Birgit Moser-Plautz has been named the first Austrian Marshall Plan Fellow at the Wilson Center's Global Europe Program.
She is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public, Nonprofit and Healthcare Management at the University Klagenfurt, Austria. Previously, she worked as an auditor at the Court of Audit of Carinthia, Austria. Her current research focuses on information and communication technology in the public sector and the role of global crises as well as on accounting and accountability particularly performance management in the public sector. She has a Ph.D. with distinction from the University Klagenfurt, Austria. She holds a Master degree in Applied Business Administration and a Master degree in Business and Law from the University Klagenfurt.
In her own words:
"I am very grateful that, despite the pandemic and travel restrictions, I was able to start my research stay at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, first remotely and then in presence in Washington, D.C. The city and its flair are great, and I am incredibly excited about the mixture of the political powerhouse and cultural center. However, as most events taking place online and many people work from home, life is quieter than before the pandemic.
At the Wilson Center, many employees and scholars work from home too, but that gives me the peace I need to focus on my research, which is also heading in this direction. In my project titled "Information and communication technology in the public sector - the role of global crisis" I am conducting comparative research on the effects of Covid-19 on digital government at the federal level in the U.S. and Austria. Therefore, I interview experts in digitalization and digital transformation in the U.S. departments and the Austrian ministries and analyze the websites before and during the pandemic concerning changes. It is exciting to see how the Covid-19 crisis can lift certain barriers and accelerate digital transformation while slowing down digitalization efforts in other areas."
