With the appointment of Heinz Fassmann as Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research on 7 January 2020, his function as Director of the ISR was temporarily made inactive.

Biography

Heinz Fassmann studied Geography as well as economic and social history at the University of Vienna, where he graduated with a doctorate in 1980. Afterwards, he was a scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) and at the Commission for Spatial Planning and the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). 

After receiving his habilitation (second doctorate) in 1991 he was appointed to a professorship in Applied Geography at the Technical University Munich in 1996. He has been a professor for Applied Geography and Spatial Planning at the University of Vienna since 2000. In 2006, he once again became director of the Institute for Regional and Urban Research (ISR) at the ÖAW, a role he held in the 1990s for several years. 

In addition, Heinz Fassmann is engaged in various activities both in Austria and abroad. Since 2011 he has been vice-rector of the University of Vienna. He is involved in numerous research projects at ISR.

Research Areas

• Spatial Planning (Europe)
• Sociology of Space
• Migration-Integration-Segregation
• Comparative Urban Research and Urban Development

Projects

• Loslassen – durchstehen – ankommen. Eine transdisziplinäre Studie zur rezenten Situation Geflüchteter in Österreich
• Wertehaltungen und Erwartungen von Flüchtlingen in Österreich
• CLIP – Network of European Cities for Local Integration Policies for Migrants
• IDEA – Mediterranean and Eastern European Countries as new immigration destinations in the European Union
• ICEC – Interethnic Coexistence in European Cities
• SROMO – Monitoring der Siedlungsentwicklung in der Stadtregion+. Strategien zur räumlichen Entwicklung der Ostregion
• SRO – Strategien zur räumlichen Entwicklung der Ostregion

Memberships and additional functions

• Member of the Academia Europaea
• Full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences 
• Member of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (Berlin)
• Chairman of the Expert Council for Integration of the Ministry for Europe, Integration and International Affairs
• Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs, University of Vienna

Awards

• Camillo-Sitte-Förderungspreis (Technische Universität Wien)
• Hans-Bobek-Preis (Österreichische Geographische Gesellschaft)
• Schader-Preis (Schader-Stiftung, Darmstadt)
• Bruno-Kreisky-Preis für das Politische Buch
• Kardinal Innitzer Würdigungspreis für Gesellschafts-, Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften