Diplomatische Akademie Wien appoints Oxford historian as Chair of History
Professor Katherine A. Lebow to succeed Thomas Row at the Vienna School of International Studies
The Diplomatische Akademie Wien – Vienna School of International Studies (DA) announces the appointment of Katherine Lebow as Professor of History and Head of the Department of History, effective 1 September 2026. She succeeds Thomas Row, who will retire after many years of distinguished service to the Academy.
Professor Lebow is currently Associate Professor of Modern History at Christ Church, University of Oxford. She holds a BA from Yale University and a PhD from Columbia University. Her previous academic appointments include positions at the College of Charleston, the University of Virginia, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, the Central European University and the DA as well as research fellowships at leading institutions such as the European University Institute in Florence and the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Research.
An internationally recognised scholar, Professor Lebow specialises in the social and cultural history of twentieth-century Europe, with a particular focus on East Central Europe and Poland in a global context. Her work has examined the everyday politics of state socialism after World War II, as well as democracy and authoritarianism “from below” in the 1930s, drawing on autobiographical writings and other forms of personal testimony. She is the author of the award-winning monograph Unfinished Utopia: Nowa Huta, Stalinism, and Polish Society, 1949–56 (Cornell University Press, 2013), which received the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize and was widely reviewed in leading international journals. She is also the recipient of the Aquila Polonica Prize, among many other awards, for her research on Polish social and cultural history.
“I warmly congratulate Professor Lebow on her appointment and welcome her to the Vienna School of International Studies,” says Martin Eichtinger, Director of the DA. “She is a highly regarded international scholar whose academic excellence and extensive experience – most recently as a tenured professor at the University of Oxford – will be a great asset to our institution. I am confident that she will provide important impetus for both research and teaching at the Academy.”
At the same time, the DA expresses its sincere gratitude to Professor Thomas Row, who has held the Chair of History since 2006 and has made a lasting contribution to the academic profile of the institution. “Over nearly two decades, Professor Row has played a key role in shaping the Academy’s history curriculum and has combined distinguished teaching with an active research and publication record. He has also organised high-level academic conferences and led and accompanied numerous memorable study trips, including to the Western Balkans, Ukraine and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” says Martin Eichtinger. An expert in international relations, European political history and modern Italian history, he has further strengthened the academic profile of the DA.
With Professor Katherine Lebow, the DA welcomes an outstanding historian who will further strengthen the field of history at a time of profound global transformation.
Last update: 16 April 2026