Brief History of the Institut of Safety and Risk Sciences
In 1994 the Academic Senate of the University of Vienna created the Project “Nuclear Safety”, two years later the Institute of Risk Research (IRR) was founded.
In 2009 the IRR moved from the University of Vienna to the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and to the Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards. At the same time, the name of the institute changed in to Institute of Safety and Risk Sciences (ISR). Two years later ISR moved to the Department of Water – Atmosphere – Environment (WAU) were it stayed to this day.
From the foundation to October 2012 ao.Univ.Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kromp was the head of the institute. From October 2012 to October 2022 Univ.Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Liebert was head of the ISR. The deputy head was Univ.Prof. Wolfgang Renneberg until he retired in December 2015. The research areas of the Institute were expanded and the cooperation with partners inside the University for Natural Resources as well as national and international partners were deepened. After Univ.Prof. Wolfgang Renneberg retired; Dr. Nikolaus Müllner became the new deputy head of the institute. Since October 2022 Dr. Nikolaus Müllner together with his deputy head Dr. Bernd Giese head the ISR.