Christoph Binder and Eva Kernbauer to Join the FWF Executive Board in September
The Executive Board of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) will welcome two new members in September 2024: At their most recent meeting, the members of the FWF Supervisory Board elected art historian Eva Kernbauer as the new Vice-President for the specialist department Humanities and Social Sciences and physician Christoph Binder as the new Vice-President for Biology and Medicine, following a public recruitment process proposed by President Christof Gattringer. The two will be replacing Gerlinde Mautner and Ellen Zechner, whose terms of office expire at the end of August after eight years of service. In addition to President Christof Gattringer, the two remaining members of the Executive Board will ensure continuity: Ursula Jakubek, who has served as Executive Vice-President since 2021, and Georg Kaser, who has been the Vice-President for Research responsible for the specialist department Natural Sciences and Technology since 2021.
“I am very glad to say that with Eva Kernbauer and Christoph Binder, we have managed to recruit not only two extremely renowned researchers, but also experts with extensive knowledge of research funding for the FWF Executive Board,” said Heinz W. Engl, Chairman of the FWF Supervisory Board. “Both are excellently suited to their new responsibilities, and I warmly congratulate them on their election.”
FWF President Christof Gattringer is also looking forward to working with the new members of the Executive Board. “Eva Kernbauer and Christoph Binder are both forward-looking researchers and experts in their fields, and will strengthen the Executive Board. I look forward to continuing the successful development of the FWF as a strong, modern funding organization for Austria’s basic research with the new members of the Executive Board. Our goal is to enable researchers from all over the world to conduct world-class research here in Austria by providing them with attractive funding opportunities,” said FWF President Christof Gattringer, welcoming the two new members on behalf of the FWF Office staff. “Speaking for the entire FWF, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gerlinde Mautner and Ellen Zechner for their quality-oriented work, their extraordinary commitment, and the visionary approach they have always brought to the FWF.”
“I am very pleased to have been elected and am looking forward to taking responsibility in my future role on the FWF Executive Board. It’s important to me to contribute to the continued development of Austria as a research country, where researchers from all disciplines are offered fair opportunities to carry out their work,” said designated Vice-President Eva Kernbauer after the election.
“I would like to thank the Supervisory Board for their trust in me and will do everything in my power to live up to this responsibility. I am committed to strengthening research excellence at Austria’s research institutions and I am very much looking forward to working towards this goal,” says designated Vice-President Christoph Binder.
About Eva Kernbauer
Eva Kernbauer is a professor of art history at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her research focuses on concepts of time and history in contemporary art as well as art, politics, and social modernization processes around the early 19th century. She is active in numerous national and international scientific committees and organizations and has also been a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2023.
About Christoph Binder
Christoph Binder is a professor of atherosclerosis research and Deputy Head of the Clinical Institute for Laboratory Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna/Vienna General Hospital. The laboratory physician researches the role of immune functions in cardiovascular diseases. Until 2021, he was also principal investigator at CeMM - Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is a member of several national and international scientific societies.
The FWF Executive Board
The Executive Board is responsible for coordinating the FWF’s activities. It is in charge of defining the FWF's strategic objectives as well as developing and advancing its funding programs. In addition, the Executive Board is responsible for negotiating with Austrian and European research policymakers, cooperating with universities and other research institutions in Austria and abroad, and representing the FWF at the national and international level.
