Markus Kiesenhofer is Science Spokesperson of the Year

"WIFO's scientific quality and diversity of staff form the basis for this recognition," said Kiesenhofer, who thanked his communications colleagues Elisabeth Arnold, Tamara Fellinger, Verena Kraushofer and Tatjana Weber, Director Gabriel Felbermayr, Deputy Director Christine Mayrhuber and the entire staff of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research at the award ceremony.

The goal of WIFO's outreach strategy is to sustainably anchor the institute's research findings and recommendations in economic policy and scientific discourse and processes, as well as to generate impact in science, business, politics, and society. "We have clearly kept this promise in the past years of crisis. In face of the pandemic, war and inflation, WIFO's public value has been proven beyond doubt," Kiesenhofer emphasised.

Since 2019, Markus Kiesenhofer has been in charge of public relations at WIFO. Previously, he was head of communications at the Austrian Newspaper Association (VÖZ) and the Austrian Magazine and Specialist Media Association (ÖZV) and represented the interests of the cultural region of Lower Austria. He was a board member for the Austrian Media Academy (Kuratorium für Journalistenausbildung) and the Committee for Press Licences (Kuratorium für Presseausweise) and a substitute member of the Austrian Communications Authority's (KommAustria) Publishing Funding Council (Publizistikförderungsbeirat). He also demonstrated his expertise in the Austrian media landscape in 2017 and 2018 as co-author of the annual standard work "Media Handbook Austria" ("Medienhandbuch Österreich") published by Czernin Verlag. Kiesenhofer studied journalism and media management at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences and political science at the University of Vienna and Charles University in Prague.