Speakers 2026

Mina Ahadi (*1964) is a human rights activist and women’s rights advocate of Iranian origin. Throughout her life, she fought against the paternalism of state and religion. After the Islamic Revolution and the execution of her then-husband, she initially found asylum in Austria, later moving to Germany. In 2001, she founded the International Committee Against Stoning, in 2004 the Committee Against the Death Penalty, and in 2007 the Central Council of Ex-Muslims – since then, she has been under police protection.

Martin Andree (*1971) is a media scholar, sought-after expert, and consultant for digital media and marketing. He teaches at the University of Cologne and has published several books on his field of research, most notably the “Atlas of the Digital World” (2020). His bestseller “Big Tech Must Go” earned him the Günter Wallraff Special Prize for Press Freedom and Human Rights in 2024. His latest coup, “War of the Media: Dark Tech and Populists Take Power,” was published in 2025.

Christine Ax (*1953) is a sustainability researcher, philosopher, and author. She focuses on ecological transformation, societal shifts in values, and how to shape the economy and culture for the future. She has served on numerous political bodies and initiated projects at the intersection of the environment, urban development, and social innovation. Since 2020, she has been helping to build the “Rights of Nature” network in Germany, which advocates for the legal recognition of nature as a legal entity. Today, she is the network’s chair and a key voice in the movement for the rights of nature.

Anna Baar (*1973) is a writer and novelist of Croatian descent. After studying journalism, Slavic studies, theater studies, and media studies in Vienna and Klagenfurt, she began writing poetry, prose, and essays on artistic productions and exhibitions. Her first novel, “The Color of the Pomegranate,” remained on the ORF bestseller list for months in 2015 and was nominated for several literary prizes. In 2022, she received the Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature. Due to her distinctive, musical narrative style, she is considered one of the most striking voices in contemporary literature.

Ursula Baatz (*1951) is a philosopher and author, a research fellow at the Institute for Religious Studies at the University of Vienna, and a long-time editor at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) (Ö1 Science and Religion). She also holds teaching positions at the Universities of Klagenfurt and Vienna in intercultural philosophy and ethics. Furthermore, she is a co-founder and editor of “polylog – Journal for Intercultural Philosophy,” a mindfulness and Zen teacher, and the biographer of the Jesuit and Zen teacher Hugo M. Enomiya-Lassalle. She has numerous publications on Zen Buddhism, Christianity, and intercultural philosophy.

Melani Barlai (*1982) is a political scientist at Andrássy University Budapest, where her research focuses on electoral integrity in Europe, political education in Hungary, and party and electoral systems. She is also a co-founder and co-director of the NGO Unhack Democracy, a watchdog organization dedicated to strengthening electoral integrity in Europe, and a co-founder and coordinator of the independent Hungarian election guidance service Vokskabin.

Dimitré Dinev (*1968) is a writer, playwright, and screenwriter from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. After fleeing his homeland, he supported himself in Vienna with odd jobs, studied philosophy and philology, and began writing in German. He achieved his literary breakthrough in 2003 with the family novel “Engelszungen” (Angel Tongues) – since then, his texts, plays, and screenplays have been translated into over 15 languages ​​and performed in several countries. He received the Austrian Book Prize in 2025 for his sensational second historical novel, “Zeit der Mutigen” (Time of the Brave), which is over 1000 pages long.

Antonio Fian (*1956) is a novelist and essayist, radio and theater playwright, known in Austria primarily as the author of pointed short plays. For many years he was the editor of the literary magazine Fettfleck, and to this day he contributes regularly to the newspapers Der Standard and Falter. His literary work is published mainly by the Graz-based literary publisher Droschl. Fian has received numerous awards, most recently the Humbert Fink Literature Prize of the City of Klagenfurt and the Reinhard Priessnitz Prize.

Barbara Frank (*1980) has been an editor at ORF Carinthia since 2004. Previously, she studied German Studies and Media Communication in Klagenfurt. In 2008, she was first involved in organizing the Bachmann Prize at the regional studio, and since 2010 she has worked as the “Carinthia correspondent” for the radio station FM4. Last year, while researching a Bachmann documentary, she made a remarkable discovery: the great poet’s only screenplay for her work “The Good God of Manhattan,” which had been thought lost for decades.

Irene Fußl (*1978) is a German studies scholar and has worked at the Literature Archive of the University of Salzburg (Ingeborg Bachmann Research Center) since 2013, where, together with Hans Höller (until 2021) and Uta Degner (since 2021), she edits the Salzburg Bachmann Edition, of which 12 volumes have been published to date. Her research also focuses on Paul Celan and Ilse Aichinger, as well as literature by women of the 19th and 20th centuries in general.

Susanne Glass (*1970) is a radio and television journalist and author. She has worked for the Bavarian Broadcasting Station since 1994, currently as Head of Foreign Affairs and Political Background, commentator for the ARD news program “Tagesthemen,” and presenter for programs including “Brennpunkt.” From 2016 to 2021, she was Chief Correspondent at the ARD studio in Tel Aviv. Prior to that, from 1999 (the beginning of the Kosovo War), she reported on Austria and Southeast Europe as an ARD correspondent for the Vienna studio. From 2006 to 2016, she was President of the Foreign Press in Vienna, and in 2014 she received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria.

