Fachhochschule Kärnten - gemeinnützige Privatstiftung

Their core work

Carinthia University of Applied Sciences is an Austrian applied research university based in Spittal an der Drau, contributing practice-oriented research to EU projects on migration integration, sustainable mobility, and Green Deal transitions. Their work focuses on understanding how migration affects rural and mountain communities, and how just transitions can be implemented at the local level. They bring a regional Austrian perspective — particularly from alpine and rural contexts — to large European research consortia addressing societal challenges.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 involvement (STEVE, 2017) was in electric mobility and transport demonstration, a purely technical topic. From 2020 onward, they shifted decisively toward social sciences — migration policy, rural integration, and Green Deal transitions with strong gender and equity dimensions. The trajectory shows a move from niche transport technology participation toward broader societal challenge research, particularly around how rural and peripheral communities navigate major European transitions.

Moving firmly into social sciences and humanities research on just transitions and rural development — expect future work at the intersection of climate policy and social equity in peripheral regions.

How they like to work

Exclusively a participant — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, joining as a contributing partner in all three. With 68 unique consortium partners across 21 countries, they work in large, diverse consortia rather than tight bilateral collaborations. This suggests they contribute specific regional expertise or case-study capacity rather than driving project design, making them a reliable consortium member who can deliver localized Austrian/alpine research components.

Despite only three projects, they have built a wide network of 68 partners across 21 countries, reflecting participation in large RIA/IA consortia. Their reach spans most of Europe without a strong geographic concentration beyond their Austrian base.

What sets them apart

Their location in Carinthia — a rural alpine region near the Austrian-Italian-Slovenian border — gives them authentic firsthand perspective on mountain community challenges, cross-border dynamics, and rural migration that desk-based urban universities cannot replicate. For any consortium needing an Austrian case study site or rural/mountain region research partner, they offer both academic credibility and genuine local embeddedness. Their applied sciences orientation means research outputs tend toward practical policy recommendations rather than purely theoretical work.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MATILDE
  Their largest H2020 project (EUR 213,344), directly addressing the politically urgent topic of migration impacts on rural European communities — a niche few institutions research with local authority.
• SHARED GREEN DEAL
  Running until 2027, this is their most recent and longest-running project, positioning them in the social sciences side of the Green Deal across ten sustainability dimensions.