Members V. Term of office

Chair of the University Board

Education

• 1969–1977: Humanistic Gymnasium Rahlgasse, Vienna
• 1977–1981: Studied law at the University of Vienna
• 1981: Conferral of the doctoral degree in law (University of Vienna)
• 1981–1986: Training as a judge in the district of the Vienna Higher Regional Court
• 1985: Judicial examination
• 1989: Bar examination

Professional activities

• 1987–1990: Vienna Inner City District Court
• 1990–1997: Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters
• 1998–2002: Vienna Higher Regional Court
• 2003–2023: Supreme Court
• 2015–2018: Vice President of the Supreme Court
• 2018–2023: President of the Supreme Court (Chair of the Specialized Senate for Contentious Insolvency Law, Chair of the Disciplinary Senate for Judges and Prosecutors, Chair of the Internal and External Senate of the Supreme Court, responsible, among other things, for submitting proposals for appointments to senior positions in the judiciary)
• Since March 1, 2024: University professor of civil procedure law at Karl-Franzens University in Graz

Other activities and memberships

• Since 2012: Member of the advisory board of the Austrian Notarial Journal
• 2014–2022: Lecturer at the University of Vienna, Department of Civil Procedure
• Since 2016: Member of the Executive Board of the Austrian Lawyers' Association (Vice President since 2022)
• Since 2019: Vice President of the Vienna Law Society
• Since 2021: Member of the Judge Selection Committee of the Principality of Liechtenstein
• Since March 1, 2023: Chair of the University Board of the University of Vienna
• Since September 24, 2025: Member of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Foundation “Hans Kelsen Institute”

As of December 11, 2025

Publications

1. Commentaries:

• §§ 114 to 115 KO in Bartsch/Pollak/Buchegger, Austrian Insolvency Law IV (2006)
• Sections 156, 156a KO in Konecny/Schubert, Commentary on Insolvency Laws (2008)
• Section 1 JN (together with Ballon/Fucik) in Fasching/Konecny I³, Commentary on Civil Procedure Laws (2013)
• §§ 1090 to 1119 ABGB in Rummel/Lukas⁴, Commentary on the General Civil Code (2017)
• §§ 15, 15a, 16, 30 -33a, 36 MRG in Böhm/Pletzer/Spruzina/Stabentheiner, Comprehensive Commentary on Housing Law (2017); Sections 30-33a, 36 MRG in second edition (2025)
• Sections 237 f ZPO in Fasching/Konecny III/1³, Commentary on Civil Procedure Laws (2017)
• The action for annulment (together with Gottfried Musger), in Czernich/Deixler-Hübner/Schauer, Handbook on Arbitration Law (2018) 541
• Sections 502 to 513 ZPO and Sections 560 f ZPO in Fasching/Konecny IV/1³, Commentary on Civil Procedure Laws (2019)
• Sections 4, 8a IO in Koller/Lovrek/Spitzer, Commentary on the Insolvency Code² (2023), first edition 2019
• Sections 623-635 ZPO in Rechberger/Klicka/Koller, ZPO⁶ (2025)

2. Essays and contributions in anthologies

• Damages for procedural acts in residential law, wobl 2000, 281
• Contingent termination in labour law and its procedural consequences, in FS Bauer/Maier/Petrag (2004) 261
• Current case law of the Supreme Court on the liability of insolvency administrators and corporate bodies, in Konecny, Insolvency Forum 2006, 105
• Some questions on party status in proceedings under § 37 MRG, wobl 2012, 279
• The liability of the insolvency administrator, in Nunner-Krautgasser/Kapp/Clavora, Insolvency and Restructuring Law, Yearbook 2013, 267
• Lien on movable property and insolvency, in Konecny, Insolvency Forum 2013, 101
• The “principle of immediacy” in residential law – a chimera? in FS Würth (2014) 103
• Legal issues relating to the verification of claims and the extract from the register of claims, in Konecny, Insolvency Forum 2017, 81
• Conclusion and termination of lease agreements with co-owners, in FS Bittner (2018) 353
• On the validity of maintenance titles, in Fischer-Czermak/Tschugguel, Contributions to Family and Inheritance Law (2020) 153
• COVID-19: Effects on lease agreements, ZIK Special 2020/60
• Section 40a JN and two questions: On appealing to the Supreme Court and on the possibility of utilizing invalid procedural results, NZ 2021/1
• Procedural questions relating to guarantees (together with Mattias Neumayr), in FS Peter Bydlinski (2022) 617
• Interfaces between arbitration and state jurisdiction in Liechtenstein and Austria (together with Matthias Neumayr), in FS 100 Years of the Princely Supreme Court (2022) 289
• Between worlds – Insolvency proceedings opened after the conclusion of the first instance hearing and review process, in FS Konecny (2022) 311
• Enforcement of consumer law from the perspective of the courts, in ÖJT 2022 (2023) 60
• Rebuilt amid the ruins: The Supreme Court in 1945, RZ 2022, 240
• Quality assurance in the ordinary courts, RZ 2023, 3 (together with Matthias Neumayr)
• Between individual case and landmark decision (together with Gottfried Musger), in FS Neumayr (2023) 209
• The finder's fee of the heir hunter – The inheritance disclosure agreement under scrutiny of the prohibition of usury, in FS Fischer-Czermak (2024) 449
• Legal issues of claim determination, in Nunner-Krautgasser/Poltsch, Current insolvency law: Status quo and perspectives (2025) 97
• Ordinary jurisdiction and administrative jurisdiction: Parallels and differences, ZVG 2025, 7
• The appeal proceedings before the Administrative Court and the Supreme Court – a comparison, in FS Thienel (2025) 381
• Not without my fluffy friend! The fate of pets in post-marital division proceedings, in FS Gitschthaler (2025)
• The Supreme Court in the 21st Century – Challenges and Prospects, in Kodek/Wachberger, 175 Years of the Supreme Court (2025) 159

