Gloria Benedikt is a stage director and researcher. She graduated from the Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy, English National Ballet School, and Harvard University. In 2015, she joined the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) to investigate how partnerships between scientists and artists can support the transformation toward sustainability. She is the lead author of Science and Art for Life’s Sake (2020). In 2021, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), where she explored how we can harness the power of collective experience through the performing arts to support societal transformation. In 2022, she became an independent consultant to the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP).

Benedikt has had a successful career as a dancer, performing throughout Europe and the US for over two decades. Since 2013, she has co-produced and directed numerous multimedia performances. She has presented her work at prestigious institutions and conferences, including the UN SDSN International Conference on Sustainable Development, the European Parliament, the UNESCO Forum, the World Science Forum, the European Culture Forum, Institute de France, Harvard University, as well as theaters and festivals such as the Kennedy Center Washington, Carnegie Hall, and the Bridging Europe Festival. She has co-curated the UN Concert for a Sustainable Planet. In 2023, one of her productions was selected for the EU guest of honor program and performed in Mexico.

Teaching assignments include the Mellon Summer School for Performance Research at Harvard University, the School for Modern Diplomacy co-organized by the United Nations University and the Diplomatic Academy Vienna, and the IIASA Young Scientists Program. ​

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