Institute for Advanced, Studies Austria

The Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) was founded, with support from the Ford Foundation, the city of Vienna, and the Ministry of Science and Education, by two renowned Austrian scientists: Oskar Morgenstern, who, together with John von Neumann laid the foundations of game theory, and Paul Lazarsfeld, who made key contributions to the discipline of empirical sociology. It is a private, non-profit, independent policy-oriented think tank in Austria. Furthermore, the IHS is Austria’s premier postgraduate research and training institute that combines theoretical and empirical research in economics and social sciences through the interaction between theory and practice, it provides innovative value-added services to policy makers and business practitioners. IHS has coordinated and participated in numerous projects within the EU Framework Programmes and has extensive experience in disseminating research results.

Research in health economics lies in the field of the research group Health Economics and Health Policy, which was founded at the IHS in 1999. Currently, it comprises six permanent members from the fields of economics, business administration, statistics, medicine and pharmacology, as well as student assistants. According to project requirements, cooperation is sought with other research groups and departments at the institute, e.g. labour markets, public finance or sociology, or with external national and international experts. Its studies provide decision support for health and economic policy.

As an important Austrian hub for international research facilities and organisations it has professional contacts on an international level, providing a dense network for research and best practice that it can in turn use for commissioned projects. Over recent years, also the field of long-term care in addition to health care became a focus area of its research. The members of the research group also engage in teaching and consulting for stakeholders and take part in public commissions and scientific boards.

The department of Sociology focusses on analyses of social inequalities and social change to sustainable forms of life in a comparative perspective. Most of the research in the department of Sociology is carried out in two research clusters, which represent the different intellectual fields of the Department. One of these clusters is STEPS ‘Science, Technology and Environment as social Practices’. Researchers of this group participate in SELFIE. The research group aims at the description and analysis of social practices as the social core of societal changes in several fields such as sustainable production and daily life, and medical technical development or care. The comparative research of STEPS comprises regions, nation states as well as cultures. STEPS takes part in the international discussion in social research on these issues. The group also contributes to societal problem solving in this field through science based interventions in (semi-) public discourses and through policy-oriented recommendations. In this context several evaluations of national funding programs as well as projects were developed.

Thomas Czypionka,
Dr. med. univ., Mag. rer. soc. oec.

Dr. Thomas Czypionka is Senior Researcher and head of the research group Health Economics and Health Policy. He is both an economist and MD, and received his doctorate for the latter under the auspices of the president of the republic of Austria. He has been leading applied research projects commissioned by Austrian stakeholders, the European commission, and the London School of Economics and Political Science, with a special focus on health services research, healthcare financing, and healthcare reform. Among several advisory commitments, he was expert advisor to the “Masterplan for Health” by Austrian Social Health Insurance as well as expert on the health reform commission to the chancellor in 2010. He currently heads the economic part of the initiative “future forum for oncology”. He also teaches at several universities.

Email: [email protected]

Markus Kraus,
Dr. rer. soc. oec., Mag. rer. soc. oec.

Dr. Markus Kraus is Senior Researcher in the research group Health Economics and Health Policy. He obtained his PhD (with distinction) in business administration. He also gives lectures at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. His major research fields are health and long-term care economics, health and long-term care policy, as well as comparative analysis of health care and long-term care systems. Markus Kraus’ research has been published in the European Journal of Operational Research, Central European Journal of Operations Research, Health Care Management Science, and Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. He has been supported several times by the Ministry of Science and Research as well as the Österreichische Forschungsmeinschaft to present his work at scientific conferences. Furthermore he has been involved in projects of the 6th framework programme (AHEAD) as well as of the 7th framework programme (ANCIEN) of the European Commission.

Email: [email protected]

Astrid Segert,
Dr. phil., Dipl. Phil.

Dr. Astrid Segert is Senior Researcher in the IHS department of Sociology. She obtained her PhD in philosophy. She worked as a lecturer at the Humboldt-University Berlin and as a researcher at the Institute for Sociology of the Academy of Science Berlin. Her major research field is practices of (re- )production of social inequalities and social integration of diverse social groups as well as changes towards a sustainable daily life. Astrid Segert published her research results in 3 books, in Diversitas, the journal for managing diversity and diversity studies, and in the Journal of Intellectual Capital. She has been supported several times by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency as well as by the Ministry of Science and Research. Furthermore she is involved in the 7th wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) in Austria.

Email: [email protected]

Miriam Reiss,

Mag. rer. soc. oec., Bakk. rer. soc. oec., BA

Mag. Miriam Reiss has been Researcher in the research group Health Economics and Health Policy since 2015 and previously worked as a student assistant for the research group since 2013. She graduated as MSc in economics and BA in sociology at the University of Vienna, both with distinction. In the course of her studies in economics, she also spent an exchange semester at the University of Copenhagen. In the research group, she has mainly worked on projects in the fields of health economics, health policy and comparative studies in health care systems.

Email: [email protected]