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What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Barbara Weitgruber’s journey from translator to Director General
• The challenges and triumphs of international negotiations to facilitate scientific research and collaboration
• How citizens can get involved in research and make an impact

Fluent in four languages and proficient in more than eight, Barbara Weitgruber always thought that following her passion for languages would lead to a career in translating and interpreting. Instead, Weitgruber’s path led her to a different way of connecting people as the Director General for Scientific Research and International Relations with the Austrian Ministry. 

Among other titles and committee memberships, Weitgruber’s role as Director General entails providing a framework to enable scientific research and education opportunities and facilitating international and multidisciplinary collaboration on projects. This work has brought academic teams from warring cultures together, enabled researchers to move more freely across countries in service of their work, and sourced projects with data that could not have been collected without global cooperation. 

As the world is facing new and more complex challenges such as scarce resources, climate change, and demographic change, people are looking to scientists for answers. “We try to provide framework conditions that can give those answers more quickly,” Weitgruber explains, citing funding as part of her work but putting more emphasis on mission-oriented research, or research that starts with a focused question. Using these central missions, Weitgruber is able to negotiate with countries to work together, establish a large-scale infrastructure that one entity or country wouldn’t be able to afford or resource alone, and build interdisciplinary teams of lawyers, sociologists, and psychologists in addition to scientists to tackle all sides of an issue. 

“There’s a lot of impact citizens can have on research by contributing themselves,” Weitgruber explains, encouraging individuals who want to help to get involved with local research opportunities, often called “citizen science.” She also acknowledges the need for corporations to adjust their behavior, and encourages social changes to this effect, explaining, “large companies will adapt to consumer needs so once there’s a social change, the companies will follow.” 

Listen to the third episode of rinaLAB to hear more about the international connections that Weitgruber has facilitated, how you can get involved locally, and her advice for finding and following your passion! 

rinaLAB is a founding_media podcast created in partnership with OST Austria.

Host: Dan Dillard

Guest: Barbara Weitgruber

Transcript:

welcome back to the real lab podcast the show explores the science and the people behind the research and innovation network Austria also known as green this week we had the opportunity to talk to Barbara buying group barbers curly the director general for scientific research and international relations at the Austrian federal ministry of science and research she has a long list of accolades and has done some incredible work for the scientific community I’ll let her tell you more about her story let’s get this in the system thank you for being with us this is been a very us special time in learning and sharing knowledge with scientific community and I’m so excited to talk about your specialty in what you’ve done and contributions in your life so he took me back to well first of all let’s talk about what you do now and then we want to go back to how he started well my official position as director general for scientific research and international relations at the Austrian ministry of education science and research which means in practice trying to provi de free member conditions to enable research in science in Austria to foster and international corporation to go and especially focuses on the European Union well yes awesome I one understands hi one get started how did you fall into this so take us back to that moment we like I’m a start in this direction and then held in Atlanta well it actually started in the United States when I was a full partner in eighty six eighty seven at the university of Illinois at Chicago where a due to muster program in communications focusing on international intercultural communication and also worked as a teaching assistant and what got quite excited about how detailed with international students student orientation and student advising and talked about that at my home university the university of growth during Christmas break which made the university of decide actually and director to set up an international office at the university of Maine and I was hired as the first staff member after coming back from the US close the like it was exciting it was fun I had no idea what would be the outcome but it was just fascinating of of actually creating your own environment because there was just one professor also pro bono actually and cheering did the whole venture and I was the only one employed at the office and we twenty try to build up the international corporation and to exchange programs or the university at that point did you know how much impact it would have no never ever hello and we were talking a little bit ago about the desire to internal to the to do this was languages your interest in languages

yeah I have of all these love languages already when I was at school and twenty two via translator an interpreter to links different cultures and different nations and that was actually why I chose to to intern intercultural communications of which definitely help then also in in working in international settings when the Iron Curtain fell Austria being in neighboring country to a lot of central and eastern European countries we supported their high education research system buys scholarship programs and also by capacity building including also research infrastructure which was not available in these countries so they could come and train at university of quotes and that was in the in the nineties industrial twenty European Union in the mid nineteen nineties and before that we were able to take part in some of the E. U. programs for education and research so in the hospice program is the best known which is a mobility program for students and teachers and university was so successful that it was hired to go to Vienna in took over the agency at a time before ostrich on the European Union and to banister twenty European Union I became a director in the ministry in charge of education and higher education and I’ve been working with the ministry responsible for science and research of Adam most involved in European and international relations but also science and research and the inn was in Europe there is something that is called the European research area being built up actually twenty eight countries for the time being and as of next year unfortunately without the you Kate would only be twenty seven trying to enable researchers to move slowly up between the countries but also knowledge to travel freely so knowledge transfer is an important element and joint corporation also internationally so it’s twenty seven oh for the time being twenty eight countries meeting regularly of imbeciles or in individual countries we take turns so every half year another E. U. country is chairing the so called council of the European Union and Austria has the pleasure and the honor of since July first is here until December thirty first to be that the president of the European Union so we were hosting over forty events in higher education and research in Austria and also chairing the council meetings negotiating and then it was twice on the formal level and once the informal level the ministers of all the twenty eight E. U. member states meeting discussing and actually finalizing the negotiation on the seven year program for research and innovation in the European Union so that was a political decision

