PEAK-Expert

Suzanne Kapelari

Suzanne Kapelari is Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education and heads of the working group Education Research of Biology and Environmental Education. The passionate biologist coordinates numerous projects in the field of education for sustainable development. Her main focus is combining scientific research and practical implementation. Among other initiatives, she established the Green School in the Botanical Garden in Innsbruck.

About

Suzanne Kapelari studied biology, specialising in zoology, and obtained her doctorate in 1991. She is trained as a secondary school teacher at the University of Innsbruck and holds a Master´s degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from the City College of New York. She taught at several schools in Tyrol and worked as a biologist and project coordinator. In 2015, Kapelari completed her habilitation in Science Education, specialising in Biology Education. Later, she had been working at the University of Vienna as head of the Austria Education Competence Center Biology for two years and returned to the University of Innsbruck in 2017, where she is Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education.

In her research, she focuses on climate change and biodiversity education, language-sensitive science teaching and the promotion of critical thinking in science education as well as science communication. For many years she has worked as a project coordinator and partner in various educational initiatives of the European Union. She organizes collaborations with botanical gardens, science centres, museums and educational networks at the interface between science, school and society.