Prof. Dr. Melanie Hussak earned her master’s degree in political science and economics from the University of Vienna and completed a postgraduate program in “Interdisciplinary Conflict Analysis and Conflict Resolution” at the University of Basel. Her dissertation focuses on everyday conceptions of peace and indigenous methods of conflict transformation.

She co-founded the association “Frieden leben” (Living Peace), which received the Bank Austria/Upper Austria Social Award in 2014 and a project award from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Women’s Affairs in 2015.

Effective September 1, 2025, she was appointed to the Chair of Peace Research with a focus on peace education at the University of Applied Sciences in Freiburg. At the same time, she assumed the roles of Scientific Director and Executive Director of the Freiburg Peace Institute, which was founded in 2020.