Rate My Professor Josef Melchior

Josef Melchior serves as Assistant Professor and Director of Studies in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna, positions he has held since 2005 and ongoing, respectively. He completed his studies in political science (main focus), sociology, and economics at the University of Vienna, earning his Magister degree in 1989 and his doctorate in 1992. From 1989 to 1991, he conducted postgraduate studies in political science at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna. Earlier in his career, Melchior worked as a scientific collaborator at the Austrian Center for Cultural Documentation and the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Vienna from 1990 to 1993, followed by an assistant position at the IHS from 1994 to 1999. He joined the University of Vienna as a university assistant in 1999.

His research specializes in the political system of the European Union, democracy and constitutional development within the EU, governance and policy field analysis—particularly higher education policy—and democratic theory. Melchior has directed and participated in several funded research projects, such as the comparative analysis of higher education policies in Austria and Hungary (1994-1995), quality assurance mechanisms in Austrian universities of applied sciences, and the conception of a European community of citizens (1997-1998), supported by Austrian federal ministries and the European Commission. Notable publications include “Selektiver Euroskeptizismus: Die EU-Politik der Regierung von ÖVP und FPÖ seit 2017” (2019), “Der Österreichische EU-Ratsvorsitz 2018 im Zeichen innenpolitischer Prioritäten” (2019), “Gerechtigkeitsurteile und Vermögensverteilung in Österreich” (2015), “Anlassfall Österreich” (2001), and “Die Hochschulpolitik in Österreich und Ungarn, 1945-1995: Modernisierungsmuster im Vergleich” (1996). Through these contributions, he has influenced debates on EU integration, domestic policy impacts, and educational governance.