and now it would be negotiated with the European Parliament which includes again of the parliamentarians from all twenty eight member states being elected on the European Parliament elections and by the end of twenty twenty will have a new program of running for seven years but not just for researchers in Europe unlimited which citizens should they have but also international collaboration is an element of this program so countries can associate to take part and of the United States for the time being are the social partners so they can also take part in in the research projects so what’s fascinating to me about that is that your path as far as I started here and I saw this it it sounds like the the change of the future what you’re able to see even from the very beginning of your career is how do I help connect people how to help connect people across the pond in all sorts of areas what are some of the the things that you’ve seen throughout your life as far as the been the the positive benefits to choosing by the work into what I’ve been very much involved in in southeast Europe in the late nineties there was actually the the Kosovo war in between Serbian and constable and we were very active in southeast Europe already when Yugoslavia fell apart and the individual democratic republics of developed out of a few guys Lafia and supported to southeast Europe in in becoming closer to the European standards in higher education and research and then especially with possible we supported teachers researchers at the at the individual universities in Kosovo and we’re also supporting students networks and regional program that was set up in the in the nineties the central European initiative for university projects of programs hoping to these countries which would not cooperate among each artist any longer to to start joint cooperation again by exchanging students and teachers and each country provides scholarships so it’s you didn’t have to exchange money which is of course always a challenge especially this poor countries so they just offer places at the dormitories or provide to cafeteria meals so everyone could afford it and what was nice to see that there were networks where you have to former countries countries having been in war before a to cooperate and Serbia and Kosovo and Bosnia and Croatia and Macedonia included in an academic network developing a joint curriculum in humanities for instance

or some of the project in in medicine where the sweetest corporation the training could be imposed so you could actually save lives so things like that a very unlikely you see the sustainability of what you’re doing and he also supporting a program of medical seminars which is co financed actually by George Soros and and his open science foundations and our ministry has been we have been doing this for many years of was support of of doctors medical doctors in southeast Europe central Europe and also under developing countries where their product and to to Austria to a to a seminar being dogged by medical doctors from the US of Columbia University for instance of an Austrian universities over a certain period of time just a week or two but they are kept in the network so wants to go back home they can always get back to the to the supervisors endear helped in in in training also impose workshops in their countries with the positive results that they’re not leaving their countries and with some in Albania and Montenegro up to fourteen percent of the medical doctors have been going through the training and days suspension rate is quite high so because they feel as part of a network to have the newest methods and in no that date they can always go back in and have additional training so it’s it’s that kind of stuff this is and it’s it’s it’s building networks again that’s like the Austrian scientist in North America network where we support the Austrian academics and researchers in Canada and the US just by putting them together once a year and also awarding three as seen on boards of where we showcase and some that were very successful in publishing in in the U. S. into must year which shows them that there is this appreciation of the Republic of Austria for what they’re doing rumors it’s so fascinating that all that works in the so and you explain the the path of what happened do you have a family background in science or was it was it’s just

I’ve always liked languages and I went to a school where could earn have French Latin and English and I love languages sent to was able to work a sin appear a during summer holidays when I was seventeen in France for a month and our office and try to learn additional languages and office wanted to become an interpreter and was quite good at school and luckily in Austria you don’t have to pay tuition fee so you can afford college easily and I’ve I’ve was working out all the time but when it was just college teaching actually privately and to I I started to English and French as an interpreter and translator of and after a few semesters actually in the fourth semester I interpreted for a south African freedom fighter it on an unnamed international women’s day and realized that it could never do to interpretation for an official government representative in the apartheid regime and of course when I decided not to become an interpreter of the junior translator in the switch to American studies English and American studies because I was always fascinated with the US and languages do you speak on what I ate my mother turned my native tongue to put it politically correct this is German and English is kind of the second became the second language of French some Spanish and had some courses in Russian Croatian but that got lost with the time but in I love languages Italian is easy because I had Latin and so I can read a little so German German Jack Germans well German English French at quite good and and I can read it to us Franson so is this the is I love the path is the fascination languages at seven two part it was not I didn’t decide to become I never wanted to become an official actually and and now and a civil servant in the ministry that was not the Kobe apart it for something a judge just laughed and international corporation and and the European Union programs and when we tried to European Union of it had to be someone on a civil servant representing the Republic of Austria so I had to actually trying to ministry and become a civil servant to do that and all this left to be in in Brussels in meetings and negotiations yeah and contribute sure that works on the work is got both amazing rewards but there’s also probably because there’s diplomacy involved in politics I’m sure there’s a lot of frustrations as well but I’m very persistent hazardous if that helps yeah it it’s definitely it’s it’s quite frustrating when you’re sometimes in international negotiations and we have partners all around the globe and and

