Dr Birgit Johler studied European Ethnology and Romance Studies in Vienna (M.A. 1998), where she completed her doctorate in 2017 with a thesis on the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in times of political change.

After completing her studies, she worked as an editor, assistant director and freelance exhibition curator; from 2008 to 2017, she was a curator at the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna and edited the Österreichischen Zeitschrift für Volkskunde. After working as a curator at the House of Austrian History from 2017, she moved – again as a curator – to the Ethnological Museum Graz – Universalmuseum Joanneum in 2019. In addition to her research and curatorial activities, she has held teaching positions in Vienna, Innsbruck, Graz and Münster.

Johler's research interests range from the Alltagsgeschichte (history of everyday life) of the 20th century, material culture and historical costume research to commemoration and remembrance practices, Jewish history and National Socialism as well as museum research.

A selection of her publications and exhibitions is available at https://www.uni-muenster.de/Kulturanthropologie/Institut/Johler.html.