Bernhard Perchinig is a political scientist with more than 20 years of research experience in the field of migration and citizenship studies. Next to lecturing at Salzburg College he is a faculty member of the Department of Commercial Law and European Studies at the Danube University of Krems, where he teaches minority and migration studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Sciences from the University Vienna (1986).
Prior to joining the ICMPD, he was a Research Fellow at the University of Vienna (2008-2011) and at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2003-2009). There he directed and contributed to several EU-funded research projects, i.e. on integration courses in Europe (INTEC), naturalization policies in the European Union and in the EU member states (NATAC), intercultural policies in European cities (CLIP) and integration and migration policies in Austria. From 2000-2003 he directed the programme on international migration, social integration and diversity management at the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna, which he joined after the completion of a major research project on migration policies in European cities funded by the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research, (1998-2000). Prior to this research project he was the Head of Research at the Funds for Integration of the City of Vienna (1992-1998).
Further to his research and teaching activities Bernhard Perchinig has consulted several international organizations, national and state governments and companies. Since 2006, he chairs the Working Group on Cultural Diversity of the Austrian Commission of UNESCO. In 2008 he has been awarded the Austrian Federal Medal ("Bundesehrenzeichen") for Merits in the Intercultural Dialogue.