of course signs diplomacy is also trying to negotiate with a conscience which are quite different the most challenging experiences are definitely in countries like Saudi Arabia were in the tweet women differently and I was head of delegation for education for higher education working group and that’s quite challenging all of a sudden death you have to cover yourself and cannot shake hands and still be at the same level in the negotiation of the partnership one it it would I can only imagine but it it can definitely I can see the frustration that just because are they really hearing and respecting what you’re saying when they’re having as of the moment when they did the positive outcome was that we got the agreement doing we want to do it in the beginning so the course at least the success was on our side but it was quite challenging it was the the Ostern delegation about one third was women and it was the same challenge for all of us because sometimes they just wanted to talk to the men but they were not the leaders that were not the heads of delegations so that was also it’s part of an explaining your own culture by by doing that through this image of the countries yeah that’s that’s really interesting as far as as far as of where those workers taking you into other countries and and you have reached this kind of conversations which challenges do you see now today you’re trying your removing a pushing for was the agenda now that are you it is in the the the what has become quite challenging as we all realize when we watch the news and the media and in the field of research withstood the global challenges we all face beat on climate change and scarce resources the demographic change and there’s a lot of pressure on the research to provide answers and we try to provide twenty four conditions that make it possible to have answers quicker because we all realize that time is running so on the one hand it’s more funding for science and research was in the national but also in the European Union level and also and putting a focus on mission oriented research of that you start with the research question for water for instance I mean the discussion on plastic emotions so healthy water is an issue across the globe and you need to put the right people together because it’s not just researchers dealing with the ocean but you need to legal experts because it’s also about international treaties international loss you need to a social all sociologists and psychologists because people have to to act differently in order not to have plastic in oceans

so that that kind of new approaches to research also important and of course international corporation because these questions a so thick and it was so important and for some of them you need to and big data you need to large scale infrastructure of which one country cannot actually built by its own north fort bites on so within the European Union we have to strategy form for research infrastructure when we come up with road maps that the twenty adopted the all the member states and then implemented of where one country takes indeed one infrastructure in the number one for another and then you you type of have members of contributing in order to to to help solve some of these big issues tune things you mention was funding arm in from a layman’s perspective I’m gonna tell you that for a long time I’ve been very interested in in ocean Conservancy and all the things that you just talked about the climate change and and the things that we just discussed and in my mind as a business owner it’s okay I’m gonna go look for a nonprofit this doing this work but what I’m hearing you say is that’s one way to help those another way to help the city is look for the sign says they’re doing the work to see if they need funding that is that how does one go about doing that I guess is if the audience is the sooner you know you don’t want to support what you’re doing hold on to do that one of them one more feature research is actually trying to involve citizens already when the defined the research question and this is something at least in in Europe we’re putting a focus on that the researchers should action he try to solve the right issues so we have some pilot projects for instance in child psychiatry of were and the general public was asked to does to the concerned parents nurses teachers doctors what questions do they have that they have not gotten an answer yet and a lot of feedback came then you have experts and that goes through all these responses because some of them will already have answers but they simply do not know where to find them but then there were there were some research questions defined the technical been dealt with and there was a coal for interest for researchers and interdisciplinary research teams were built

