The Johannes Kepler University Linz awarded honorary professorships to IT security expert Gerhard Eschelbeck and Austrian Supreme Court judge Jürgen Rassi. In addition, William J. Barbaresi, an expert in pediatric developmental medicine, was named a Senior Fellow.

During yesterday’s academic ceremony, Rector Meinhard Lukas remarked: "Today's ceremony has been impressive, demonstrating just how diverse and broadly positioned the Johannes Kepler University Linz is and how important the relationship is between scientific/academic theory and applied practices."

The honorees come from the areas of computer science, civil law, and developmental medicine:

· Gerhard Eschelbeck has been a leading international expert in the field of IT security for the past 25 years,

· Austrian Supreme Court Judge Jürgen Rassi has been a tremendous addition to the "Linz School of Civil Law" and

· Pediatrician William Barbaresi has successfully collaborated with Prof. Johannes Fellinger at the Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy. Prof. Johannes Fellinger also conducts research as a professor at the JKU Faculty of Medicine.

Honorary Professorships and Senior Fellowships are awarded by the Senate based on a proposal submitted by the Rectorate. Hanspeter Mössenböck, Chairman of the JKU Senate, underscored the distinction: "Awards of this kind are very rare. There are currently only three senior fellows and eleven honorary professorships at the JKU."

Yesterday's awards ceremony adds one Senior Fellow and two Honorary Professorships to this small circle of distinguished recipients.

About the Honorees:

· DI Dr. Gerhard Eschelbeck received an honorary professorship in the area of Networks and Security. Born in Peuerbach, Eschelback is one of the world's leading experts in computer security. He completed his studies in Computer Science at the JKU and earned a post-doc in 2000. In addition to creating his own companies, he was, among other things, Vice-President of Security and Privacy Engineering at Google. He has been a member of the Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board since 2017 and was also named one of the "25 Most Influential CTOs" by Infoworld in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

· HRdOGH PD Dr. Jürgen Rassi received an honorary professorship in the area of civil law. After completing a doctorate degree in law at the University of Vienna, he passed the judgeship examination in December 1998 and serves a judge at the District Court of St. Pölten, the regional court of Eisenstadt, and the Higher Regional Court of Vienna. He was appointed as court counsel at the Supreme Court in September 2014 and since 2007, he has taught civil procedure law at the University of Vienna. In April 2019, he received his teaching authorization for the University of Vienna as a Privatdozent für Zivilverfahrensrecht. His post-doctoral dissertation was titled "Kooperation und Geheimschutz bei Beweisschwierigkeiten im Zivilprozess".

· William J. Barbaresi, MD, FAAP, has been appointed Senior Fellow.

William J. Barbaresi lives and works in the United States. In addition to holding a professorship position in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, he is chief of the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. He was honored for successful collaboration with the Hospital of the Brother’s of Mercy under Prof. Johannes Fellinger.