Mag. Elisabeth Mayerhofer (*1971, Austria)  is a founder member and since 2000 has been a member of the board of Forschungsgesellschaft für kulturökonomische und kulturpolitische Studien, FOKUS. She studied German philology, French and Spanish. After graduating she was involved in various Austrian and EU-wide projects as a research assistant, including in 2002-2003 the project “Art works” that was implemented in cooperation with Joanneum Research, NPO/WU and Austrian Culture Service (ÖKS) and sponsored by the EU EQUAL programme. In 2004/5 she was guest researcher at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Until 2007she was director of IG Kultur Austria, a national body representing the interests of cultural initiatives. Key areas of research: creative industries, art and cultural employment markets, gender studies.