Center for Environmental History (ZUG)
A new networking project in Austria

In most European countries environmental history is not formally represented in universities, research institutions or curricula. Research and teaching in the field of environmental history is done by individual scholars at various institutions and under different denotations.

In Austria, the Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies of Klagenfurt University (IFF) in Vienna has established an Austrian “Center for Environmental History” (Zentrum für Umweltgeschichte, ZUG). ZUG is a project of the professorship for Environmental History at Klagenfurt University and is coordinated by Verena Winiwarter. It is meant as a step in the process of institutionalising environmental history and serves as a focal point in Austria's research landscape.

Currently, ZUG coordinates a newly established curriculum in environmental history, serving as an information point for students. The “Wahlfachbündel”-curriculum – a combination of courses at several Viennese Universities – takes six semesters and offers multi-disciplinary viewpoints of the history of interrelations between society and nature. The curriculum approaches environmental history from both the humanities and social- and natural sciences.

Our other current activity is an international lecture series. It was successfully started in September 2003 with talks by Prof. Ravi Rajan (University of Santa Cruz, CA) and Prof. Geoff Cunfer (Southwest State University, Marshal, MN).

The Center aims to establish a virtual platform for an Austrian environmental history network. It offers an information platform for scholars and research institutions in Austria, provides links to ongoing research projects and document Austrian environmental history research. In doing so, the Center hopes to contribute to the promotion of environmental history as an integrative effort among scholars and students with a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds.