2020 has been a difficult year for many, and yet it has also been a year in which so many people have worked tirelessly, adapting to the ever-changing circumstances to make sure that higher educational institutions kept going strong. Needless to say, this applies to dedicated lecturers, researchers and school/university staffs around the world.

We would like to take a moment to thank everyone at WU who has enabled our team to continue its work, both during and in-between the COVID-19 lockdowns in Vienna. This includes the Rector’s office, our senior and junior faculty affiliates, and, of course, student volunteers (some of whom – you know who you are – brought #studentsagainstcorona and #O4CC to Vienna!).

We would also like to extend a special thanks to theCampus Management andEnvironmental Management teams for their close collaboration on many occasions throughout the 2020. WUMedia Development andIT Services teams have been amazing – hard to imagine the sudden increase in their workload, especially, during the first lockdown. Equally great are our energetic office neighbors at RCE Vienna, who, lockdown or not, never give up on advancingThird Mission efforts. A big thank you also to Sandra Lichtblau, Astrid Paulis, Cornelia Wagner and others in the Controlling and to the colleagues in the Eventmanagement team for dedicating their time and energy to help us with all kinds of organizing hurdles related to rescheduling STaR events and adjusting expenditure plans. Same to Stefanie Ilmer, for her always prompt answers to our personnel-related questions, and to Manuela Papai and her colleagues, for making the smooth switch of the WU Matters WU Talks series to online.

Finally, but most importantly this year, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to those individuals who have kept our university’s facilities disinfected, well-maintained and safe: maintenance, cleaning, security, Back Office Facility Management, Procurement Management (Daniela Pum, for processing our 100+ Tickets),and campusPost personnel. We know you were commuting to WU’s campus every day, including during the most difficult months, when most of us were working from our computers at home, and the ways COVID-19 spread or could be contained were less understood than today. We know you have families you have been worried about. We know it has not been easy – and we have a huge respect for your hard work. Faleminderit / teşekkür ederim / dziękuję to Ilmije Ismaili, Ayfer Kaman, Dorota Szczerba and many others whose names are not listed here!

We wish everybody a peaceful holiday season, and we look forward to a healthier and more joyful 2021!

Your team at STaR Competence Center