RESPONDER LogoEuropean Union FP7

RIMASWU Wien, Research Institute for Managing Sustainability

With about 23,000 students the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) is the EU’s largest educational institution for business and economics, business law, and social sciences. The Research Institute for Managing Sustainability (RIMAS) at the WU conducts research and policy consulting projects covering inter-disciplinary issues such as Sustainable Development Strategies and Indicators, Sustainable Consumption and Production, Good Governance and Corporate Sustainability. RIMAS has successfully conducted projects for six DGs, Eurostat, the EU Committee of Regions, UNDP, several national and regional authorities. The interaction between science and policy-makers is the focus of the European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN) - a network we supported by scientific input and knowledge exchange. On national level we have been supporting several multi-stakeholder processes, e.g. in the implementation of the Austrian National Sustainability Strategy and the Austrian Sustainable Forest Program. On EU level we supported the CSR High Level Group of DG Employment (2006-2008) and the exchange of scientists and policy makers for DG Sanco in the field of Sustainable Consumption (2008). For many years we have been developing innovative facilitation methods and applied them in various national and international projects and teaching mediation, moderation and design of multi-stakeholder processes at the WU and in an MBA course for Mediation and Conflict Resolution.

For further information, please visit http://www.sustainability.eu/.

Persons involved

André Martinuzzi André Martinuzzi (Dr.) is director of RIMAS, associate professor at WU, has a postdoctoral lecture qualification (venia docendi) in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development Policy and has led the majority of the above-mentioned projects. He coordinated projects in FP5 and FP6 and is currently workpackage leader in two FP7 projects (IMPACT and CORPUS). On behalf of DG Research and Eurostat he designed and implemented internet-based monitoring and information systems). His research areas are sustainable development policies, evaluation and monitoring and knowledge brokerage.
Michal Sedlacko Michal Sedlacko (PhD) studied Economics and Environmental Policy, conducted projects for UNDP; designed and developed the EASY-ECO e-Learning platform and moderates e-Learning Courses. He will bring this vast experience with internet-based knowledge dissemination to the RESPONDER project.
Sandra Nebe Markus Hametner (Mag.) has been a research fellow and project manager at RIMAS - Research Institute for Managing Sustainability since 2003. He holds a Master’s degree in Ecology from the University of Vienna with a specialisation on Environmental Economics and Management from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His current research activities focus on monitoring and evaluating sustainable development, strategic approaches to sustainable development as well as evaluation of environmental projects and programmes.
Umberto Pisano Umberto Pisano (MSc) studied Sustainability and Ecological Economics at the University of Leeds (UK) and Economics and Business at University of RomaTre in Rome. He conducted research on the role of renewable energy projects within the Clean Development Mechanism and worked as a consultant on financial services. His current research activities focus on sustainable consumption, beyond growth concerns and system mapping.
Gerald Berger Gerald Berger (MA MSc) has a special focus on environmental policy with more than eight years of experience in EU-projects. He is currently coordinating the ESDN, a knowledge exchange initiative covering all European Member States focussed on the implementation of national sustainable development strategies. He is therefore in close contact with numerous policy makers all over Europe and personally involved in several policy processes (e.g. the renewal of the EU SD strategy).
Sigrid Stagl Sigrid Stagl is full Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy at the Institute for the Environment and Regional Development. She works on ecological macroeconomics and sustainable behaviours and is currently President of the European Society for Ecological Economics. She can draw on many years of experience in participative methods for decision support.
Karin Dobernig Karin Dobernig is a PhD student and research assistant at the Institute for the Environment and Regional Development at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. In the course of her work in the field of Ecological Economics, she is engaged in the study of socio-economic systems and human behavior as well as evolutionary and institutional economics. In this context, she is particularly interested in the vital role that institutions play in the functioning and understanding of current consumption and production systems. In her own research, she aims to link behavioral and structural approaches to sustainable consumption – especially with regards to sustainable food consumption. For her, the RESPONDER project´s aim to disclose and discuss contradictions between sustainable consumption and economic growth presents a fascinating challenge. She is happy and grateful to be part of this project to help creating a system of human well-being that respects ecological limits.

© 2024 Institute for Managing Sustainability
Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, A-1020 Vienna

The RESPONDER project is funded by FP7 under
the Environment (including Climate Change) theme.