ERC Starting Grant 2023: Austrian Research Institutions Achieve Record-Breaking Success in Funding

2023-09-05 10:15:02

Vienna (OTS) – Good news for ten Austrian research institutions: The European Commission has announced the award of the renowned ERC Starting Grant 2023 and the record set only last year has been broken again. 19 scientists, who will implement their research projects at ten different Austrian research institutions, prevailed in a strict and highly competitive selection process from almost 2,700 competitors and raised a total of almost € 29 million for Austria as a science location.

Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research, Martin Polaschek, congratulates the 19 excellent researchers on their great success. “I would like to congratulate all the researchers involved and their research institutes on the pioneering work in their fields. This success gives Austria’s research profile even more visibility on the world stage. The fact that the number of Starting Grants raised this year has been exceeded for the second time in a row highlights the great potential of excellent scientists in Austria as a research location. It is also particularly pleasing that more than half of the Austrian grants were raised by women. Especially in cutting-edge research, many women are needed as role models for future female researchers.”

FWF President Christof Gattringer also congratulates the researchers honored by the ERC and emphasizes the future potential of basic research. “The positive ERC result again underlines the high quality and the enormous potential of young researchers at Austria’s research institutions. Congratulations to all the awardees,” says Christof Gattringer. Austria’s promising potential for scientific progress at the highest international level is also evident at the national level in the funding from the Austrian Science Fund FWF, whose funding portfolio is closely coordinated with the European ERC offers. Several researchers from the group of current ERC grantees have already been able to show their careers at the FWF and are currently being funded by the FWF, for example with FWF START prizes or as key researchers in the new excellence clusters.

“This is renewed evidence of excellent research in Austria,” say the two managing directors of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG, Henrietta Egerth and Karin Tausz. As the national contact point, the FFG offers a comprehensive range of information and advice and is therefore “a strong partner for a successful application”.

Eight Starting Grants were raised by researchers from the life sciences. A further seven grants this year go to scientists in the fields of physics and engineering and four grants in the field of social sciences and humanities. The topics of the funded projects are correspondingly diverse, including questions from quantum computer science, cancer research and biomaterial research, as well as forest biodiversity, bee research and migration research or religious politics in antiquity.

The University of Vienna was particularly successful with a total of four grants. Three grants each go to the Vienna University of Technology and the Institute of Molecular Pathology, two grants each to the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and the Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). In addition, the Technical University of Graz, the University of Graz, the University of Innsbruck, the University of Continuing Education Krems and the University of Linz each received a grant.

The ERC Starting Grants are renowned grants of an average of €1.5 million per research project. The grant supports excellent scientists in an early career phase on their way to scientific independence. As principal investigators (project managers), they can use the money to set up their own working groups for the research project that has been awarded the prize.

For this year’s call, a budget of €628 million was made available by the European Research Council for 400 successful applicants to promote cutting-edge research, with no thematic specifications being made. In total, around 2,600 jobs for post-docs and doctoral students will be created across Europe from the funded Starting Grant projects. Most projects this year are located in Germany (87), followed by France (50), the Netherlands (44) and Great Britain (32).

If you are interested in the various calls for proposals of the ERC, the FFG, as the National Contact Point (NCP), offers a wide range of support, which includes information events and training on submitting applications, as well as feedback on project applications and interview training. Horizon Europe: