Dr. Eithne Knappitsch is Professor of Intercultural Management at Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (FH Kärnten), Villach, Austria. Additionally, she is a corporate trainer and consultant, bringing her expertise to organizations seeking to enhance intercultural teamwork dynamics, leadership, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), and sustainability.
Eithne is passionate about the interplay between people, culture, communication (and language), and connectivity. She is dedicated to promoting conscious personal and professional leadership in her training and teaching endeavors. And she considers herself a “pracademic,” bridging the gap between academic and practitioner contexts.
Based in the tri-border region of southern Austria, which includes Slovenia and Italy, Eithne has a special affinity for borderscapes, both physical and virtual. She grew up in Inishowen on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border and spent some time working as a researcher for the Culture, Arts & Leisure Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She describes herself as a “border person,” having developed a sense of comfort in liminal or in-between spaces. Eithne is a founding member of the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network, a network established in 2010 with 17 university, research institution, and training partners from 9 border regions in Europe. TEIN focuses on strengthening European integration and cross-border cooperation, embodying Eithne’s commitment to practical intercultural collaboration in Europe.
Drawing upon her expertise in Intercultural Management, Eithne equips her learners with the necessary competencies and perspectives for success in a globalized world and the opportunities of New and Remote Work. Her ability to bridge academic theory and practical application enhances the development of essential skills among her learners.
Eithne’s contributions extend beyond academia. She served as the President of SIETAR Austria (Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research) from 2019 to 2022, actively promoting intercultural understanding and competence. Moreover, Eithne co-founded the Global Case Study Challenge, a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a future-oriented movement of global, conscious, and sustainable thinkers, doers, and leaders. The GCSC offers an award-winning Virtual Exchange/COIL program, focusing on intercultural communication, digital collaboration, and sustainability competencies. In addition, she is involved in the Transcultural Competence Expert group at the Leadership Excellence Institute at Zeppelin University, a Delphi study on transcultural competence, and active in a working group for the World Council for Intercultural and Global Competence
Selected publications:
Knappitsch, E. (2023). A new narrative of leadership in the context of global virtual teams? In J. B. Montecinos, T. Grünfelder, and J. Wieland (Eds.), A relational view on cultural complexity: Implications for theory and practice (pp. 367-389). Cham: Springer.
Knappitsch, E. (2017). Bias mindfulness and perceptual shift: Key to managing a diverse workforce. In SIETAR Europa Congress Proceedings Cultural Dexterity for Turbulent Times, 22-27 May, 2017. Dublin: SIETAR Europa.
Knappitsch, E. (2008). 10 October commemorations in Carinthia: Promoting unity or division? Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 16(2), 171-187.
Knappitsch, E., & Caliskan, S. (2017). Managing bias in HR: From recruiting to retaining a diverse workforce. In B. Covarrubias Venegas, K. Thill, & J. Domnanovich (Eds.), Internationales Personalmanagement. Rollen – Kompetenzen – Perspektiven: Implikationen für die Praxis. SpringerGabler.
Buko, S., Knappitsch, E., Zinenko, A., & Covarrubias-Venegas, B. (2022). The Global Case Study Challenge: A virtual exchange developing global work competencies. European Conference on e-Learning, 21(1), 32-41.
Deckert, C., Schomaker, R., & Knappitsch, E. (2022). Cultural impacts on national innovativeness and entrepreneurship. In Innovation and entrepreneurship: Theory and practice (pp. 57-84). WSB University.
Döring, T., Knappitsch, E., & Aigner, B. (2010). Political competences within the EU and their significance for the Western Balkans. European Perspectives, 2(2/3), 15-39.
Work for CID:
Eithne Knappitsch wrote a guest post on The Global Case Study Challenge: Competencies for the Future of Work in Virtual Environments in 2023, and on Empowering Remote-Ready Graduates: The Transformative Role of Virtual Exchange in Career-Oriented Education in 2024.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 