Asst. Prof. Mag. Desiree Wieser, PhD

Lecturer +43 512 2070 - 3735 desiree.wieser@mci.edu

Professional work experience

03/2024 - 04/2024
Visiting Scholar - Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
Research on sustainability practices across generations in Japanese family firms.
07/2023 - present
Assistant Professor - MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® Department for Nonprofit, Social & Health Care Management
Teaching & Research: Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, Business Models, Responsible Management, Family Business Management, Education
03/2023 - present
Lecturer - MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® Department for Nonprofit, Social & Health Care Management
Teaching & Research
01/2022 - 02/2023
Teaching & Research Assistant - MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Family Business Center
01/2022 - 12/2022
Research & Teaching Assistant - MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Center for Responsible Management & Social Impact
03/2017 - 07/2021
Research & Teaching Assistant - MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
06/2015 - 02/2017
Doctoral Student - MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Education

05/2016 - 05/2016
PhD Seminar - 7,5 ECTS7,5 ECTS - Stockholm Business School (SBS), University of Stockholm, Sweden
PhD Course - Work and Career in Business Schools
10/2015 - 05/2022
PhD - University of Innsbruck
PhD Program Management
10/2013 - 07/2014
Universitá degli Studi di Siena, Italy
Erasmus
10/2010 - 07/2015
Graduate Degree “Magistra” (Mag.rer.soc.oec) - University of Innsbruck - University of Innsbruck
Diploma Program in International Economics and Business Studies

Teaching (faculty internships etc.)

03/2025 - 07/2025
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® Innsbruck, Austria
Entrepreneurial Business Labs II Master International Business & Management
10/2024 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Entrepreneurship & Current Global Issues
06/2024 - 06/2024
Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
Entrepreneurship - Ulysseus EntreCamp 2024
03/2024 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Qualitative Research Methods Bachelor Management & Law
10/2023 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Family Business Management
09/2023 - present
Responsible Management Bachelor Nonprofit, Social & Health Care Management
06/2023 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Entrepreneurship Summer School
05/2023 - present
Ban Ki-Moon Centre & MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development Ban Ki-Moon Summer School
03/2023 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Research Ethics Master Program European Health Economics & Management
03/2023 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Social Entrepreneurship Master Program Social Work
10/2022 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Entrepreneurship in Family Firms Winter & Summer School
04/2022 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Introduction into Startup Management Summer School
10/2020 - 12/2020
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Human Resource Management Bachelor Program Management, Communication & IT
05/2020 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Social Entrepreneurship & Social Business Bachelor Program Nonprofit, Social & Health Care Management
02/2019 - 07/2019
MCI - Management Center Innsbruck
Self-management, communication, & leadership Bachelor Program Non profit, social & health care management
01/2019 - 01/2023
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Hidden Entrepreneurial Champions Career Seminar (extracurricular)
01/2018 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Entrepreneurship & Business Models Career Seminar (extracurricular)
10/2017 - 03/2019
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Quantitative Methods of Empirical Research & Project Assignment Bachelor Business & Management
06/2017 - 07/2017
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® - JFPC China
Assurance of Learning: Curriculum Assessment, Improvement & Evaluation Academics Training - JFPC China
03/2017 - present
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Project Management Bachelor Management & Law
02/2016 - 07/2018
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Scientific Work & Integrative Projects I Bachelor Nonprofit, Social & Health Care Management

Practice related research and developmental project

01/2025 - present
EU Erasmus+ Project
ETI Labs: Erasmus Talent & Innovation Labs
01/2021 - 06/2023
Teacher/Trainer/Researcher - EU Erasmus+ Projekt
Ulysses - Digital Student Competition on Family Business
01/2021 - 12/2023
Teacher/Trainer/Researcher - EU Erasmus+ Project
EICAA - Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Competences Assessment Alliance
07/2019 - 12/2021
Knowledge Transfer Center West
WTZ Cooperation with Economy and Industry - Entrepreneurship Online Course 2.0
09/2018 - 08/2021
Lecturer/Trainer/Researcher - European Union Erasmus+
PIETE - Partnership for Initial Entrepreneurship Teacher Education
01/2018 - 12/2018
WTZ West - Wissens/Transfer/West/
WTZ West - Wissens/Transfer/West/ - Training Scientists - Development of an Entrepreneurship Online Course: Conceptualization, Production and Embedding an E-Lecture Series on the Topic of Entrepreneurship
09/2016 - 09/2018
Teacher/Trainer/Researcher - European Union Erasmus+
Embedding Entrepreneurship Education
07/2015 - 07/2019
Project Lead - Tyrolean Science Fund - TWF
Online Education & Virtual Campus

Competitive Research Award

06/2025 - 06/2025
European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2025 - Family Business Research SIG
Sustainability Paper Award for the paper "Dynamics of Sustainability in Family Firms in Japan and Austria: A Transgenerational Study" co-authored by Yoshiki Shinohara, Tam Long Pham, Anita Zehrer, and Rebecca Chunghee Kim
09/2022 - 09/2022
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Shortlisted for Ars Docendi Recognition Award for Excellent Teaching at Austrian Universities 2022 in the category Learning Outcome Oriented Teaching and Examination Culture.
11/2019 - 11/2019
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®
Nomination for Ars Docendi - State prize for excellent teaching 2019: Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit

