and neural network applications for weather parameter analysis.
Jasmin Mersmann is Professor of Art History at the University of Art and Design Linz since 2019, holding a professorship within the School of Fine Arts and Cultural Studies and the Department of Art History and Art Theory / Gender Studies / Curatorial Practice. Her research spans art and cultural history from the early modern period to contemporary practices, with core focuses on historical anthropology, NatureCultures, body studies, demonology, and the intersections of art and science. Her current projects include Shaping bodies. On modeling living beings 1500–1800 , UnBinding Bodies: Lotus Feet and Corset , Deal with the Devil: On the Cultural History of the Devil's Pact , and coordination of the IMAGE+ Platform for Open Art Education. Mersmann's scholarly work demonstrates consistent engagement with bodily transformations, anamorphic techniques, and truth claims in visual culture across historical periods. Key publications include the monograph Lodovico Cigoli. Forms of Truth around 1600 (2016) and co-edited volumes such as UnBinding Bodies: On the History of Footbinding in China (2023) and Clean Cube. On the Critique of Pure Reason (2021). Her extensive essay output reveals recurring analytical threads connecting early modern scientific paradigms with contemporary artistic practices, particularly through examinations of castration, negation gestures, and devotional imagery. Mersmann's academic trajectory includes doctoral research through the Franco-German University program, postdoctoral fellowships at IKKM Weimar and IFK Vienna, and foundational contributions to the journal ilinx. Berliner Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft . She maintains active engagement with both theoretical frameworks and material practices in art historical scholarship.
Franz Neubauer is an active Professor of Geosciences at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Salzburg, Austria. His research spans multiple aspects of structural geology, tectonics, and mountain building processes, with particular expertise in the Alpine system, Tibetan Plateau, and various global orogenic belts. His extensive publication record of 597 publications since 1996 demonstrates sustained scholarly productivity in the earth sciences. His research interests focus on structural geology, tectonics, mountain building processes, crustal evolution, and geochronology. His work integrates field observations with laboratory analyses to understand the formation and evolution of mountain belts worldwide, with particular emphasis on the Alps, the North China Craton, and the Tibetan Plateau. His recent publications demonstrate continued engagement with cutting-edge research questions in crustal deformation, orogenic processes, and the tectonic evolution of major mountain systems. Neubauer's publication record shows consistent output with 13 publications in 2024 and 5 already published (or accepted) in 2025 across high-impact journals including Earth-Science Reviews, Precambrian Research, and Journal of the Geological Society. His research spans multiple sub-disciplines within geology, including structural geology, petrology, geochronology, and economic geology, with particular focus on mountain building processes, crustal deformation mechanisms, and the evolution of major orogenic systems. He was awarded the Eduard Suess-Medaille in September 2024, a prestigious recognition in the field of geology named after the renowned Austrian geologist. This award highlights his significant contributions to geological research. Neubauer has been actively involved in numerous research projects including geological studies in Iran, Caribbean subduction zone research, fault zone mechanics investigations, and interdisciplinary geographic information science initiatives. His academic activities include 85 presentations, 22 poster presentations, and various editorial and committee roles including habilitation and appointment committees.
Kathryn Lilley is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, where she has held academic positions since 2004. She is Director of the Cambridge Centre for Proteomics and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. She also serves as a Member of the Milner Therapeutics Institute and previously led the Mass Spectrometry theme at the Rosalind Franklin Institute. Her research focuses on developing innovative technologies for spatial proteomics and transcriptomics, with particular emphasis on understanding the dynamic organization of proteins and RNA within cells. Her group creates robust open-source informatics pipelines that enable end-to-end analysis of proteomic data, making their methods widely accessible to the research community. Recent work has expanded into investigating the subcellular spatial transcriptome and its interactions with the proteome, generating significant interest in RNA biology. Lilley's publications reveal a strong focus on advancing spatial proteomics methodologies, with recent work emphasizing computational approaches, neural networks for data analysis, and novel techniques for studying RNA-protein interactions. Her research bridges biochemistry, computational biology, and cell biology, with applications in understanding cellular perturbation responses and disease mechanisms. 2020 Elected as a member of EMBO 2018 Human Proteomics Organisation, Distinguished Achievement in Proteomic Sciences Award 2017 European Proteomics Association Juan Pablo Albar Proteomics Pioneer award 2012 Fellow of the Royal Society of Biologists Lilley receives considerable funding from the Pharmaceutical Industry and collaborates widely both nationally and internationally. She heads a large research group that develops technologies for interrogating spatial distributions of the proteome and its reorganization upon cellular perturbation. Her work is highly regarded in the field, as evidenced by numerous plenary and keynote invitations at international conferences.
