Organs
of the Association
Board, Managing Director, General Assembly and Commission
The Board
The Board is responsible for leading the Association OeAWI; it has six members with voting rights.
The Chair of the Board is traditionally the President of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Other members are representatives of Universities Austria (uniko), the Academy of Sciences (OeAW), the Austrian Institute
of Technology (AIT), the University of Vienna, and the Medical University Innsbruck.
The Board’s term of office lasts two years. Board members may be re-elected multiple times.
Board members
Managing Director
The Managing Director is responsible for the management of the Administrative Office.
The Rules of Procedure determine what duties of the Board shall be assigned to the Managing Director and what the scope of the director’s power of
representation shall be. All tasks are closely coordinated with the Board.
The General Assembly
The General Assembly represents the “Assembly of Members” as defined in the Austrian Associations Act of 2002. An ordinary General Assembly is convened at least once a year. The General Assembly constitutes a quorum when at least half of the votes of full members are represented.
Essential duties of the General Assembly include the appointment and dismissal of board members, the managing director and auditors, and receipt and
approval of the Association’s report and statement of accounts in cooperation with the auditors. Furthermore, the General Assembly has the right to determine the admission or exclusion of members and can set the membership fees.
The specific amount of the membership fee and the number of allocated votes correlate to the size of the institution concerned.
The Commission
The OeAWI provides a neutral and factual platform for investigating cases of (alleged) research misconduct thoroughly and objectively. The Commission for Research Integrity is responsible for professionally investigating such cases in Austria, evaluating the severity of each violation and recommending follow-up measures.
It constitutes an independent body and consists of renowned researchers in different fields of expertise, mainly from abroad.
The Commission has neither an arbitrary nor an adjudicative function. The members of the Commission are appointed by the General Assembly for a term of two years.
Commission members may be re-appointed twice.