3. Publications

• Wohnrechtliche Blätter (since 2009), together with Ludwig Bittner and others
• Civil Procedure Law – Yearbook 2009 and 2010, together with Robert Fucik, Andreas Konecny, Paul Oberhammer
• Festschrift for Irmgard Griss (2011), together with Gottfried Musger, Matthias Neumayr, Brigitte Schenk
• Commentary on the Insolvency Code, together with Christian Koller, Martin Spitzer (first edition 2019, second edition 2023)

As of: November 27, 2025

2nd Deputy Chair

Education

Peter Strohschneider is a retired professor of medieval German studies at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He studied German language and literature, history, law, sociology, and political science in Munich, where he earned his doctorate in 1984 and his habilitation in 1991.

Professional career

1992 he became a full professor of medieval German studies at the Technical University of Dresden and, in 2002, at LMU Munich. From 2006 to 2011, he chaired the German Council of Science and Humanities, and from 2013 to 2019, he was president of the German Research Foundation. From 2020 to 2023, he headed the Future Commissions on Agriculture set up by the German federal government, and in 2024 he served as Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission and chair of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture. He has declined offers from Tübingen and the Free University of Berlin. Visiting professorships and fellowships have taken him to the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris), Freiburg i.Br., Frankfurt a.M., and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

Other functions and awards (selection)

He was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 2010. He has been and continues to be a member of numerous national and international institutions and committees, including the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina – National Academy of Sciences, and the Academia Europaea. In addition to practical science administration and policy, as well as publishing activities with the science system, Peter Strohschneider's main areas of literary research are cultural studies of the Middle Ages, the theory of pre-modern texts, and narrative literature and song poetry of the Middle Ages and early modern period.

As of: February 10, 2026

University education

• 1993–1996: University of Bremen, Germany Doctorate in Biology
• 1986–1992: University of Hamburg, Germany Diploma in Biology

Scientific career

• Since May 2025: President and CEO Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Department (MBARI), Moss Landing, California, USA
• 2017–2025: Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Marine and Polar Research (AWI)
• 2019–2020: Vice President of the Helmholtz Association, Coordinator of the Earth and Environment Department
• 2012-2018: Vice Director of the MARUM Cluster of Excellence, University of Bremen
• Since May 2010: External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society
• Since March 2009: Professor of Geomicrobiology, University of Bremen
• Since Dec. 2008: Head of the HGF-MPG Bridge Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology
• June 2008 - Dec. 2008: Professor of Microbiology, Jacobs University Bremen
• Since Nov. 2003: Head of the “Microbial Habitats” working group, Max Planck Department for Marine Microbiology, Bremen
• September 2003 - June 2008: Professor of Microbiology (Associate Professor), Jacobs University Bremen
• September 2001 - September 2003: Professor of Microbiology (Assistant Professor), International University Bremen
• February 2001 - October 2003: Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven
• June 1999 - Jan. 2001: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, postdoctoral researcher, visiting scientist since 2001
• 1996 – 1999: Department for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde, postdoctoral researcher
• 1993–1996: Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, doctoral student
• 1990–1992: Department for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Research, Hamburg, student assistant
• 1989–1990: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, California, USA, student assistant

Honors/Awards/Grants and Scholarships (selection)

• 2025: Senate Medal for Art and Science of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
• 2024: Order of Saint Charles, Monaco
• 2024: Culture Prize, Eduard Rhein Foundation
• 2023: Ernst Ludwig Winnacker Prize, Bayer Foundation
• 2023: University Teacher of the Year, German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV)
• 2022: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Prize, Stifterverband and National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2022: Arctic Circle Prize for the Alfred Wegener Institute and the MOSAiC expedition
• 2022: Holder of the Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship
• 2021: Mercator Professorship at the University of Duisburg-Essen
• 2021: Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• 2019: Corresponding Member of the Braunschweig Scientific Society
• 2019: Erna Hamburger Award, Wish Foundation EPFL Lausanne
• 2019: Recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class
• 2019: LeibnizRingHannover
• 2019: Cody Award in Ocean Sciences
• 2018: German Environmental Award
• 2018: 2018 Communicator Award from the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• 2018: Vernadsky Medal from the European Geosciences Union (EGU)
• 2017: Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research
• 2017: Copernicus Medal
• 2017: Gauss Medal, Braunschweigische Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft
• 2016: Elected member of the European Academy of Sciences
• 2010: Member of the Science Council
• 2010: External scientific member of the Max Planck Society
• 2009: Distinguished Professor at Jacobs University Bremen
• 2009: Elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (Geology Section)

Research

Expertise: Professor of Earth System Sciences with a focus on polar research, marine research, biogeochemistry, microbiology, ecology

As of: December 19, 2025

Education

• Until 2009: Studied German language and literature (focus: German as a second or foreign language)

Professional career

• Since 2019: Director and publisher of Momentum department & moment.at
• Until 2019: Commercial director and program director at Austrian publishing houses Czernin Verlag (until 2012) Brandstätter Verlag (until 2019)
• Since 2020: Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna

Volunteer work

• Since 2008: Director of the political congress “Momentum” Conference for Critical Science and Politics
• Since 2015: Co-initiator of the association “Vienna Ball of Science”

Other functions

• 2013 - 2023: University Council member at the University of Salzburg
• 2006 - 2010: Foundation Council member of ORF and Public Council member
• 2005 - 2007: Chair of the Austrian National Union of Students

Various activities

• 2013: Austrian Cultural Forum in New York (USA) Library management
• 2006–2008: Teacher Contract employee of the Vienna City School Board

Various qualifications

• 2011: Business administration for managers (German Book Trade Academy)
• 2001–2002: Trainer training at the Renner Institute
• Since 2001: Seminars and training courses on conflict management, campaign planning, social policy, media policy, moderation, and presentation

Public Speaking

• Since 2007: Ongoing lecturing and public appearances on the thematic areas of economic policy, science and education policy, feminism, participation, and society

Book and articles (selection)

• 2012: Author of “Das Ende der Krawattenpflicht” (The End of the Tie Requirement) together with Sylvia Kuba
• 2011: ‘Solidarität’ (Solidarity) Editor, author Contributions for a just society. Volume 3, Vienna. Together with Josef Weidenholzer (ed.)
• 2011: “Von Riesen und Zwergen” (Of Giants and Dwarfs) On structural change in the book trade in Germany and Austria, Munich.
• 2010: “Freedom” Contributions to a democratic society. Volume 2, Vienna. Together with Josef Weidenholzer (ed.)
• 2009: “Justice” Contributions to social, education, and economic policy. Volume 1, Vienna. Together with Josef Weidenholzer (ed.)

As of: March 1, 2023

Education

• 1980 - 1992: Elementary school and high school in Mödling, Lower Austria; graduation in June 1992
• 1992 - 1997: Studies in law at the University of Vienna; graduated with a Master of Laws degree on March 13, 1997
• 1997–1999: Doctoral studies in law at the University of Vienna; doctoral degree on March 19, 1999. Doctoral thesis: “Insurance contracts in value added tax law and insurance tax law,” published by Orac, 2000

Professional activities

• 1994 - 1997: Assistant at the Department for Legal History at the Faculty of Law, University of Vienna
• 1997 - 1998: Court practice, Mödling District Court, Lower Austria
• 1998 - 1999: Civilian service with the Red Cross
• 1998 - 1999: Tax consulting/auditing, Vienna
• 1999 - 2001: General assistant to the Executive Board at Anker Insurance/Helvetia, Vienna
• 2002 - 2007: Managing Director, Postbus GmbH (from 2005), Vienna; previously authorized signatory and Head of Legal Affairs
• since 2007: General Manager, KHM-Museumsverband, Vienna

Other functions (selection)

• Rector of the Neulandschulen department
• Vice President of the Summer University of the University of Vienna
• Member of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Institute Mauthausen Memorial
• Member of the Board of the Research Society for Art & Law
• Former President of the Vienna Society for Legal History
• Member of the Advisory Board of the Horten Collection
• Regular lecturing and teaching activities at the University of Vienna (currently suspended), Sigmund Freud University Vienna, and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna

As of: March 1, 2023