Georges Younes is co-founder of the Vienna Master program as well as the Head of Office of the postgraduate department “Applied Human Rights”, where he is responsible for staff management, administrative processes, student selection and coaching, external relations and cooperations with national as well as international organisations, NGOs, social enterprises and initiatives. Georges is also a member of the University’s Working Group on Equal Treatment Issues tasked to advise and support all University workers, teachers, researchers, students and applicants on issues of equality and protection against discrimination.

Georges was always fascinated by the interplay of human rights, education, (inter-) cultural practices, peace and conflict studies. He deeply believes in the power that lies within synergies between these fields. Georges therefore undertook a Master degree in Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he specialised in the role of education in peace processes. Georges is also a certified mediator (Sigmund Freud University) and works in the areas of intercultural, inter- and intra-organisational as well as business mediation.

Before joining the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Georges was the Program Manager of the predecessor programme at the University of Vienna from 2014 – 2020. Before committing to higher human rights education, Georges was independently engaged in advocacy-work for cases of human rights violations in the Middle East. He was also working for the international Secretariat of Amnesty International in London coordinating various regional human rights education sections across all world regions. Georges held several positions at Amnesty International, both in London and Vienna, where his most recent position was that of Director of the Amnesty Academy, the educational institution of Amnesty International Austria. 

Georges also sees human rights professionals as “human rights entrepreneurs” who instrinctly create change where change is needed and is thus engaged in several human rights projects. Georges was the Study Manager of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, which united over 100 researchers across the world working towards the betterment of children’s rights worldwide. Today, Georges remains involved in several project management advising roles.