Martin Balluch

Martin Balluch studied to diploma degrees in mathematics and astronomy in Vienna to finish his PhD in physics at Heidelberg University in Germany 1989. He worked 12 years as a research associate in mathematics, 8 of which were at Cambridge University, UK. His activist career began in 1978 in the successful Austrian campaign against nuclear power plants, which turned in 1985 into animal activism. In 1999, he founded the Austrian Vegan Society VGÖ with his partner and brother. He still is on the council of the VGÖ, which is going strong with about 35 employees. He helped build the Austrian Association Against Animal Factories VGT, of which he has been president since 2002. From 2000 to 2005, he studied philosophy in Vienna and published his PhD on animal rights as a book. Since then, he has authored four more books on animal rights, together with several chapters in other books on animal advocacy. He has received four international ethics awards, the first being the Myschkin prize in Paris 2012, the latest being the Peter Singer Award in Berlin 2023.