Biography

Born 1949 in Hermagor/Carinthia [Kärnten], Austria; studied geography and ethnology at the Vienna University, PhD 1979; 1998 habilitation at the Klagenfurt University; 1977-1988 map editor at the Atlas of the Danubian Countries; 1989-2014 editor-in-chief, Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe with 30 instalments published; 1994-1998 project manager, Resources and Environment - World Atlas; 1997-2001 deputy director, 2002-2005 director, Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies; from 2007 at the Institute of Urban and Regional Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Research fields: Cultural and Political geography of eastern Europe, geography of tourism, toponomastics, geolinguistics, geography of transportation, atlas cartography, theoretical cartography. Teaches at the universities of Vienna, Klagenfurt and Cluj-Napoca (Romania); more than 350 scientific publications and 340 paper presentations.

Areas of Research

• Cultural and Political geography of eastern Europe
• Toponomastics
• Geolinguistics
• Geography of tourism
• Geography of transportation
• Atlas cartography
• Theoretical cartography

Research projects

• Politics & poetics of toponymy, identity and place in multilingual areas
  
  
• Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe

Memberships

• ICA Chair, Joint ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy
• Non-permanent Member, Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (StAGN)
• Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM)
• Editor (together with Paul Woodman) of the toponymic book series „Name & Place. Contributions to Toponymic Literature and Research“, Verlag Dr. Kovač, Hamburg, so far 6 volumes published

Editorial board member with the periodicals

• „Turizam/Tourism“ (Zagreb),
• „Tourism and Hospitality Management“ (Opatija/Wien),
• „Hrvatski geografski glasnik“ (Zagreb),
• „Bulletin of Geography” (Thorn [Toruń]),
• „Romanian Review of Regional Studies“ (Klausenburg [Cluj-Napoca]),
• „Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics“ (Temeswar [Timişoara]),
• „Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis, Geographica“ (Olmütz [Olomouc]),
• “Földrajzi Értesitő – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin“ (Budapest),
• „Journal of Urban and Regional Analysis“ (Bukarest [Bucureşti]),
• “Zbornik radova” (Belgrad [Beograd]),
• “Acta Geographica Croatica” (Zagreb),
• „Acta geographica Slovenica – Geografski zbornik“ (Laibach [Ljubljana]),
• „Geographia Napocensis“ (Klausenburg [Cluj-Napoca])
• “Bulletin of the National Museum” (Chişinău)
• „Geography – Policy – Society” (Danzig [Gdańsk])
• “Regional Statistics” [Területi Statisztika] (Budapest)
• “Geografický časopis” (Pressburg [Bratislava])
• “Collana Studi i Ricerche” (Rom [Roma])
• “Onomástica” (Barcelona)
• “Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen” (Bozen/Bolzano)
• Kartografija i Geoinformacije (Zagreb)

Awards

• 1978
  Dr. Adolf Schärf Award
• 1995
  Honorary Member, Croatian Geographical Society
• 2006
  Honorary Member, Hungarian Geographical Society
• 2007
  Honorary Professor, Babes Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• 2014
  Honorary Member, Czech Geographical Society
  Honorary Member, Moldavian Society for Geography and Ethnology
  Great Distinction for Merits for the Republic of Austria
• 2015
  Honorary Member, Austrian Geographical Society
  Honorary Member, Romanian Geographical Society
• 2017
  Honorary Member, Association of Slovenian Geographers
  Research Fellow, University of the Free State, Südafrika
  United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Certificate of Commendation
• 2018
  Honorary Member, Polish Geographical Society