About Us

Leads RIC activities in research, development, and innovation management with a strong focus on direct industry cooperation. He coordinates interdisciplinary collaboration across Montanuniversität Leoben to combine expert knowledge for high-quality project delivery. Current priorities include sustainable hydrogen and carbon production, CCUS technologies, low-footprint waste and residual material use, and integrating life-cycle analysis already at laboratory development stages.

Joined RIC Leoben as Project Manager in March 2018 and coordinates the application, development, and implementation of EIT RawMaterials and related projects. He acts as an interface between RIC, university institutes, and EIT RM, while building networks with relevant partners and supporting selected initiatives as project expert. He is also involved in organizing workshops, project meetings, and other networking events. Hanno is a graduate mining engineer from Montanuniversitaet Leoben with extensive industry experience in business development, sales, marketing, and recycling equipment.

Education Project Manager at RIC Leoben for EU projects, continuing education expansion in the RIC Education Competence Center, and didactic concept development. She completed her PhD with distinction in further education at the University of Graz (2024), worked at Graz University of Technology, and focuses on Engineering Education 5.0 linking research, education, and society.

Joined RIC Leoben in 2019 as Education Portfolio Manager and holds a Master's degree in Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. She worked for 17 years as Senior Lecturer at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, specializing in management and cultural competences through learning labs. Her current focus is developing the RIC Education Competence Center and managing EIT and Erasmus portfolios that connect research, education, business, and society.

Research and Project Manager focused on networking, project development, and SDG-oriented initiatives. She represents Montanuniversitaet Leoben and RIC in national sustainability alliances, including the Alliance of Sustainable Universities in Austria and Climate Change Centre Austria. She is currently working on her PhD on sustainability communication in the raw materials sector.

Specializes in holistic sustainability assessment, environmental footprints, and life-cycle analysis. He leads SDG 12 in the Austria-wide sustainability flagship project UniNEtZ and serves as elected committee chair. His current PhD work examines product sustainability and aims to support more transparent, evidence-based decision-making in industry.

Joined RIC in April 2024 after completing legal studies at Karl-Franzens University Graz, a court year at the Regional Court Leoben, and several years in an international company in Leoben. Her responsibilities include project controlling as well as personnel and financial management. She values the collaborative team culture and the wide range of cross-cutting tasks at RIC.

Part of RIC Leoben since 2019 and manager of MiReBooks, a pan-European mining education project with 14 partners and a 3 million EUR budget funded by the EIT RawMaterials Academy. He holds an MSc in Mining Engineering from the University of Leon and previously worked for many years in the oil and gas service industry. He is currently preparing his PhD in the field of digital teaching platforms.

Joined RIC Leoben in 2021 as Education Project Manager after studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and TU Wien. She brings over five years of experience in international communication and sustainable development, including roles at UNIDO and the IAEA. Her work combines project management with strategic links between sustainability agendas, policy frameworks, and education initiatives.

After completing his studies in non-ferrous metallurgy at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Karl Büchner gained experience as a process engineer in metal extraction from secondary raw materials. In 2022, he began his doctoral studies at Montanuniversität Leoben. Since January 2026, he has been working in the hydrogen division at RIC Leoben, where he applies his expertise to current research and innovation projects.

She joined RIC Leoben in 2025 as a working student. A mining engineer and master's student in Raw Materials Engineering, she currently focuses her thesis on carbon intensity and traceability. At RIC, she supports project planning, documentation, and coordination while contributing to research activities, reporting, and technical implementation. She also develops web design and web applications for research and innovation projects and creates mining-related visual and analytical materials, including content for MiReBooks.