In early 2023, Fulbright Austria's board welcomed three new members: Franziska Honsowitz-Friessnigg, Gerhard Piringer, and Martin Waiguny. We asked all three to share a short biography with our community. We look forward to working with the new members and the returning members of our board!
Introducing the new members of the 2023 board
21 March 2023Fulbright Austria's 2023 board includes three new members. We asked them to introduce themselves to our community.
Ambassador Dr. Franziska Honsowitz-Friessnigg
Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs
Director of the Department for International Scientific Cooperation and Dialogue
Franziska Honsowitz-Friessnigg recently joined Fulbright Austria’s board, to which she adds her international and diplomatic experience. She studied law at the University of Graz. After joining the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) in 1984, she served on several assignments within the ministry and in Austrian embassies abroad. Since September 2022, she has served as the director for international scientific cooperation and dialogue in the BMEIA. Between 2018 and 2022, she served as the Austrian ambassador to the Holy See. Other international assignments included: Algeria, where she was the Austrian ambassador from 2014 and 2018; Germany, where she worked in the Austrian embassy; and New York, where she worked in the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations. Franziska firmly supports international cooperation and exchange, especially in the field of education and science.
Prof.(FH) DI Gerhard Piringer, PhD
Senior Lecturer, Josef Ressel Center, Dept. Energy & Environment
University of Applied Sciences Burgenland
Gerhard Piringer was born in Austria and is a dual citizen of the US and Austria. He has a master’s degree in engineering physics from the Vienna Technical University in Austria, and a PhD in environmental engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He held research and teaching positions at Tulane from 2005 to 2010, including an appointment as a professor of practice, working on nanotechnology and environmental life-cycle assessment. Since his return to Austria in 2010, he has continued working on environmental-systems assessment at institutions including the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and the Burgenland University of Applied Sciences, where he is currently a professor. As a student, Gerhard was himself a very grateful recipient of a grant financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and administered by Fulbright Austria, and he is looking forward to giving back by serving on the Fulbright Austria board.
Dr. Martin Waiguny
Academic Head and University Management: Teaching and Learning
IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems
Martin Waiguny graduated from Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in applied business administration in 2004 and received his doctorate from the same university in 2010 investigating the persuasive power of gaming for children in the form of advergames. After finishing the doctoral studies, he worked as a post-doc assistant at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt and was responsible for the new master’s program for international management—the university’s first master’s program taught entirely in English. In 2011, Martin accepted a call to be a senior lecturer in advertising at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, where Martin was responsible for the advertising major in the Bachelor of Business Program while also teaching in the master’s program and supervising doctoral and master candidates. He was also the scientific lead of the CAANZ-AUT Communications School, which collaborates with New Zealand’s advertising industry. At the end of 2015, he was appointed to the position of program director for international business and export management at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Austria, where he received a professorship in 2018. The following year, he was elected as the academic head of the university and was reelected for a second term in 2022. He is the author of a range of publications focused mainly on consumer behavior with new media as well as marketing to children, a board member of the European Advertising Academy, an editorial board member of the Journal of Advertising, the International Journal of Advertising, and Young Consumers, and a member of many academic associations in marketing and consumer psychology. Martin’s visits to the US (University of Illinois, San Diego State University, Sabrook University), France (ICD Paris), Germany (CBS Business School), Portugal (ISCTE), and Latvia (VUAS Ventspils) demonstrate his commitment to internationalization efforts in academia, and he has also hosted several Fulbright professors working in the fields of international business and export management.
