The work of the Foundation is made possible thanks to the support of its friends and supporters, whose valuable contributions help keep Alexander Langer’s intellectual legacy alive and carry forward his civic, cultural and political commitment.

Among those who contribute to the Foundation are the members of the Scientific and Guarantee Committee, which provides opinions and recommendations on the Foundation’s programme of activities and decides who will receive the Alexander Langer Award.

Below is the list of members of the current Scientific and Guarantee Committee, recently appointed by the Board of Directors for a three-year term.

Elisabeth Alber – Born in Merano, Elisabeth Alber holds a degree in International and Diplomatic Sciences. She coordinates the Participation and Innovations research group at the Institute for Comparative Federalism at Eurac Research and teaches at the University of Innsbruck, where she obtained her PhD at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology.

She has published books and articles on the management of diversity in multilevel systems, minority rights, border studies, territorial autonomy and participatory democracy.

She has been a visiting researcher and lecturer at universities and research centres in Germany, Spain, the United States, overseas France, Australia, India and North Macedonia.

She is co-editor of Politika, the yearbook of the South Tyrolean Political Science Association. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Vienna-based KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research and is affiliated with the University of Canberra and the Centre for Multilevel Federalism in Delhi.

As a consultant, she has worked in Myanmar, Ukraine and Moldova.

Grazia Barbiero – Born in Bolzano, Grazia Barbiero holds a degree in Modern Literature and specialised in the field of disability care.

A teacher by profession, she served as a municipal councillor in Merano from 1974 to 1978 and as a member of both the Council of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and the Regional Council of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol from 1979 to 1988.

She was a member of the Central Committee of the Italian Communist Party and of the National Council of the Democratic Party.

From 1996 to 2019, she worked as a consultant and parliamentary collaborator for the Office of the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies.

She writes for various newspapers and magazines and is the author of Scenari in movimento – Gli anni Settanta e Ottanta in Alto Adige Südtirol. From 1997 to 2018, on behalf of the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, she also edited the three volumes Il Premio internazionale Alexander Langer alla Camera dei Deputati. Dell’importanza di mediatori, costruttori di ponti, esploratori di frontiera.

Bettina Foa – Born in Rome, Bettina Foa studied Economics in Modena before moving to Africa, where she spent around twelve years in Mozambique and Burundi, initially working directly with the Mozambican government and later with the European Union.

After returning to Europe, she continued working for the EU from Brussels, focusing on relations and cooperation with various African regions and countries.

She has followed the Langer Foundation since its establishment and later became a member of the Scientific and Guarantee Committee.

Since 2014, she has collaborated with the magazine Una Città in Forlì.

David Hofmann – Born in Sterzing/Vipiteno in 1981, David Hofmann is a scientist and activist.

He studied Physics at the Technical University of Munich and obtained a PhD in Theoretical Neuroscience from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen. He subsequently carried out postdoctoral research in theoretical neuroscience and ethology at Emory University in Atlanta, USA.

He is currently a researcher in computational psychiatry affiliated with Stony Brook University in New York and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

While in the United States, he was a co-founder, activist and author with Science for the People. He is currently active in Scientists for Future and Extinction Rebellion in South Tyrol and is a co-founder of the Climate Action South Tyrol Alliance.

Giulia Levi – After studying International Relations in Turin, Giulia Levi completed a Master’s degree at the University of Bologna in Sarajevo, where she lived for a year and a half.

She subsequently worked in Bolzano, first at Eurac Research and then for three years at the Alexander Langer Foundation, focusing in particular on the Adopt Srebrenica project.

Since 2017, she has lived in England, where she completed a PhD at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Bournemouth University with a dissertation entitled Bridging Brexit-related societal divisions – Learning from civil society initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Her research interests focus on dealing with the past after the war in Bosnia and on the role of civil society organisations in overcoming social divisions in peaceful and post-conflict contexts.

Fabiana Martini – Fabiana Martini was born on 8 August 1969, the same day on which the Beatles took the famous photograph for the cover of Abbey Road.

She grew up through her involvement in associations, where she learned three things above all: the value of relationships, the rules of democracy and the importance of doing things together.

She is a professional journalist and has three daughters.

From 2000 to 2010, she was editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Vita Nuova, becoming the first lay woman in Italy to head a religious periodical. From 2011 to 2016, she served as Deputy Mayor of Trieste, with responsibilities including equal opportunities, peace and human rights.

Alongside her writing, she works in training, particularly with journalists and upper-secondary school students, on migration, equal opportunities and hate speech, as well as in communication on issues concerning childhood and mental health.

She is the regional coordinator for Friuli-Venezia Giulia of the association Articolo 21 liberi di… Il dovere di informare, il diritto ad essere informati and Secretary of the Marco Luchetta International Journalism Award.

