Birgit Hernády & Sandra Soares: 2024 EAIE Award Winners - institutional excellence

The 2024 EAIE Award winners were announced earlier this year, and at the conference in Toulouse, they were all given some of the attention they rightfully deserve. In this podcast episode, the EAIE is honoured to have had the opportunity to talk to not one but two of this year's award winners: Birgit Hernady, Head of the International Office at FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences (Austria), and Sandra Soares, Vice-Rector for Education and Training and Internationalisation at the University of Aveiro (Portugal), who were, respectively, the winner and the highly commended institution for the EAIE award for Excellence in Internationalisation.

In this conversation between host Laura Rumbley and Birgit and Sandra, several topics are touched upon. What makes their two institutions special? What does winning an EAIE award mean to them personally and their institution? What are some good practices to share, but also some lessons learned of value from other professionals? Be sure to tune in to this episode of the EAIE podcast to hear more!

About Birgit Hernády
Birgit Hernády has been working at the International Office of FH JOANNEUM since 2003 and has been its head since 2013. She studied English and American Studies and "Europe: Languages, Business and Law" in Graz and Oxford and completed postgraduate studies in German as a Foreign Language and International Business. Before starting her professional career at FH JOANNEUM, she worked for LOGO jugendmanagement in EU Info&Service. Birgit Hernády has extensive experience teaching German as a foreign language in Austria and abroad and is a certified examiner for the Austrian German Language Diploma (ÖSD).

About Sandra Soares
Sandra Soares holds a PhD in Psychology from the Karolinska Institute. She is currently the Vice-Rector for Education and Training and Internationalisation at the University of Aveiro and the Coordinator of the Specialized Commission for Internationalisation of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities. She is also involved in several international projects related to internationalisation and pedagogical innovation, namely the European Consortium of Innovative University (ECIU University), under the European Universities initiative. Sandra has published several dozens of articles in international journals and has participated in several research projects, as well as in national and international conferences. She is an integrated member of the William James Center for Research and the coordinator of the EmoSenses Lab. In 2021, she was one of the Portuguese women scientists honoured by Ciência Viva.

Additional resources
For further insights into the topics touched on in this episode, the following resources may be of interest:
→ Celebrating excellence: Announcing the 2024 EAIE Award winners
→ Ligia Deca: Outstanding vision and leadership 2023
→ FH Joanneum website
→ Universidade de Aveiro website