Florian Ortner

I have been working as Assistant to the Rector of the University of Graz since 2018. In this role, I support the Rector and the Rectorate in all strategic and operational matters in order to ensure the efficient management of all tasks and activities of the Rectorate. This includes participating in various processes for the further development of the university, analysing and processing the Rectorate's agendas and preparing decision alternatives for the Rector. The independent realisation, participation and implementation of projects from the Rectorate area complete the portfolio.

I studied Environmental Systems Science with a focus on Geography (Bakk., Mag.) and Sustainable Development (MSc, ongoing) at the University of Graz and Utrecht University. After graduating, I worked as a research assistant in an EU project dealing with knowledge and technology transfer. From 2015 to 2018, I was a research assistant at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Research (Alpine Landscape Dynamics Research Group) at the University of Graz, a PhD student in the subjects of geography, human-environment relations and human ecology, and also a member of the FWF doctoral programme Climate Change: Uncertainties, Thresholds and Strategies (dissertation ongoing). As part of the project "Economic and Ethical Consequences of Natural Hazards in Alpine Valleys" funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, I analysed natural hazards in alpine valleys and the associated risk research (risk analysis and risk perception). The aim of my investigations was to provide a holistic integrative-geographical perspective and should shed light on both the natural and human dimensions of natural hazards. From 2017 to 2018, I was also a visiting researcher at the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College London.