Camilla Sophia Haake (*1990) is a lawyer and postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Fundamental and Human Rights in Vienna. Her research focuses on the intersection of human rights, environmental protection (rights of nature), and economics. After studying law at the Universities of Konstanz and Trier, as well as in France (Auvergne), she earned her doctorate with a dissertation on general international law (focus: technology regulation). Subsequently, she worked, among other things, as a lawyer specializing in banking and capital markets law.

Bernhard Heinzlmaier (*1960) is a social scientist, management consultant, and youth researcher. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Youth Culture Research and has served as its honorary chairman since 2003. His primary occupation is managing the market research company T-Factory in Vienna and Hamburg. He also holds numerous teaching positions in Germany and Austria and is a frequent and outspoken participant in various television debates.

Michael Jungmeier (*1965) is an ecologist and human geographer. He holds a UNESCO professorship at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences and heads the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (ICEB). Previously, he established the internationally active consulting and research company E.C.O. Institute for Ecology in Klagenfurt, which supports the planning and management of nature reserves. He is the author of numerous studies and a member of the Man and the Biosphere Committee of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Hatto Käfer (*1956) is a novelist and EU insider. After a career in the private sector, he held several leading positions within the European Union, including at the European Commission’s Representation in Austria, the Commission’s Historical Archives, and the Press Department of the European Court of Justice. As an EU expert, he advocates for a pragmatic and measured approach to European integration; as a novelist, he writes about the complex relationship between politics and economics, most recently publishing his Brussels novel “The Phantom of Parliament” (2024).

Ferdinand Kaineder (*1957) is a theologian, communications coach and author. From 2000 until his unexpected dismissal in 2009 by Bishop Ludwig Schwarz, he was the press officer for the Diocese of Linz. In 2012, he took over the media office of the religious orders of Austria. Since 2019, he has worked independently as a communications consultant, media expert, and coach, and since 2021, he has been president of Catholic Action Austria. In this capacity, he repeatedly calls for the abolition of mandatory celibacy and the ordination of both women and men to the priesthood.

Angelika Kiessling-Kranzelmayer (*1971) is manager at the personnel and management consultancy Pendl Piswanger. After graduating from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, she held management positions at the international industrial and technology company Bosch until 2022. Since then, she has worked as a management consultant, supporting executives and organizations in transformation and strategy processes. As a thought leader, she actively contributes her experience from industry, management, and leadership advisory to the public discourse on work, diversity, and social cohesion.

Ines Charlotte Knoll (*1959) holds a doctorate in theology and applied philosophy. Until 2019, she headed the parish office of the Lutheran City Church in Vienna and now works as a chaplain, including at the Vienna General Hospital (AKH). She gained wider recognition through her broadly based lectures, newspaper columns, podcasts, and contributions to the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) radio program Ö1, as well as the television program “Was ich glaube” (What I Believe). Following Fresach, the columnist for “Die Furche” will be an expert on the writings of Ingeborg Bachmann, Hannah Arendt, and Dorothee Sölle.

Andrea Mattioli (*1970) has been the Protestant Superintendent of Carinthia and East Tyrol since December 2025. After studying theology in Tübingen, Munich, and Rome, she began her career as a pastor in the Ludwigsburg deanery. She initially came to Carinthia as a vacation chaplain and has been a pastor in the Zlan-Ferndorf parish association since 2019. She is married and has three sons. Her main goal for the Diocese of A.B. Carinthia-East Tyrol is to cultivate and expand the strong partnership for the religious, social, and cultural life of the region.

Arnold Mettnitzer (*1952) is a theologian, psychotherapist, and author. After his studies, he was ordained a priest in Rome in 1978 and served for the next 25 years as a parish priest, rector of the St. Georgen am Längsee educational center, and diocesan youth chaplain in Carinthia. After leaving the ministry, he deepened his psychotherapeutic work in his private practice and became active as a seminar leader and lecturer in adult education. He is a freelance contributor to the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) and a regular columnist for the Kleine Zeitung newspaper. In 2013, he received the professional title of “Professor” from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

Alexander Peer (*1971) lives as a freelance writer in Vienna. He writes about literature, philosophy, and architecture and has published novels, short stories, poems, and essays, most recently “111 Places in Pinzgau You Must See,” “Gin to the End, Eighteen O’Clock,” “Until Death Avoids Us,” “Land Beneath Them,” and “Lord, Have Mercy on Me” (about Leo Perutz). He has received several awards, was writer-in-residence in Schwaz, and most recently worked as writer-in-residence in Hawthornden (UK) and Ventspils (Latvia).

Thomas Peyker (*1961) is a diplomat and currently a senior advisor for relations with the Americas at the European External Action Service. From 2020 to 2025, he was the EU Ambassador to Guatemala, and prior to that, he served in numerous other EU diplomatic missions, including those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia (with the African Union), the United Arab Emirates, and Brussels. His areas of expertise include foreign and security policy, democracy and the rule of law, development cooperation, and conflict prevention.

Doron Rabinovici (*1961) is a writer and historian. He received his doctorate with a dissertation on the Shoah: “Instances of Powerlessness: Vienna 1938-1945. The Path to the Jewish Council.” Through his novels (including “Elsewhere” 2010, “The Attitude” 2022), his highly political essays, and critical commentaries on contemporary politics, he became known to a wider audience; nearly twenty awards, literary prizes, and grants attest to his prolific writing career.

Cornelia Richter (*1970) is a theologian and university professor, and since 2025 has been Bishop of the Evangelical Church A.B. in Austria. She comes from a family of pastors in Upper Austria. After studying Protestant theology and philosophy in Vienna and Munich, she focused primarily on systematic theology and hermeneutics – accompanied by numerous research and teaching positions in Marburg, Copenhagen, Koblenz, Giessen, and Zurich. Since 2012, she has taught at the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Bonn, and from 2020 she served there as Dean and Chair of the Senate.

Claudia Rosenwirth-Fendre (*1968) is an art educator, cultural worker, and author. She has published poems, songs, and prose and has received numerous awards, most recently the Medal of Honor of the State of Carinthia (2026). In addition to audiobooks, ORF radio broadcasts, and a consistent presence in anthologies, she has contributed award-winning works, including to the Carinthian Poetry Prize (2014). She wrote the text for the Carinthian Composition Prize (2022) as early as 1999 and contributed several songs to Hannes Benedikt’s Carinthian Requiem/koroški rekviem “ABOUT THE STARS – NAD ZVEZDAMI” (premiere 2024).

Gerhard Ruiss (*1951) is an author, musician, and advocate (IG Authors). He is considered one of the leading experts on copyright, publishing, and the book market, and is a frequent media presence on cultural issues. As spokesperson for the “Art Has Rights” initiative, he championed the paid use of creative works, including in digital media. He is one of the founders of the platform “The Value of Democracy” and the initiator of the “Lexicon of Anti-Democratic Terms.” In 2020, he received the H.C. Artmann Prize for his poetry.

Simone Schönett (*1972) lives as a freelance writer in Carinthia. After studying Romance languages, education, and media communication at the University of Klagenfurt, she published several novels, plays, poems, and short prose in anthologies. She founded the artists’ collective Wort-Werk, the Yenish Cultural Association in Austria, and published a magazine on the culture of mortality (amende). Promoting and preserving Yenish culture and history is of particular importance to her.

Mitra Shahmoradi (*1955) studied painting in Tehran and Vienna and has lived in Austria as a freelance painter, art educator, and writer since fleeing Iran in 1979. She has organized numerous exhibitions and artistic events on intercultural and gender-specific themes both in Austria and abroad, and her commitment has earned her a professorship. In recent years, she has published several volumes of poetry. Together with her partner, Heinz Gärtner, she regularly analyzes and addresses the current situation in Iran.

Eveline Steinberger (*1972) is an entrepreneur, startup expert, and management consultant. She held numerous top positions and roles at large corporations before founding her consulting and venture capital firm, Blue Minds Company, in 2014. She subsequently founded several innovation and energy hubs, including the well-known platform Wexelerate. She has maintained close ties to the technology scene in the US and Israel for many years, which has benefited numerous startups.

Hannes Swoboda (*1946) is President of the European Tolerance Talks. From 1996 to 2014, he was the lead candidate for the Austrian Social Democrats in the European Parliament, and from 2012, President of the European S&D Group. He has served on numerous committees and delegations and, as rapporteur with a regional focus on Southeast Europe, Central Asia, and Russia, has made significant contributions to the fight against political extremism and the promotion of minorities. His studies in economics and law, along with his diverse experience as a member of the Vienna Chamber of Labor, the Vienna Provincial Parliament, and as a city councilor, have given him a profound understanding of social and political issues.

Valentin Wedl (*1970) has been Head of the EU and International Affairs Department of the Vienna Chamber of Labor since 2010 and Vice President of the Austrian Society for European Politics since 2019. Previously, he worked in the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Justice, among other places, and edited the journal “Juridikum”. Wedl regularly publishes articles in various media outlets on European topics such as combating unemployment, regulating the financial industry, redistributing wealth and power, and transforming the economy into a fairer economic and monetary union.

Tilo Wesche (*1968) is Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. He received his doctorate in 2003 from the University of Tübingen with a dissertation on Kierkegaard and his habilitation in 2008 from the University of Basel with a thesis on “Truth and Value Judgment.” He has conducted research and taught at, among other institutions, the Universities of Freiburg, Basel, Jena, and Frankfurt. His central research interests include theories of democracy, sustainability, property, and rational freedom. His most recent publication with Suhrkamp Verlag is the widely discussed paperback “The Rights of Nature: On Sustainable Property” (2023).