IT:U Establishes Two Ombuds Offices

Austria's newest university, the Interdisciplinary Transformation University in Linz, has established two Ombuds offices. Nata Sturua was named Student Ombudsperson in Fall 2025 at the same time as the first cohort of graduate students. The Students Ombuds Office serves all IT:U students with mediation and dialogue, guidance on university rules and procedures, and assistance with informal resolution of concerns. The university is expected to eventually enroll 5,000 students, including undergraduates, in the next decade. Sturua is a lawyer and Associate Professor with experience in international business law, mediation, conflict resolution, and legal research, most recently serving as Head of the International Business Law Program at the University of Georgia in Tbilisi. (IT:U Student Ombuds.) 

 IT:U also recently established an Ombuds Office for Scientific Integrity, with Karin Langer and Agnes Rettelbach serving as inaugural Ombuds. The office is available to all IT:U employees and students for advice concerning scientific integrity and good scientific practice, as well as concerns about possible scientific misconduct in research or teaching. Langer is a dance scholar and scientific writing and grant expert who has worked in academic research, teaching, and research support, most recently serving as Head of the Academic Work Competence Field at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien. Rettelbach is an evolutionary biologist whose research has focused on speciation, assortative mating, and genetic diversity, and who has worked as a researcher and lecturer in biology and applied mathematics, most recently at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien. The office follows the values and principles of the European Network of Ombuds in Higher Education. (IT:U Scientific Ombuds.)