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Scientific Curriculum Vitae

Note: for Curriculum Vitae (CV) versions in pdf form see Home/Startseite.

Root Data in Brief

Name:Gottfried Kirchengast
Date and place of birth:July 14, 1965; Feldbach, Austria
Family status:Married, two children
NationalityAustrian
LanguagesGerman (mother tongue), English (fluent), French (some)
Broad scientific interests:Natural Sciences, especially Geophysics and Meteorology with emphasis on Atmosphere, Climate, Environmental and Space Science; Computational Physics; Applied Mathematics; Applied Systems Science; Economics; Sociology; Psychology; Philosophy, especially Normative Theories and Ethics; Law, especially on Climate, Environment, Power and Justice Issues; Philosophy of Science, especially of the Natural Sciences; Theology

Academic Education

University of Graz, Austria (Studies 1984-1991).
  • 1st diploma (B.Sc. level) in Physics, Meteorology, and Geophysics, 1986.
  •  2nd diploma (M.Sc. degree, with highest honors) in Geophysics, 1988.
  •  Dr.rer.nat (Ph.D. degree, with highest honors) in the Natural Sciences/Geophysics, 1992. 
  • 2nd diploma (M.Sc. level, with highest honors) in Physics, 1995.

Research - Teaching - Management

Professional Development

  • 1988 - 1995: Graduations at Univ. Graz, including M.Sc. degree Geophysics (1988), Ph.D. degree Natural Sciences/Geophysics (1992), M.Sc. Physics (1995) (all graduations with highest honors)
  • 1992 - 1994: Max-Planck Postdoc Fellow at MPI for Aeronomy, Lindau/Göttingen, Germany.
  • 1992 - 2002: Tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor (1992-1997), reception of the venia docendi ("Lehrbefugnis/Habilitation") in Geophysics (May 1997), then appointment as Associate Professor (1997-2002), at the Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Graz, Austria.
  • 1998 - present: Visiting Scientist/Professor at various institutions in Europe, USA, and Australia, such as at MPI for Meteorology Hamburg, UCAR/NCAR Boulder, Univ. of Arizona Tucson, GFZ Potsdam, Univ. of Hawai'i Manoa/Honolulu, RMIT Univ. Melbourne (typically 2-3 months summer visits)
  • 1998: Awarded with the "START Preis 1998" ("START" and "Wittgenstein" prizes, the prize-winners being selected each year by an esteemed international START/Wittgenstein-Jury after very stringent peer review, are Austria´s most prestigeous and best endowed discretionary research fund awards.)
  • 1999: Awarded with the "Josef-Krainer Würdigungspreis 1999" ("for exceptional performance in the field of meteorology and geophysics"; the prize-winners are selected among scholars from all disciplines by an interdisciplinary "Josef Krainer Gedenkwerk"-Jury after careful peer review.)
  • 2002 - 2004: Lead Investigator, together with Per Hoeg (Denmark), of the ESA Atmosphere and Climate Explorer  (ACE+) satellite mission development. (ACE+ was selected by ESA, from 25 proposed missions after rigorous scientific and technical peer review, as top priority opportunity mission for phase A study.)
  • 2003 - present: Full Professor at the University of Graz Geophysics Chair (Alfred Wegener's Chair, originally held by Alfred Wegener 1924-1930). (This appointment was preceded by a highly selective candidate search and down-selection process since 2001, including several stages of peer review.)
  • 2005 - present: Director of the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change (WEGC) at the University of Graz, Austria; since 2012 also Adjunct Professor at the Geospatial Sciences School of the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
  • 2006, 2012: Awarded with the "GRAWE Award 2006" (awarded every five years only for science) for exceptional climate change research and leadership, and with the "Forschungspreis des Landes Steiermark 2012" (top state research prize of Styria/Austria) for pioneering work on monitoring the climate.
  • 2008, 2011: Elected in 2008 member ("Junge Kurie") and in 2011 lifetime member ("Korrespondierendes Mitglied") of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, representing the fields geophysics and climate science.
  • 2016 - present: Director of Science (and Executive Director jointly with Prof. Sun Yueqiang) of the Joint Lab on Occultations for Atmosphere and Climate (JLOAC) of University of Graz and NSSC/CAS Beijing
  • 2016 - present: Honorary Professor at the National Space Science Center/Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing, China (collaborating via the Joint Lab on Occultations for Atmosphere and Climate of Uni Graz and NSSC/CAS)
Univ.-Prof. Dr.

Gottfried Kirchengast

Brandhofgasse 5, A-8010 Graz

Phone:+43 316 380 - 8431
Fax:+43 316 380 - 9830

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