is an Honorary Professor for European Union and Human Rights Law at the University of Graz and Head of Sector at the European Union Agency of Fundamental Rights in Vienna. The lawyer joined the agency in 2009. Before he has been working for over ten years at the European Academy Bolzano/Bozen/Bulsan where he initiated for instance the Bolzano/Bozen Declaration on the protection of minorities in the enlarged European Union. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and has widely published on human and minority rights. He grew up in South Tyrol. He is father of 5 children and lives in Vienna.