so because you needed to the medical side you needed to the the sociologists psychologists but also simply conditioners and the research group was set up in a way that they always involved also parents association and two of the nurses and and and practitioners in order to define their research in the way that the answers with and also be used to could be used immediately in practice and this is called responsible science and citizen science indecent destructive so quite two popular already in in Europe and also in some parts of the US I think that’s the way to do it so as you were talking about that makes me think and compare to you know one of the issues in that I have talked to love founders about especially starting companies with this new technologies or whatever they’re trying to start start to impact the world is is funded is one of the questions and so now you’ve got various Reese looking for how to get funding for their company or non profit that we talked as well but some of these others like crowdsourcing to from that is there anything in the science community is a crowdsourced that the public can just go fund and then be used for science the penal I don’t know if there is from well it’s it’s it’s for its crowdsourcing and crowd funding because sometimes it’s not just the money but you need to you need to people to have to write information on which is also fascinating because you can in wolf schools and pupils as well so you use simply at very easy examples are in nature where you you have certain kinds of of of birds of butterflies and you want to find out if in a certain region they are still there or if the number has increased to increase so you will ask the question to the general public and they can send you of a text message or a what’s up with that picture we do the same Mister Ostrom metrological an agency with certain of weather forecasts because all last year being alpine country weather can be quite different from one valley to the next so if there’s a thunderstorm in people take pictures and sent the what’s up the have much more information than they have to the weather stations to the of course not mobile and and that works quite well so that does action impact citizens can help on research of by contributing themselves and also have fun at the same time and we have a warts that we provide for citizens that get involved in research once a year we have a programs will be both schools that come up with their own projects and then actually come up with a complete with soft of working with researchers at the same level from the sounds of it it sounds like this is not a top down approach is more like we go to there’s so many issues that pick an issue that is near to your heart and then go find people to help you with the studies as far as a scientist go and in interdisciplinary science sciences and community and then find funding to do that so as a as a multiple thing that needs to come up with is not Mr like here’s like tentatively Nero now yeah there’s a fifteen issues with the whole world the move fix all others there’s some of the but and

how do we could do that I’m sure there’s already that but there’s all these other things that were not thinking of and which is route really cool because it allows you to actually follow what’s your concern what’s in your heart the store owner so that that’s a very interesting thing that I didn’t realize about the scientific community so for the audience is out there we got all types of people listing some of the students in college is trying to figure out what their career path this for those that are interested in science and International Studies which I speak well if they should do what they really want to do because then they’re good at doing what you’re doing and there are so many opportunities doing science and research and not just that universities but also in the research organizations outside of universities but also in companies Indy could also start their own small business doing research I mean there are a lot of consulting companies in social sciences which is also research in in a this is their general directory of of I want to do research and this is just a Google search on research this is for your house doing research or is there a place that people could go and see some organized companies are doing this or well like the easiest is probably once one is already at a university or a college then you probably find out easily what you’re most interested in and usually the teachers to professor of the engine research you are getting involved in you then know who are the best people in the world and and we’ll find them before that that at the school level they’re quite some universities and research organizations of reaching out to the general public and involving US citizens of them and also pupils in research project and that can usually be found either sweetie communities or on the internet what’s the future look like for you were you trying to accomplish is still in go

well there is a for the time being the the focus is of course in research on trying to solve some of the great challenges that the world faces through more mission oriented orientation in research so you start with the large research question like he’ll see waters one of the issues is the plastic for the oceans for instance where you need to interdisciplinary research groups and definitely international corporation in in solving some of the issues which are not just related to to the fact that you have the plastic in the ocean but what does this plastic do was the water and you need to legal experts because its international treaties you need psychologists and sociologists because you need to change the behavior of the winnings in order to prevent more littering so it’s it’s all this and they’re interesting to have to sit and mixed approaches and in in some of the areas of research for for climate change for instance you also need to data analysis and dictator and and a large infrastructures in some cases which you cannot happen one country but you have to build together I would think that in addition to changing pattern behavior of humans of or people that you also have to think about the rations and businesses that are producing this and how to how how can they be more responsible and I would imagine that can be frustrating because on one side you have a business is the have you know dollars and sense the trying to to create and they found some efficient ways to produce products at a certain cost budget but yet it’s not healthy for the environment so how does that look like this that frustrating there’s a lot of cooperation or what do you see usually there’s a lot of social responsibility already in businesses and you can also see it in the startup sector where the new generation is having a strong focus sexually on on environmental friendly new sketches and and and tools and instruments of and I think you you just need to have a convincing case and and also large companies will quickly adapt to consumer needs so it’s it’s probably once there is this change in society companies will definitely follow please well thank you so much for being with us today really enjoyed this conversation they learned a lot in our audience is also going to benefit hello thank you for having me thank you again Barbara he was fascinating kids learn more about what we can do is global citizens to get more involved in science and research and how it’s so important to find ways to communicate across disciplines the real podcast team includes medium Dillard producer Mariah gossip in audio engineer Jake Wallace special thanks to our friend robin Tim Weiss in the amazing team at research and innovation at work Austria if you enjoy the show please help us out by leaving a review on I tunes and hitting the subscribe button as always thank you for listening