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Vetmeduni reorganises itself

The University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has been operating on the basis of a new organisational plan since 1 January 2024: it now has four departments with a total of 13 centres (instead of the previous five departments). This new structure was developed in 2023 in a university-wide participatory process and came into force following a decision by the Rectorate, approval by the Senate and authorisation by the University Council. With this reorganisation, Vetmeduni is fit for the future and can tackle the challenges in research, teaching, clinical practice and administration with even greater agility. Visible signs of the change and an important signal are, for example, a new Centre for System Transformation and Sustainability in Veterinary Medicine and the fact that, for the first time in the history of the Vetmeduni, there is gender parity not only in the Rectorate, but also at departmental management level.

Campus, Vetmeduni stellt sich organisatorisch neu auf
Photo: Niko Havranek/Vetmeduni

In 2023, a major change process called "vetmeduni+" was launched. In several working groups, managers and employees of Vetmeduni considered the further development of the university. The aim of this university-wide participatory process was to set up the internal organisation of the university in such a way that it can meet the changing requirements in research, teaching, clinical practice and administration in an even more agile way.

The reasons for this comprehensive change process were very diverse; they ranged from changes in the University Act (such as the tenure-track career model or the new rules for university funding) to technological developments (progressive digitalisation of many administrative tasks and growing amounts of data in research and clinical practice) and current socio-political challenges (such as the effects of climate change on the animal world and thus on food safety or the changed demands on hybrid teaching as a result of the coronavirus pandemic).

 

Reorganisation of the departments


Within a few months, concepts for a new organisational structure were developed and subsequently discussed by the relevant committees. The new organisational plan was published in the University Gazette on 11 December 2023 following the decision of the Rectorate, the approval of the Senate and the approval of the University Council; it has been in force since 1 January 2024.

The main changes mainly concern the reorganisation of the departments and the organisational units within the departments: Vetmeduni now has four departments with a total of 13 centres (instead of the previous five departments). However, "vetmeduni+" was also used to establish innovative fields of research in the newly established Centre for System Transformation and Sustainability in Veterinary Medicine.

The new heads of the departments and centres are an important sign of all these changes: they not only stand for professional excellence and international experience as before, but also for diversity in terms of career models. At the same time, for the first time in the history of Vetmeduni, there is gender parity not only in the Rectorate, but also at the level of department heads.

All of these changes will also be gradually posted on the website over the next few months in coordination with the new department and centre heads, and an overview of the new organisational units and their managers is already available here:

Department of Biological Sciences and Pathobiology

Head of Department: Mathias Müller
1st deputy: Monika Ehling-Schulz
2nd deputy (division study affairs): Hans Tillmann Rümenapf

Centre of Biological Sciences: 

Head of Center: Mathias Müller
Deputy head of centre: Janina Burk-Luibl

Centre of Pathobiology

Head of centre: Monika Ehling-Schulz
Deputy head of centre: Herbert Weißenböck



Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences

Head of Department: Ludwig Huber
1st deputy: Leonida Fusani
2nd deputy (division study affairs): Claudia Bieber

Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology

Head of centre: Claudia Bieber
Deputy head of centre: Pamela Burger

Konrad-Lorenz-Institute of Ethology

Head of center: Leonida Fusani
Deputy head of centre: Friederike Range

Messerli Research Institute of Human Animal Interactions

Head of center: Herwig Grimm
Deputy head of center: Erika Jensen-Jarolim



Clinical Department for Small Animals and Horses

Head of Department: Jessika-Maximiliane Cavalleri
1st deputy (division study affairs): Martina Mosing
2nd deputy (clinical division). Stellvertretung: Eva Schnabl-Feichter
3rd deputy: Miriam Kleiter

Clinical Centre for Small Animal Health and Research

Head of centre: Britta Vidoni
Deputy of head of centre: Nicole Luckschander-Zeller

Clinical Centre for Equine Health and Research

Head of centre: Florien Jenner
Deputy head of centre: Nora Biermann

Clinical Centre for Animal Reproduction

Head of centre: Christine Aurich
Deputy head of centre (as from 03/2024): Martim Kaps



Clinical Department for Farm Animals and Food System Science

Head of Department: Andrea Ladinig
1st deputy: Martin Wagner
2nd deputy (clinical division): Johannes Lorenz Khol
3rd deputy (division study affairs): Evelyne Selberherr

Clinical Centre for Population Medicine in Fish, Pig and Poultry

Head of center: Astrid Holzer
Deputy head of center: Dieter Liebhart

Clinial Center for Ruminant and Camelid Medicine

Head of center: Thomas Wittek
Deputy head of center: Sonja Franz

Center for Food Science and Veterinary Public Health

Head of center: Annemarie Käsbohrer
Deputy head of center: Karin Schwaiger

Center for Veterinary Systems Transformation and Sustainability

Head of center: Barbara Metzler-Zebeli
Deputy head of center: Daniela Klein-Jöbstl       

Center for Animal Nutrition and Welfare

Head of center: Qendrim Zebeli
Deputy head of center: Jean-Loup Rault