Team

Director

Moritz Ehrmann (MA)

Moritz Ehrmann is the Director of the ASPR. He brings to the ASPR his extensive experience from varied contexts, including Iraq, Colombia, Jordan, Ukraine, and Yemen, and through his previous work with the International Committee of the Red Cross and as an Austrian diplomat. He began his career with the Austrian foreign service, for which he was most recently deployed to the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship Task Force from 2016 to 2017. Since 2018, he has been engaged in informal international peace mediation.

Susanne J. Brezina

Susanne J. Brezina is the Programme Manager of the integrated training courses within the European Security and Defence College (ESDC). Her specializations include humanitarian aid, post-conflict recovery, security sector reform, protection of civilians and civil-military coordination in complex emergencies as well as peace missions.

Klaudia Dobrovits

Klaudia Dobrovits is the cleaning worker and also takes care with love about the plants in the ASPR garden and office rooms.

Ursula Gamauf-Eberhardt

Ursula Gamauf-Eberhardt is the Programme Manager for the peace education portfolio. She is also responsible for the OSCE training programmes. Her thematic focuses include peace education, dealing with the past and the OSCE.

Claudia Hofer

Claudia Hofer is the Administrative Assistant for research, peace education, OSCE and EU related trainings, as well as for the project Capacity Building for Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa.

Walter Hofer

Walter Hofer takes care of the ASPR buildings with great diligence. His hobby is civil defence, and he uses this knowledge also concerning his activities at the ASPR.

Elisabeth Horvath

Elisabeth Horvath is the Financial Manager and accountant in the areas of basic financing, project financing and ASPR Peace Museum.

Manuela Jerabek

Manuela Jerabek is certified Librarian and is responsible for the purchase, archiving and maintenance of the inventory of the ASPR Peace Library, as well as the support and processing of inquiries from library users.

Niklas Konrad

Niklas Konrad does his alternative military service at the ASPR. His responsibilities are mainly focused on IT/computers, among others he is also involved in the creation of digital content. He also supports the team in the execution and post-processing of online formats and in the planning and technical implementation of various projects.

Elke Marksteiner

Elke Marksteiner is the Communications Manager and responsible for public relations and graphic design. She is responsible for awareness-raising activities and manages the ASPR social media channels.

Birgit Mayerhofer

Birgit Mayerhofer heads the project "Capacity Building for Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa" in cooperation with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Ghana. Her thematic priorities include the link between humanitarian aid, development cooperation and peacekeeping (HDP Nexus), integrity/anti-corruption and inclusion/equal opportunities.

Augustin Nicolescou

Augustin Nicolescou heads the conflict transformation program at the ASPR and serves as co-director of the Herbert C Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation, a partner of the ASPR. He also contributes to the ASPR’s research and training activities, with thematic expertise in conflict transformation, dialogue processes, the HDP Nexus, conflict sensitivity and Do-No-Harm and geographic experience in Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus.

Hanna Orthofer-Fichtner

Hanna Orthofer-Fichtner catalogues the holdings of the former Peace Museum. She has been working at the Institute as a trainer for the Peace Weeks for many years and supports young people and children to deal with conflict in a constructive way. As a certified mediator and social worker she also makes a valuable contribution to the development of the training programmes.

Jan Pospisil

Jan Pospisil is the Research Director of the ASPR and lecturer for political science at the University of Vienna. Jan is co-investigator of the Political Settlements Research Programme at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on peace processes, political settlements, humanitarian negotiations, resilience, and Sudanese/South Sudanese politics. He publishes regularly in peer-reviewed international journals. His most recent monograph, "Peace in Political Unsettlement", was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019.

Silvia Polster

Silvia Polster is the Administrative Assistant for the "International Civilian Peacebuilding Training Programme" and other tailor-made courses.

Monika Psenner

Monika Psenner is Programme Manager for ASPR's EU training programmes. These include the EU Civilian Training Initiative (EUCTi) as well as the EU Aid Volunteers and EU Police and Civilian Services Training (EUPCST) programmes. She also represents ASPR in the European Civilian Training Group (EUCTG). Her professional background is in NGO development cooperation and humanitarian aid. She has many years of experience in training, project and process development.

Julia Scharinger

Julia Scharinger is the Programme Manager of the "International Civilian Peacebuilding Training Programme - IPT". Her thematic focuses include Dealing with the Past, Narrative Therapy, Gender/Intersectionality and Social Justice.

Julia Struppe-Schanda

Julia Struppe-Schanda is responsible for the planning and implementation of the ASPR Summer Academy. Her thematic focuses include social psychological issues in peace and conflict research, psychosocial work in war and crisis zones, and diversity and gender research in psychology.

Martina Tader

Martina Tader is the Administrative Assistant, she runs the ASPR Secretariat and is responsible for personnel and project financial management.

Lukas Wank

Lukas Wank is responsible for the ASPR’s cooperation portfolio with the Austrian Ministry of Defense. His background is in peace research and conflict analysis, security policy and the military, development corporation and humanitarian aid.

Wolfgang Weilharter

Wolfgang Weilharter is the Project Manager for the planned project "Communal Peace and Conflict Work in Burgenland" and responsible for the related needs assessment. His focus is on the implementation of mediation and dialogue processes on the communal level, in the areas of communal politics, housing and neighbourhoods and local coexistence of people of different origins.

Affiliates

Tamra Pearson d’Estrée

Tamra Pearson d’Estrée is a professor of conflict resolution at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA, and directs the university’s Conflict Engagement & Resolution Initiative. Dr. d’Estrée’s research focuses on social psychological dimensions of intergroup conflict, negotiation and resolution, particularly on identity dynamics, framing, and conflict resolution capacity in processes of escalation and resolution. Her work on peacebuilding processes combines research with professional practice in divided societies and communities. She also studies the use of evaluation for the improvement of international, environmental and policy conflict resolution.

Wilfried Graf

Wilfried Graf (Dr.phil.) is co-founder and co-director of the Herbert C. Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation, with which the ASPR cooperates in the field of conflict transformation. His areas of expertise include conflict transformation and the facilitation of peace processes with a focus on complexity theory, critical realism, basic needs theories and socio-psychological aspects of peace and conflict. As a scholar-practitioner, he is particularly concerned with the transfer of theoretical insights into practice.

Wolfgang Hofkirchner

Wolfgang Hofkirchner is retired professor of Technology Assessment at the Vienna University of Technology. His research aims at the transformation of societies into a Global Sustainable Information Society. His approach is transdisciplinary. He edited the first volume of Edgar Morin’s Method in German.

Werner Wintersteiner

Werner Wintersteiner, retired professor from Klagenfurt University, was the founding director of the Centre for Peace Research and Peace Education; he is staff member of the master programme (further education) “Global Citizenship Education”.