Sabine Herlitschka is currently Director of the European and International Programmes Division at the Austrian Research Promotion Agency. Her responsibilities and tasks comprise a broad spectrum of services in order to strengthen the Austrian participation in competitive European and International research & technology programmes. She is involved in various European Commission Committees and expert groups related to research & technology, served as expert evaluator for the European Commission, and has initiated & coordinated several major EU initiatives.

Previous positions include her activities as Vice-Rector for Research Management and International Cooperation at the newly founded Medical University of Graz, for which she received the Austrian Higher Education Management Prize 2007. Furthermore, she did an Internship at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in cooperation with the Science Advisor in the U.S. Department of State. Before she took over the tasks as Deputy Director of the Bureau for International Research and Technology Cooperation (BIT) in Vienna she worked as researcher in an international Pharma & Biotech company.

Herlitschka holds a Ph.D. in Food- and Biotechnology with specialization in molecular biology and genetic engineering. She did her studies at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna and holds an MBA in General Management.

• Medical Competence Network Southeast: A New Initiative Fostering Cooperation in Science and Technology in Southeast Europe (October 5, 2004)
• New Medical Universities in Austria – The Youngest Universities in Europe (July 20, 2004)