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Alumni meeting 2025: sharing experiences and memories
This year's alumni reunion took place on campus on 13 November 2025. Veterinary and biomedicine graduates took the opportunity to return to their alma mater and catch up with colleagues. For the first time, students who are about to graduate also took part in order to make contacts for starting their careers.
At the annual alumni meeting in the ballroom, memories were refreshed and experiences from the broad professional spectrum of Vetmeduni graduates were shared.
Varied programme with contribution to the commemorative year 2025
The afternoon in the Festsaal - hosted by alumna, vet and screenwriter Regine Anour-Sengstschmid - began with a welcome from Rector Matthias Gauly, followed by an interactive get-to-know-you round as a warm-up. The programme included keynote speeches, testimonials from alumni, campus tours with a look behind the scenes and a cosy end to the event for networking.
As a contribution to this year's year of remembrance, marking 80 years since the end of National Socialism and 70 years since the State Treaty, contemporary historian Lisa Rettl gave an insight into the fates and lives of expelled Jewish students. In spring 2025, she spent several months researching in Israel and interviewing descendants. A mobile exhibition under the motto "Remember NOW!" in the Festsaal complemented Rettl's lecture.
Andreas Bergthaler, veterinary medicine alumnus and Professor of Molecular Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna and group leader at CeMM (Research Centre for Molecular Medicine), shared his personal experience in his keynote speech "Of gorillas, mice, Tasmanian devils ... and humans", he shared his personal experience and motivation on his career path in research.
Lecturers Catherina Duvigneau (Centre for Biological Sciences) and Angelika Auer (Centre for Pathobiology) presented the ways in which alumni can contribute to teaching and how valuable their experiences are for students.
The other authentic alumni testimonials offered motivating insights and emphasised the importance of courageous decisions and unique opportunities. The two veterinarians Karin Kamm and Marie-Theres Hoyer reported on their decision to specialise in feline medicine and the establishment of their successful cat practice in Vienna. Alumnus Werner Hagmüller spoke about his path to self-employment as a pig farming consultant and veterinary surgeon. Biomedical scientist Magdalena Schimke also gave an impressive account of how she went from working in a Danish start-up to founding her own company.
The subsequent guided tour programme offered alumni the opportunity to visit various campus facilities such as the Clinical Centre for Small Animals, the Clinical Centre for Horses, the Clever Dog Lab, the VetSim training centre and the Pathology Museum with its unique exhibits.
The connection between the graduates and the Vetmeduni was further strengthened with in-depth conversations and new contacts at the cosy get-together, and shared memories from their student days were exchanged well into the evening.