Positions in professional/academic societies

04/2024 - present
Researcher - Entrepreneurship, Cooperatives and Social Economy Management and Corporate Sustainability - EMPRECOOP - Universitat de València
01/2022 - 10/2022
Conference Organizer and Member of the Program Committee - MCI - 9th Responsible Management Education Research Konferenz

Peer reviewed journal article

Zehrer, A., Glowka, G., Wieser, D., Pirhofer, C. (2025). Coping with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk – a crucial future competence in entrepreneurship education. International Marketing Journal of Culture and Tourism, 6, 48-54. https://doi.org/10.33001/18355/IMJCT0817

Chapters in books

Obexer, R., Waldegger, J., Wieser, D., Windbichler, R. (2024). Embracing Sustainability in Higher Education: Key Insights from Organizing an Academic Conference. In: Leal Filho, W., Sima, M., Lange Salvia, A., Kovaleva, M., Manolas, E. (eds) University Initiatives on Climate Change Education and Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25960-9_100-1

Presentation of a paper at a conference, workshop or seminar

Zehrer, A., Wieser, D., & Pfitscher, A. (2025). Building Transgenerational Bridges: Sustainable Leadership in Family Firms. IECER Conference, September 12-14 2025, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Kim, R.C., Wieser, D., Zehrer, A., Shinohara, Y., & Pham, T.L. (2025). Navigating sustainability in Family Businesses: A Comparative Study of Japan and Austria, International Research Groupon the Long-lived Enterprises around the World (INGLLE), September 13, 2025, Tokyo.
Shinohara, Y.; Wieser, D.; Pham, L.T.; Zehrer, A., & Kim, R.C. (2025, 22-25 June). Dynamics of sustainability in family firms in Japan and Austria: A transgenerational study. European Academy of Management, Florence, Italy.
Zehrer, A.,Wieser, D.,Pfitscher, A.,Assenmacher, M. (2025). Sustainable Leadership across generations in family firms. IFERA2025 10.-14. Juni 2025, Zadar, Kroatien.
Zehrer, A., Wieser, D., Pfitscher, A., Assenmacher, M. (2025). Sustainable Leadership across generations in family firms. IFERA, 9.-13. Mai 2025, Zadar, Kroatien
Wieser, D., Zehrer, A., Shinohara, Y., Kim, R.C., & Ackaradejruangsri, P. (2024). Sustainability across Generations in Family Firms. IECER Conference, September 18-20 2024, Innsbruck, Austria.

Other intellectual contributions

Ebersberger, B., Pirhofer, C., & Wieser, D. (2018). Teaching Toolkit for Entrepreneurship Education. Embedding Entrepreneurship Education - Erasmus+. https://www.mci.edu/phocadownload/allgemein/Forschung/EEE_TTK_2018-5.pdf

Supervised bachelor theses

Niedrist Tobias (2025): Strategien zur Kostenkontrolle: Eine Analyse der Maßnahmen junger Erwachsener zur Regulierung ihrer Ausgaben für abonnementbasierte Streamingdienste
Mizrak Semanur (2025): Wie können soziale Unternehmen Mitarbeiter:innen der Generation Z nachhaltig binden?
Quintus Mariella (2025): Motivationsfaktoren von Gründer:innen im Social Business: Eine qualitative Untersuchung von Social Businesses in Tirol
Gvozdenovic Ljerka (2025): Innovationsgestaltung an Hochschulen der DACH-Region: Externe Kooperationen und Netzwerke als Schlüsselfaktoren
Cabar Acelya (2025): Navigating Gender Biases: Strategies Employed by Women Leaders
Reichholf Selina (2024): Interne und externe Treiber von ökologischen Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien und -praktiken in KMUs der Beherbergunsbranche
Berg Jesper (2024): What Different Generations Perceive of and Expect From Remote Working.
Fink Jule Marie (2023): Digital Transformation and its Effect on Organizational Culture - A Case Study of a German Tax Consulting Firm
Krüger Lara (2021): Ein Vergleich zwischen dem Social Business Modell und dem For- Profit Business Modell unter den Aspekt Nachhaltigkeit
Meier Julia (2019): Success Factors for Educational Technology in Developing Countries
Wanninger Valentin Josef (2017): How to Satisfy and Motivate Students in Online Courses
Haueis Siegfried Eduard (2017): Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Higher Education: Major Challenges
Chou Sarah (2017): Using Gamification and Mobile Technologies to Create an Engaging Learning Experience
Bloemen Manon (2017): The Opportunities, Challenges, and Trends of E-Learning in Developing Countries
Lehmann Louis Jens (2017): The Impact of Educational Technology on Social Competencies and Interpersonal Communication Skills
Meier Julia (2017): Opportunities and Challenges for the Implementation of Educational Technology in Developing Countries
Pichler Judith (2017): Cross-Generational Learning - Higher Education, Multiple Generations and how the Concept of Blended Learning Facilitates the Development of Graduates From Different Age Groups
Piber Jeanine (2017): Methods and Techniques of the Blended Learning Approach to Maintain Commitment and Motivation of Students
Mair Alexander (2017): Combination of Competency Based Learning in Adaptive Online Learning Systems and its Effects on the Educational Industry
Lalic Aleksa (2017): The Influence of EdTech on Student Performance, Engagement and Learning

Supervised master theses

Kogler Verena (2025): The Role of General Practice in Tackling Loneliness