In 2003, Rubbettino published her book for young readers Percorsi di pace nell’era della globalizzazione.

On Sunday, 7 March 2021, L’Espresso published her report on women in Italian local government, the result of a journey lasting more than two years among female mayors, councillors and municipal representatives across Italy. This work later became the book Il governo delle donne, published by Vita Activa Nuova.

Salvatore Saltarelli – Salvatore Saltarelli took part in the Committee against the ethnic declaration system, of which Alexander Langer was a leading figure. During the 1981 census, he refused to declare his linguistic affiliation.

He entered the school system and served on the Board of Directors of the Provincial Pedagogical Institute for the Italian-language group, where he worked on relations between schools and the world of work.

While seconded to the administration of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, he worked on projects in the social and humanitarian field, establishing the Provincial Observatory on Immigration and the Centre for Protection against Discrimination. In the field of training, he developed professional qualifications for Intercultural Mediators and Peace Workers, following the process through to their recognition by the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces.

He directed the first-level Master’s programme in International Conflict Mediation at the University of Bologna, organised with the participation of the 4th Alpine Army Corps and associations supporting the Civilian Peace Corps.

He strongly opposed the Provincial Immigration Law (Provincial Law No. 12 of 28 October 2011) in all relevant institutional settings. The law was subsequently substantially curtailed by the Constitutional Court.

He then returned to the school system.

He is a member of the Scientific Committee of IDOS’s Statistical Dossier on Immigration and a founding member and member of the Board of Directors of the Rete dei Diritti dei Senza Voce.

Giovanni Scotto – Giovanni Scotto is Associate Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Florence, where he teaches Theories of Conflict and Mediation, Mediation and Participatory Democracy Techniques, and International Conflict Transformation.

He is Director of the FORMA MENTIS Laboratory at PIN in Prato, which focuses on mediation and conflict management in urban areas.

He has extensive professional experience as a trainer in non-violent conflict transformation and as a mediator.

He has taught at several Italian universities, including Pisa, Bologna, Trento and Roma Tre, as well as at universities abroad, including the University of Bradford, Syracuse University and Freie Universität Berlin.

He has worked in conflict settings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Mexico.

Today, he is one of the driving forces behind the Piccola scuola di pace dell’Isolotto in Florence, a community-based educational initiative that promotes knowledge and discussion on non-violence, dialogue and sustainability.

Gianni Tamino – Formerly Professor of General Biology at the University of Padua and now retired, Gianni Tamino has conducted research on the relationship between the environment and health, as well as on material and energy flows in ecosystems, with particular attention to the accumulation of pollutants along the food chain.

He has also worked on issues relating to biotechnology.

He was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 1983 to 1992 and succeeded Alexander Langer in the European Parliament, serving from 1995 to 1999, where he worked on environmental, energy and agricultural issues.

He took part in the establishment of the Alexander Langer Foundation.

He is a member of the Scientific Committee of ISDE Italia – International Society of Doctors for the Environment.

He has published books and articles on environmental, health and energy issues in scientific, cultural and general-interest journals.

Franz Tutzer – Born in Bolzano/Bozen in 1953, Franz Tutzer studied Agricultural Sciences in Vienna.

From 1985 to 2019, he was Head of the Agricultural Technical Institute in Auer/Ora. Today, alongside various voluntary activities, he serves as Co-President of the Katholisches Forum.

He has a long-standing interest in the thought and work of Ivan Illich, who also had a major influence on Alexander Langer.

He is a member of the Scientific Committee of Europahaus Burgenland.

Nazario Zambaldi – Born in Bolzano/Bozen in 1972, Nazario Zambaldi holds a degree in Literature from the University of Trento, a diploma in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, and a PhD in Education from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

A secondary-school teacher of Philosophy and Human Sciences, he curates and promotes a wide range of artistic and cultural projects, particularly in the field of theatre, as well as socio-educational initiatives.

His areas of interest and research, on which he has also published academic work, include arts-based research, embodied education, human rights, ecology and ecological thought, citizenship and inclusion, and the commons.

Katharina Crepaz - Katharina Crepaz is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Autonomy Experience at Eurac Research in Bolzano and a lecturer in Social Determinants of Health at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

She studied English and American Studies and Political Science, followed by Slavic Studies, at the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna, obtaining her PhD in Political Science in 2015.

In 2020, she completed her habilitation in Health Sciences at TUM, with a particular focus on diversity governance.

From 2015 to 2020, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in Munich and at the Chair of Sociology of Diversity at TUM.

Her research focuses on gender, diversity, social determinants of health, minorities, migration and diversity governance.

In December 2022, she received the habilitation award granted by the Friends of TUM.

Katharina Crepaz succeeded Simone Zoppellaro.