TEAM
Dr. Hannes Swoboda, President of the International Institute for Peace (IP), started his career in urban politics in Vienna and was elected member of the European Parliament in 1996. He was Vice President of the Social Democrat Group until 2012 und then President until 2014. He was particularly engaged in foreign, enlargement, and neighborhood policies. Swoboda is also President of the Vienna Institute for International Economics, the Centre of Architecture, the University for Applied Science - Campus Vienna, and the Sir Peter Ustinov Institute.
Email: office@iip.at; office@hannes-swoboda.at
Website: http://hannes-swoboda.at/
PRESIDENT
Hannes Swoboda
Dr.h.c. Angela Kane assumed the position of Vice President of the IIP in 2016, after serving on the IIP International Advisory Board. She holds a number of other functions: Visiting Professor and Member of the Strategic Committee at the Paris School of International Affairs (SciencesPo), Visiting Professor at the Tsinghua University Schwarzman Scholars in Beijing, and Chair of the United Nations University Council. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. Kane has served in many positions during her career at the United Nations. Until mid-2015, she served as the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. Between May 2008 and 2012, she was Under-Secretary-General for Management. She served twice in the Department for Political Affairs, as Assistant Secretary-General and previously as Director. She supported several special political missions in Iraq, Nepal and the Middle East, and established the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. Her field experience includes Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), a special assignment to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and multi-year postings in Indonesia and Thailand.
Email: office@iip.at; kanevienna@gmail.com
VICE PRESIDENT
Angela Kane
Mag. Stephanie Fenkart MA is Director of the International Institute for Peace (IIP) since 2016. She has an MA in Development Studies from the University of Vienna and an MA in Human Rights from the Danube University, Krems. She is furthermore a member of the Advisory Committee for Strategy and Security Policy of the Scientific Commission at the Austrian Armed Forces (BMLV). She is also Chair of the Board of The Balkan Forum, Prishtina.
Email: s.fenkart@iip.at
Univ. Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna and at Danube University. He was academic director of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. He has held various Fulbright Fellowships and the Austrian Chair at Stanford University. He was Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. Among other things, Gärtner chairs the Strategy and Security advisory board of the Austrian Armed Forces and the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Peace (IIP) in Vienna. He has published widely on international security, nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, US foreign policy, geopolitics, Iran, and the Middle East.
Email: heinz.gaertner@univie.ac.at
ADVISORY BOARD
Heinz Gärtner
DIRECTOR
Stephanie Fenkart
Marylia Hushcha is a Researcher at the International Institute for Peace in Vienna, where she focuses on geopolitics in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. She is also a member of an Austrian grassroots think tank Ponto. Marylia previously worked at Pontis Foundation in Slovakia, where she managed a capacity-building project for NGOs in Russia. Marylia has completed training and fellowship programmes at the United Nations Office in Belarus, the European Academy of Diplomacy in Warsaw, and the University of San Diego. She holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from Comenius University in Bratislava.
Email: m.hushcha@iip.at
Gjergj Loka is a Project Assistant at the International Institute for Peace (IIP), focusing primarily on the Western Balkans. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna and previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Journalism from the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG). Gjergj is a former fellow of the United Nations Youth Association of Albania and has also worked with Network 20/20 in New York, where he helped connect young professionals from his region with key stakeholders, bridging foreign policy and entrepreneurship.
Email: g.loka@iip.at
PROJECT ASSISTANT
Gjergj Loka
PROJECT MANAGER/RESEARCHER
Marylia Hushcha
Dennis Miskić is a Project Assistant at the International Institute for Peace (IIP). He’s studied Political Science in Vienna, Melbourne and Leiden and has five years experience working as a journalist covering the Western Balkans.
Email: office@iip.at
PROJECT ASSISTANT
Dennis Miskić