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Verena Winiwarter Named 2013 Austrian Academic of the Year

09.01.2014

Environmental historian and RCC Board Member Verena Winiwarter has been named 2013 Austrian Academic of the Year by the Austrian Cultural and Academic Journalists Group. Chairman Oliver Lehmann stated that Winiwarter works "at the interface of social, cultural, and scientific studies. For Winiwarter," he added, "interdisciplinarity is not a buzzword but the foundation and guiding principle of her work."

Since 2007, Winiwarter has occupied the first Austrian professorship in environmental history. She is part of the faculty for interdisciplinary research and development at the Alpen-Adria-Universität in Austria.

In her acceptance speech, Winiwarter noted how environmental history can reveal the effects of humanity's behaviour on the natural world. Yet the long-term and delayed nature of these effects makes them easy to dismiss. It was therefore important, Winiwarter said, to develop "labels" highlighting the side effects of our actions so that future generations would quickly understand the consequences.

The RCC congratulates Verena Winiwarter on this prestigious award.