Trainers and speakers

Philipp Almhofer works as a Key Account Manager & Career Expert at Stepstone Austria. Before joining Stepstone, Philipp gained more then 15 years of Experience in the recruiting industry (Executive Search, Recruiting & Coaching). He holds a degree in Human Resources & Knowledge management.

Martin Buxbaum studied English at the Universities of Vienna and Toronto. After several exciting years in performing arts management and as theatre company and stage director in the U.S. and Austria, he has since the early 2000s been working as freelance trainer and as English Coordinator at UAS BFI Vienna. Martin teaches a wide range of language & communication skills courses and seminars at the University of Vienna Staff Development and Centre for Doctoral Studies as well as for other academic institutions in Austria and abroad. In addition, he is a sociometry and psychodrama (Moreno) practitioner for personal and group development, and he also co-runs cubaila viena, a Cuban dance community in Vienna.

Zrinka Didara works at the Marketing and communications at the Austrian Association of Molecular Life Sciences and Biotechnology (ÖGMBT). Volunteer of Young Life Sciences Austria, (ÖGMBT-YLSA) She is a late stage PhD student in microbiology at the University of Vienna.

Martin Gróf is a core employee of the Technology Transfer Office of Slovak Academy of Sciences (TTO SAS) since May 2013 and since December 2016 he is the Head of TTO SAS. He combines in his person several years of practical experience from the private sector and applied research as well as from academia and basic research. The focus of his work lies in elaboration of technical and commercial evaluations of reported inventions and technical solutions, in cooperation in preparation and filing of applications for the protection of various types of industrial property objects, in preparation of various types of contracts/agreements as well as in active establishment of contacts with the business sector. Last but not least, he is actively involved in presentation and popularization of research results of SAS organizations. His main objective is to address issues of scientific results transfer into practice systematically and to create a fully functional and useful bridge between industry and science.

Matej Held has a degree in marketing management from OF EU in Bratislava. He has been a member of two Bratislava Hackerspaces for many years, where he popularised the topics of new technologies, education and environmental sustainability. He founded the successful Hemisphere Educational Training Company, which he later sold. He is co-founder of the integrated innovation incubator Lifbee Academy, which focuses on socially responsible business and biotechnology.

Marián Holler is a VP of Product at Pygmalios, advancing physical retail stores by leveraging in-store data. Working for disruptive technology companies for more than 15 years. Prior to Pygmalios I was Head of Product at Sygic and a member of the product team at Zoznam.sk. Product development consulting for companies like sli.do, LB, Butterfly Effect & Impact Hub. Working closely with clients and prospects to build better software for customers.

Zuzana Kováčiková works at SAIA as an EURAXESS project manager. She is a team member in the CARLis project and other two projects aimed at doctoral students and support of their labor market employment, whether in the private or academic sector. In addition to SAIA, she also works at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice as a scientist. Zuzana Kováčiková began her scientific career at Palacký University in Olomouc as a POSTDOC and then she led a scientific project that been centered on issues dealing with postural control.

Zuzana Lisoňová is a Head of Project Office at the Comenius University. Her project management record includes projects from FP7, H2020, REC, Europe for Citizens, ESF, and ERDF as well as other various international projects and national projects supported by Slovak research agencies. She is also manager of major project ACCORD: Advancing University Capacity and Competence in Research, Development and Innovation devoted to modernising research and teaching infrastructures in STEM and strengthen academia-industry cooperation (OP Research and Innovation- ERDF; 55,6 mil. Euros). Her previous work experience were the qualitative analysis researcher in EU studies (Political Science Department, CU) and project coordinator and junior researcher in think-tank (Slovak Foreign Policy Association) therefore she has rich experience in engagement with stakeholders and public in various forms, development aid and democratization.

Barbara Litsauer works at Research Services and Career Development at the University of Vienna and is project manager of the CarLis project on the Viennese side. The political scientist has been teaching at the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna for over a decade. Her focus here is on political theory and culture and politics. As Secretary General of the Institute for Science and Art, she is involved with non-university research and the promotion of young academics.  Her dissertation was awarded the Theodor Körner Prize and was published by praesens Verlag.

Marco Masia is technology transfer manager at the University of Vienna. He is founder and managing director of MARMAS GmbH, a company working at the intersection between research, innovation, and policy. He is also the Executive Coordinator of the Initiative for Science in Europe, a not-for-profit organization based in Strasbourg that represents European scientific societies advocating for research and innovation policies. Earlier he worked as assistant professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Sassari, Italy. He has also been board member and chaired the policy working group of the Marie Curie Alumni Association. He holds a PhD in Physics (Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain) and an executive MBA (Frankfurt School for Finance & Management, Germany).

Lisa-Claire Vanhooland is a PhD student at the University of Vienna. She got her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Strasbourg (France) in 2013. She pursued her studies with a Master in “Behaviour, Neurobiology and Cognition” at the University of Vienna at the department of Cognitive Biology from which she graduated in 2016. From 2015 up until the start for her PhD, she joined the team of the Haidlhof research station as a Research Assistant / Animal Trainer. Since 2017, she conducts her PhD studies on “Animal Visual Self-recognition and Self-Awareness” at the Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology of the University of Vienna, focusing on the phylogenetic and ontogenetic development of mirror self-recognition in corvids as well as on the development of new experimental approaches to the study of self-awareness in non-human animals.

Simona Veselá is a co-founder of an educational programme with the integrated innovation incubator Lifbee Academy and the Lifbee platform, which aims to create an innovative environment, support for start-ups and the biotechnology community. She has worked on several projects and has been a core member of startup projects and startups. She is a graduate of the 3-year leadership program at Nexteria Leadership Academy. She graduated in Genetics from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava, where she was also involved in scientific and popularisation activities.