Dr. Matthias Schurz is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology and Digital Science Center (DiSC) at the University of Innsbruck. He investigates social cognition, brain mechanisms of empathy, theory of mind, and emotion processing using neuroimaging techniques. His work spans clinical applications (e.g., borderline personality disorder), developmental conditions (e.g., dyslexia), and comparative neuroscience (e.g., primate temporal cortex studies). Affiliation: University of Innsbruck, Institute of Psychology (Grauer Bär building), Digital Science Center (DiSC) Prior Positions: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Oxford, academic roots at University of Salzburg Research Focus: Schurz's research explores the neural basis of social cognition, including: Meta-analyses of brain activation patterns in empathy and theory of mind tasks Functional brain connectivity during social interactions Temporal cortex's role in human-specific cognitive processes Neural correlates of developmental dyslexia and psychiatric disorders Comparative studies of primate temporal lobe evolution Recent Publications: His 2025 work includes quantitative reviews of brain activation in social cognition, hyperscanning studies of relational neuroscience, and investigations into visuo-spatial perspective-taking. Earlier studies (2024-2021) cover bipolar disorder's neural fingerprints, hierarchical social cognition models, and gradient-based brain organization for empathy-based decisions. These works demonstrate expertise in fMRI, meta-analysis, and network neuroscience.
Thomas Plümper is a Professor at Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) specializing in Political Economy, Social Science Methodology, and Natural Disasters. His research integrates spatial analysis with political science to examine crisis response dynamics, particularly in pandemic and disaster contexts. Plümper's research interests center on methodological rigor in political science, with emphasis on spatial contagion patterns, robustness testing, and causal inference. His work bridges quantitative methodology with substantive applications in disaster politics and pandemic policy, notably through extensive collaboration with Eric Neumayer on COVID-19 spatial dynamics. Recent publications demonstrate his pivot toward analyzing political protests against containment policies and data integrity issues in authoritarian regimes. His publication trends reveal a methodological trajectory: early work focused on dyadic data analysis and robustness tests (2010-2015), transitioning to spatial disaster economics (2016-2020), and culminating in pandemic-related spatial epidemiology since 2020. Key thematic clusters include political methodology (35% of output), disaster politics (30%), and pandemic policy analysis (25%), characterized by innovative spatial econometric applications. Scientific awards highlight his interdisciplinary impact: ESRC Transformative Grant (2012) for methodological innovation SAGE Best Paper Award in EU Politics (2005) University of Essex Teaching Award (2004) Suedwestmetall Price for economic research (2002) Plümper maintains active scholarly engagement through 47 journal peer reviews (including BMJ and Social Science Quarterly), 12 research proposal evaluations (e.g., Riksbank Jubilee Fund), and editorial board membership. His consulting activities with institutions like University of Colorado demonstrate policy-relevant expertise. Collaborative networks are anchored in his long-term partnership with Eric Neumayer, producing 12 co-authored publications since 2020. Current research focuses on spatial contagion mechanisms in crises, examining how disasters and pandemics propagate across political boundaries while interacting with institutional responses. His lab work centers on developing spatial-effect variables for dyadic data analysis, with recent Stata modules (SPAGG, SPUNDIR) becoming field standards.
Aleksandar Borković is a Researcher at the Institute of Structural Mechanics , Graz University of Technology. His work focuses on advanced computational methods in structural engineering, particularly isogeometric analysis, finite strip modeling, and van der Waals interactions in slender structures. Department: Institute of Structural Mechanics Email: aborkovic@tugraz.at His research bridges theoretical mechanics and practical engineering applications, addressing nonlinear dynamics, contact mechanics, and geometrically exact formulations. Recent publications highlight innovative approaches to modeling molecular interactions in fiber systems and optimizing computational efficiency for structural simulations. The 15 most recent articles demonstrate expertise in: Van der Waals attraction in curved beams Geometrically exact isogeometric formulations Finite strip method for stiffened plates Contact dynamics in beam-to-beam interactions Nonlinear stability analysis of thin-walled structures Moving load simulations in spatial beams He has also contributed to educational software development for structural analysis, emphasizing real-time visualization and numerical accuracy.
