Ernst is a lecturer on political geography/conflict management at the University of Vienna. With a professional background in crisis/conflict management and peacebuilding and more than 25 years in academia as well as in the field (South East Europe, Southern Caucasus), Ernst is currently working as a senior researcher/lecturer on political geography, crisis regions and geopolitics for the Austrian government and the University of Vienna. He studied geography, economics, English as well as political science and modern history. He is currently finishing his PhD in interdisciplinary legal studies on the expanding geopolitical phenomenon of conflict and crisis regions outside regulatory frameworks of the international law. In addition, he has been engaged in Scouting and Guiding on regional, national and international levels for several decades. Here he is active in implementing spirituality (Duty to God), the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the benefits of international peace and reconciliation into the youth programme and education. He is enrolled in a two-year study programme on theology at the Archdiocese of Vienna.