I have a PhD in History and Cultural Studies since 1981, and I obtained my postdoctoral lecturing qualification (habilitation) at the Institute of History at the University of Graz in 1988. In March 2017, I was awarded the title of University Professor. My expertise covers cultural-theoretical and socially relevant issues, design theory and practice, as well as topics such as the future of academic teaching and education in general.

During the course of my professional career, a series of publications have emerged. I began with a scholarly focus on social and everyday history as well as industrial cultures. Later, I engaged in a research focus on youth cultures, and in the last 15 years, I transitioned increasingly into the field of design. Over 25 years of exhibition practice, a number of exhibition catalogs have also been created as a result of realized projects.

My recent independent publications typically focus on the broad field of design and creative industries: "Lessons on Change: 15 Creative Minds Share their Stories" (Basel 2025) (co-authored with Christina Hedin and Sophie Kauper), "Designing Sustainable Cities: Manageable Approaches to Make Urban Spaces Better: Detroit, Graz, Istanbul, Mexico City and Puebla (Basel 2020)" (co-authored with Sigrid Bürstmayr), "Sozio-Design/Socio-Design: Relevante Projekte – Entworfen für die Gesellschaft/Relevant Projects – Designed for Society (Basel 2017)" (with FH JOANNEUM), and "The Power Of Design: A Journey through the 11 UNESCO Cities of Design (Vienna, New York 2013)" are the most significant examples in this context.

I have given many lectures in recent years, both domestically and internationally, on design, exhibition design, and UNESCO Cities of Design. Not least because of this, I am also an ambassador for the UNESCO City of Design Graz. But probably also because I consider it important to bring people together with their ideas and projects and to network them.

Since the 1990s, I have realized numerous exhibitions such as the Styrian State Exhibitions "Pilgrimage" (1994) and "Traffic" (1999), the redesign of the "Museum im Zeughaus" in Bad Radkersburg (1998), the "Mountain of Memories" for Graz as European Capital of Culture (2003), "Absolutely free: The Woodstock Effect" for the Universalmuseum Joanneum (2009), and the permanent exhibition and visitor center of the Naturpark Südsteiermark (2019).

Since October 1, 2024, I have been a Visiting Professor at the State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi (Georgia) and head the English-language PhD program 'Media Arts/Digital Media' at the Faculty of Media Arts there. Between 2004 and 2021, I developed and led the programs 'Information Design' and 'Exhibition Design' at FH JOANNEUM in Graz, and was responsible as the head of the 'Institute of Design and Communication'.

Since 1984, I have been teaching as a lecturer and later as a professor at various universities such as the University of Graz, the University of Kassel, the Berlin University of the Arts, the Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Design, the École Supérieure d’Art et Design Orléans, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in Wuhan.

For more than 15 years, I have also worked in the academic field as a quality assurer for institutions such as the "Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA)", supporting European and Asian universities in the development of their study programs and in the selection of personnel as an external evaluator.