Boards
IST Austria is governed by a number of boards, each of them responsible for precisely defined tasks. The members of the boards are selected according to the basic principle of independence from any influence other than scientific or administrative excellence.
On this site:
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees oversees the development of the Institute, while acting as its highest authority and ensuring that the Institute adheres to its founding principles and vision. It provides guidance to the management and—among other tasks—is responsible for approving:
- the statutes of the organization and its strategic direction,
- the budget and annual financial statements,
- the appointment of the President, the Scientific Board, and the Managing Director, and
- the procedures for academic appointments and the promotion of scientists.
The Board of Trustees consists of 17 members. Ten of them are internationally well-known scientists, four are appointed by the Federal Government, and three are appointed by the Government of Lower Austria.

Claus J. Raidl
Chair
Former President, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Vienna

Olaf Kübler
Vice-Chair
Former President of ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Catherine Cesarsky
Chief Scientific Advisor, High Commissioner for Atomic Energy, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Peter Chen
Professor, Laboratorium für Organische Chemie and Former Vice President for Research, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Alice Dautry
Former President of Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß
CEO/CFO, Fronius International GmbH, Pettenbach

Peter Fratzl
Director, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany

Susan Gasser
Director emeritus, Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI), Basel, Switzerland

Alexander Hartig
CEO, Constantia Beteiligungsgesellschaft Austria, Vienna

Reinhard Jahn
Director, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany

Monika Kircher
Supervisory Board Member and Consultant

Iain Mattaj
Director, Human Technopole, Milano, Italy

Manfred Morari
Distinguished Faculty Fellow, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Pietro Perona
Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer
Member of the Supervisory Board, RHI Magnesita, Vienna Airport

Elisabeth Stadler
CEO of the Vienna Insurance Group, Vienna

Stefan Szyszkowitz
Spokesman of the EVN Executive Board
Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees and has the following rights and duties, among others:
- Act on behalf of the Board of Trustees in all matters between the meetings of the Board of Trustees.
- Hold preliminary discussions on matters to be brought for approval to the Board of Trustees, e.g. the annual budget.
The Executive Committee consists of five members.

Iain Mattaj
Chair
Director, Human Technopole, Milano, Italy

Reinhard Jahn
Vice-Chair
Director, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany

Elisabeth Engelbrechtsmüller-Strauß
CEO/CFO, Fronius International GmbH, Pettenbach

Claus J. Raidl
Former President, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Vienna

Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer
Member of the Supervisory Board, RHI Magnesita, Vienna Airport
Scientific Board
The Scientific Board prepares recommendations on scientific direction and on ensuring a high degree of scientific productivity. The Scientific Board consists of researchers who are internationally recognized at the highest level and an additional (non-voting) member with outstanding management experience. The members were appointed by the Board of Trustees for a term of 6 years.

Peter Fratzl
Chair
Director, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany

Maria J. Esteban
Vice-Chair
Research Director, CEREMADE, CNRS and Université Paris-Dauphine
Martín Abadi
Professor, Google AI, Mountain View, USA
Ben Feringa
Professor, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Tony F. Heinz
Professor of Applied Physics and of Photon Science, Stanford University, USA
Hannah Monyer
Professor, Department of Clinical Neurobiology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Andrew Murray
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Gene Myers
Director, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), Dresden, Germany
Bradley Nelson
Professor, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Non-voting Member:
Claus J. Raidl
Former President, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Vienna