Univ.Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer
Projektleitung
Harald Oberhofer is Senior Economist at WIFO and has been working in the Research Group “Indus-trial Economics, Innovation and International Competition” since 2015. He is Professor of Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His research interests include International Economics, empirical Industrial Organisation and Applied Econometrics. Harald Oberhofer studied at the University of Innsbruck and holds a doctorate in Economics and So-cial Sciences from the University of Innsbruck. Prior to joining WIFO, he worked as Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Salzburg where he received his habilitation (venia docendi) in Economics. He regularly serves as a consultant to international organisations such as the OECD and the World Bank, where he analyses the impact of institutional regulations on firm performance, also over the business cycle.
Univ.-Doz. Dr. Robert Stehrer
stv. Projektleitung
Robert Stehrer is Scientific Director at wiiw. His expertise covers a broad area of economic research, ranging from issues of international inte-gration, trade and technological development to labour markets and applied econometrics. His recent work has focused on the analysis and effects of internationalisation of production and value added trade on economic performance and labour markets. . He has published in leading journals in these fields and has been working on numerous projects funded by European Research Framework Programmes, notably in EU KLEMS (FP6), WIOD, SPINTAN and PRONTO (all FP7), as well as for international and national clients, such as the Europe-an Commission, the Joint Research Council, the European Central Bank and OECD. He studied economics at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria, and sociology at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna and is lecturer of economics at the University of Vienna.
Klaus Weyerstraß
Project coordination IHS & Senior Economist
Klaus Weyerstraß has been working at IHS since 2006. He is currently part of the research group Business Cycles, Growth and Public Finances and leads the competence area Macroeconomic Analysis. He studied Economics at the University of Osnabrück and received his doctorate from the University of Klagenfurt in 2000. He completed his habilitation (venia docendi) in economics there in 2014. Before joining IHS, Klaus Weyerstraß worked in the Department Business Cycles and Growth at the Halle Institute for Economic Research.
Klaus’ research focuses in particular on economic analysis and forecasting as well as productivity analyses and macroeconomic modeling. As a member of the IHS economic forecast group, he analyzes and forecasts the international environment, as well as investment and production potential in Austria. He also analyzes the international environment for the German Joint Economic Forecast. He participates in economic policy consulting in Austria. He also has a strong research interest in foreign trade issues. He uses macroeconometric and time series models for his analyses
Jelena Milosevic
Project-Office
Jelena Milošević is Project Manager at wiiw, where she is mainly responsible for the management of projects funded by the OeNB Jubilee Funds, and the FIW project. She joined wiiw in 2024 and has a background in project management, interpreting and research on socio-cognitive aspects of translation. She has a university degree (M.A.) in Interpreting from the University of Graz.
Mieke Hein
Project-Office
Mieke Hein has been a project manager at wiiw since 2025 and is primarily responsible for the FIW project as well as for projects funded by the OeNB Anniversary Fund. She has experience in international cooperation, project management, and research, with a focus on social movements and politics in West Asia and North Africa. She studied ethnology and Arabic studies and holds degrees from the Universities of Leipzig and Vienna.
Mag. Alexander Hudetz
Project-Office
Alexander Hudetz is Senior Economist at WIFO and has been working in the Research Group “Industrial Economics, Innovation and International Competition” since 2014. He holds a Master’s degree in International Development from the University of Vienna. Since 2014, he has headed the project office of the “Research Centre International Economics (FIW)”, which provides support to the Austrian scientific community, offers expert analysis on a number of current policy related issues in the field of international economics and organises several scientific events and lecture series.
Virág Bittó
PhD-Student
Virág Bittó is an economist at wiiw and a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), supported by the FIW program. Her research interests include global value chains, (green) innovation, and climate economics. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she worked for nearly four years as a junior researcher at the EcoAustria Institute for Economic Research in Vienna, focusing on regional economics and climate policy. During her studies, she participated as a research assistant in several research projects—at the HUN-REN Center for Social Sciences in Budapest and in the Game Theory Research Group at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She holds a BA from Corvinus University of Budapest, an MA in Economic Policy in Global Markets, and an MSc in Economic Analysis, both from Central European University (CEU).
Chiara Castelli
PhD-Student
Chiara Castelli is Economist at wiiw and PhD candidate in Economics at the WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business). Her research focuses on foreign direct investment, global value chains, labour markets and environmental protection policies. She holds a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Pisa and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (2020). Previously, she worked as an economic researcher in several institutions, including the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the University of Brescia (Italy) and the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM, Italy).
Javier Flórez Mendoza
PhD-Student
Javier Flórez Mendoza is Economist at wiiw. His research focuses on international trade, environmental economics and regional economics. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad Santo Tomas Bucaramanga in Colombia and a Master’s degree in International Economics from the University of Tübingen in Germany. Currently he is enrolled in a pre-doc position funded by the FIW.
Sujata Pokhrel
PhD-Student
Sujata Pokhrel is an economist and CGE modeler at WIFO in the Research Group “Industrial, Innovation, and International Economics”. She is also a PhD candidate in Economics at WU Vienna. Sujata holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics and International Studies from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and a Master’s degree in Economics from Tribhuvan University. Her research interests include international trade, open-economy macroeconomics, and post-crisis recovery.
Isabel Pham
PhD-Student
Isabel Pham has been an economist at WIFO since 2022 and is a PhD candidate in economics at WU Vienna. She is currently working on her PhD as part of a pre-doctoral position funded by FIW.