University Rector Gernot Hanreich passed away unexpectedly

16. April 2025

Tragic loss. Gernot Hanreich, Rector of Burgenland University of Applied Sciences, passed away.

Burgenland University of Applied Sciences mourns the loss of its long-serving Rector and Head of the Department of Energy & Environment, Gernot Hanreich.

Eisenstadt/Pinkafeld, 16 April 2025 - The news of the Rector's death reached Burgenland University of Applied Sciences this morning completely unexpectedly. Last Friday, Hanreich had to excuse himself from the graduation ceremonies for the first time in his career as Rector due to illness. The cause of death is not yet known.

Colleagues at the university are stunned and deeply shocked.

In Gernot Hanreich, Burgenland University of Applied Sciences has lost an outstanding personality who drove the development of our institution and the entire higher education sector with great passion. With his enormous expertise, he played a key role in shaping the university. He enriched every encounter with his charming and friendly nature. Students, lecturers and colleagues alike held him in high esteem. We shared a friendly and collegial working relationship. We are enormously saddened by today's tragic news.

Georg Pehm, Managing Director of Burgenland University of Applied Sciences

Gernot Hanreich significantly involved in the development of FH Burgenland

Prof. (FH) DI Dr Gernot Hanreich was born in Klagenfurt in 1969, lived in Vienna and is survived by two children, his wife and family. He studied electrical engineering with a subsequent doctorate at the Vienna University of Technology, where he was also a university assistant at the Institute of Industrial Electronics and Materials Science. Since 2002, he has worked at the Burgenland University of Applied Sciences, first as a lecturer, then as head of several degree programmes and, since June 2013, as head of department and head of the Energy and Environmental Management degree programme. He was the development team leader of several degree programmes.

As Rector, he chaired the College as the university's highest academic body for three terms, the fourth of which he took up together with Vice-Rector Bettina Schauer-Frank in June 2023. In this role, he was also a member of the board of the Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference for many years. Hanreich also represented the university on the board of the Burgenland Ecoenergy Fund and was deputy chairman of the Josef Ressel Senate of the Christian Doppler Research Association. He was a member of the Council for Research in Burgenland and Deputy Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH.

In addition to his family, friends and the university, he was passionate about the KAC ice hockey club.

The University of Applied Sciences Burgenland would like to thank everyone for their condolences and asks that the family's privacy be respected at this difficult time.

Mag.a Christiane Staab │ Marketing and Communication │ University of Applied Sciences Burgenland GmbH │ Tel: +43 (0)664 885 03 927 │ E-Mail: christiane.staab(at)hochschule-burgenland.at

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