About Claudia Fuchs

Claudia Fuchs, aged 44, received her PhD in law from the University of Vienna in 2006. She started her academic career at WU and subsequently worked as a scientific staff member at the Austrian Constitutional Court and in legal practice. She held a tenure-track position at the Institute of Law of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, where she was appointed full professor of public law in 2020. She completed numerous research and teaching stays in Austria and abroad, e.g. at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. Her research interests include constitutional and general administrative law, public business law, and public law jurisdiction. Her publications and lectures focus on public procurement and public competition law, regulatory law, environmental law, procedural law, and comparative constitutional law. On October 1, she joined WU’s Department of Public Law and Tax Law as a professor of public law.

About Martin Halla

Martin Halla, aged 43, studied at the JKU in Linz. After completing his doctoral degree, he gained extensive international experience as a post-doc researcher in Sweden and the USA. In 2014, he was offered a professorship at the University of Innsbruck, and in 2017, he was appointed full professor at the JKU, where he headed the Institute for Economic Policy at the Department of Economics. He is also a permanent scientific advisor to the Austrian National Public Health Institute (GÖG) in Vienna, among other positions. His research focuses primarily on health and labor economics, demography, and various aspects of the political economy. Within health economics, his research interests include the effectiveness of screening programs, the interactions between the health care system and other sectors of the economy (including the labor market), the impact of medical innovations on demographic developments, and the effects of climate change on mental health. As of October 1, he now holds the endowed chair in the economics of health at WU’s Department of Economics.

About Judit Jacsó

Judit Jacsó started her studies in Hungary (Miskolc) and earned her PhD at the University of Graz, while at the same time completing the EURO-JUS LL.M. program in European Law at the University for Continuing Education Krems. As a Humboldt Fellow, she spent several years working at the University of Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law (Freiburg i. Br.), and she also held a substitute professorship at the University of Heidelberg. In 2018, she earned her venia docendi with a habilitation thesis on the European standardization of criminal tax law, based on examples from German, Austrian, and Hungarian tax evasion regulations.In addition to her academic career, she also worked as a lawyer. In 2020, she was appointed professor of criminal law and criminology at the University of Miskolc. Numerous other research stays took her to Germany, Greece, Italy, Austria, Romania, and Turkey, among other countries. Her main research interests are white collar crime and fiscal criminal law, as well as European criminal law. On October 1, she took up her position as professor of Austrian and European economic criminal law at WU’s Department of Public Law and Tax Law.

About Christoph Kietaibl

Christoph Kietaibl, aged 43, earned his venia docendi in employment law, social security law, and civil law at the University of Vienna in 2011, where he was subsequently appointed associate professor. In 2015, he accepted the offer of a professorship in private law at the University of Klagenfurt. In his research, he takes a broad-based approach that includes neighboring areas of law. For example, he carries out intensive research at the interface between employment law and civil law. Other key research areas he is interested in are industrial relations law and company pension schemes, which are becoming increasingly important as a supplement to statutory pension insurance. In social security law, one of Kietaibl’s main areas of interest is services contracting by health insurance providers, and in the field of European law, he conducts research on, among other things, equal treatment law and legal regulations on the transfer of undertakings. In addition, he has many years of practical experience working outside of academia, which enriches his research and teaching activities. As of October 1, Christoph Kietaibl assumed the professorship of employment and social security law at WU’s Department of Private Law.

About Thomas Kröll

Thomas Kröll, aged 45, received his doctoral degree in law from the University of Vienna in 2002, and subsequently he worked as an assistant at the European Parliament and in a law firm. From 2004 to 2010, he worked at the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Directorate General for Coordination and Constitutional Service), and then he joined WU’s Institute for Austrian and European Public Law. After obtaining his venia docendi in 2016, he worked at WU as an associate professor. From 2018 to 2020, he headed the Innovation and Information Management unit at the Federal Chancellery and was also a member of Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein’s cabinet. In 2020, he returned to WU. In the 2023 summer semester, he was a visiting professor at the University of Klagenfurt. His research focuses on Austrian and European public economic law, constitutional law, constitutional law with a focus on the school and educational system, and administrative law for the handling of major crises, among other topics, as well as European Union law. As of October 1, he joined WU’s Department of Public Law and Tax Law as professor of public law.

About Kavita Surana

Kavita Surana, aged 37, received her PhD in materials science and engineering from Grenoble INP at the Universié Grenoble Alpes in France in 2011, while working at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. After completing her PhD, she held academic positions as a postdoctoral researcher in science, technology, and public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (USA) and as an assistant research professor at the Center for Global Sustainability at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park (USA). Since 2022, she has been a member of the associate faculty at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. Her professional experience includes roles at the World Bank (USA), ICF (India), and xista science ventures (Austria). Kavita Surana is an expert in climate and energy innovation, where her research focuses on the interplay between public policy, businesses, and technological change to advance green transformations. She has been awarded research funding by the US National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. As of October 1, she now holds the endowed chair in data ecosystems for environmental accountability at WU’s Department of Information Systems and Operations Management.