Structure of the Institute

UNIV.-PROF. DR. CHRISTOPH PAN

Christoph Pan, born in Bolzano /Bozen, South Tyrol, Italy (1938). Swiss high school diploma (Obwalden, Switzerland) 1957, studies in Economics and Social Sciences in Fribourg, Switzerland and Innsbruck, doctoral degree (Fribourg) 1964, postdoctoral studies and qualification as professor in Political Sociology (Innsbruck) 1971, appointment as a professor (named as tit. ao. Univ.-Prof.) 1980. Instruction in Sociology and Special Sociologies at the University of Innsbruck (1971 – 2000) and the University of Salzburg (1974 – 80).

Scholarly director of the South Tyrolean Institute of Ethnic Groups in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy (1961 – 2013). Basic research on the economic and social situation of South Tyrol, setting up of self-help institutions and continuing education of leaders in business and public administration. Consultant to the South Tyrol Provincial Government on the regional development of South Tyrol, setting up of the system of social partnership and coordination of the South Tyrol Social Partner Commission (1979 – 95).

A variety of volunteer activities in the setting up of social, educational, and cultural structures in South Tyrol in the transition from the first South Tyrol autonomy to the second. Efforts at providing a contribution in solidarity to the solution of the minorities issue that became manifest after the fall of communism in Europe and striving to make South Tyrol’s headstart in this experience useful for other areas of conflict, as an expert on minorities who has consulted in more than thirty countries in Europe and at numerous events of the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament.
He has also worked with numerous international nongovernmental organizations: the International Progress Organization (IPO) in Vienna; the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) serving as president 1994 – 96; and the Society for the Enhancement of National Communities in Europe (SENCE) in Zurich (honorary president since 2004).

Scholarly focus: research on democracy, conflicts, and national minorities /ethnic groups. Ethnopolitics and protection of minorities. Numerous publications in particular from the ethnopolitical viewpoint on regional and transregional conflicts. Primary author along with Felix Ermacora of the Bolzano Draft Convention on Protection of Ethnic Groups in Europe. Author along with Beate Sibylle Pfeil of the Handbook of European National Minorities: Vol 1 Die Volksgruppen in Europa (2000) [in English translation as National Minorities in Europe (2003)] and Vol. 2 Minderheitenrechte in Europa (2002 and 2nd edition 2006) as well as coeditor of Vol. 3 Zur Entstehung des modernen Minderheitenschutzes in Europa (2006). Coeditor of the Ethnos publication series (1992 – 2006) and the journals:

• Europa Ethnica, Vienna (1996 – 2006),
  
• Altera, Târgu Mureş /Marosvásárhely /Neumarkt am Mieresch, Romania,
  
• Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen, Springer Verlag Vienna /New York (2008 – 12), Verlag Österreich Vienna (2012 – 16), Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin (from 2016).
  

Awards and honors:

• Gábor Bethlen Award (1995)
  
• Minorities Award of the Republic of Hungary (1995)
  
• Cross of Honor for Science and Art 1st Class of the Republic of Austria (2004)
  
• European Charlemagne Award SL (2004)
  
• Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2010)
  
• Order of Merit of the Province of Tyrol (2015)
  
• Honorary President of the South Tyrolean Institute of Ethnic Groups (2015)
  

DR. IUR. BEATE SIBYLLE PFEIL

Beate Sibylle Pfeil, born 1967 in Stuttgart. Studies in law at the University of Heidelberg, first state examination in 1993, second state (bar) examination in 1995 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (Ass. iur., i. e. qualified for court under German law). Doctoral degree in 2002 at the University of Innsbruck with a thesis on Comparative Minority Law in Europe.

Until 2016 research associate and since then occasional freelancer at the South Tyrolean Institute of Ethnic Groups. Since 2017, representative of Germany to the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg /Straßburg and vice-chair of the executive board of the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), Flensburg, Germany.

Consultant for international NGOs. Since 2004, member of the board of the Society for the Enhancement of National Communities in Europe (SENCE) headquartered in Zurich and member of the advisory board of the International Institute for Ethnic Group Rights and Regionalism (INTEREG) in Munich.

Scholarly focus: protection of national minorities /ethnic groups at the level of international and EU law as well as of public, constitutional, and administrative law. Individual and collective minority rights, protection of minority languages, minority policy, and conflict prevention. Numerous scholarly publications and lectures in many countries in Europe. Author along with Christoph Pan of the Handbook of European National Minorities: Vol. 1 Die Volksgruppen in Europa (2000) [in English translation as National Minorities in Europe (2003)] and Vol. 2 Minderheitenrechte in Europa (2002 and 2nd edition 2006) as well as coeditor of Vol. 3 Zur Entstehung des modernen Minderheitenschutzes in Europa (2006).

From 2002 to 2007, editor of Europa Ethnica (Braumüller Verlag Vienna). From 2008 to 2016, editor of the Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen EJM.

UNIV.-PROF. DR. PAUL VIDESOTT

Paul Videsott, born in 1971 in Bruneck, South Tyrol, Italy. Member of the Ladin minority. Studies in romance languages and literature and political science in Innsbruck and Eichstätt. 1999 doctoral degree and 2004 postdoctoral studies and qualification as professor in Romance Philology at the University of Innsbruck. Research associate and lecturer at the universities of Trento, Munich, and Salzburg. Since 2006, Professor of Romance Philology /Ladin Studies at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. Schrödinger Scholar at the École Nationale des Chartes in Paris (2005 – 06), visiting professor at the research center Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française (ATILF)/Université de Lorraine in Nancy (2012), research semester at the Département des littératures de langue française /Université de Montréal, Canada (2013). Since October 2013, scholarly director of the South Tyrolean Institute of Ethnic Groups. Editor of the series “Scripta Ladina Brixinensia”, editor in chief of the Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen and co-editor of the Revue de Linguistique Romane (more detailed curriculum vitae on the website of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano).