| Re$earch Re$ources |
|
|
|
bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / News from the Network
"We strengthen science and the humanities in Austria," is the corporate policy pledge of the FWF (Austrian Science Fund) , Austria's central body for the promotion of basic research. In so doing, the FWF is equally committed to all branches of science and the humanities and is guided in its operations solely by the standards of the international scientific community.
The recently announced increase in the 2006 appropriation granted by the Federal Ministry of Finance from €30 million to €150 million will definitely help in realizing this mission, since it enables the FWF to promote all projects with an excellent evaluation, as Gerhard Kratky, the FWF's Managing Director, explained to the APA (Austria Presse Agentur).
These figures make the FWF a central player in the support of young scientists. Some days ago, the Austrian government decided that the annual funding budget of the Austrian Science Fund will be increased by €30 million this year.
The FWF is equally committed to all branches of science and the humanities and is guided in its operations solely by the standards of the international scientific community. All proposals are subject to an international peer review procedure.
A Support for Stand-alone Projects
The FWF continuously accepts applications for stand-alone projects. However, most of the other programs have application deadlines: bridges: Do you offer grants for transatlantic research projects, e.g., - projects at Austrian institutions where Austrian and foreign researchers collaborate, - projects by Austrian researchers in the US, - projects with research being done partly in Austria and partly in the US, or even
- projects by US researchers in Austria or Europe? bridges: The START Program gives outstanding young researchers of any discipline the long-term and extensive financial security to plan their research and to build up their own research groups. Is it possible to go abroad after having received the prize money of this particular program or other non-mobility programs? No, this program is commissioned and has clear objectives: funding of outstanding and internationally competitive research conducted by promising young researchers in Austria. To increase the amount of excellent scientific output in Austria, the Federal Ministry for Science, Education, and Culture stipulated that funds stemming from a START award cannot be transferred to another country. bridges: The application guidelines for the Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship mention the requirement of a "possibility of return" to an Austrian research institution. Is there any obligation to come back to Austria upon completion of a particular research project which has been funded by means of an international mobility program? No, this possibility is not an obligation but stresses that all parties involved should undertake their "best efforts" to enable the young researcher to return from their respective host institution and apply the knowledge he or she has acquired abroad. However, if the young scientist receives a favorable offer to stay in the country where he or she studied as an Erwin Schroedinger fellow, the FWF would raise no objections. If the option of returning to Austria appears less attractive, it is a warning signal to Austria that the environment for conducting research in our country is (still) not competitive with that offered at some institutions abroad. bridges: Why was the Schrödinger Follow-up Program, which enabled scientists to reintegrate themselves in the Austrian research environment on return from a period of research abroad, discontinued as of March 2005? Is the possibility of an application by an independent scientist (Selbstantragstellung) a full-fledged substitute? The reason for phasing out the Erwin Schroedinger Follow-up Program is that its advantages over "stand-alone" projects were perceived as minimal. At the same time, the criteria for applications as "independent scientists" were relaxed, making this funding program a full substitute. Now, anyone can apply as an independent researcher from abroad if they can prove that their center of life has been in Austria for at least three of the last ten years.
No - the requirement relates to the principle of territoriality. The seven START and Wittgenstein Laureates of 2005 may serve as a perfect illustration that citizenship as a criterion is irrelevant (and, by the way, illegal as far as citizens of EU member countries are concerned): One laureate is from Australia, three are from Germany, and three are from Austria. The Austrian Science Fund has no program within its funding spectrum where Austrian citizenship is a requirement. bridges: Which scholars would you like to encourage to apply? (e.g. those who are underrepresented in your programs or those whose field of research you consider particularly important, etc.) With the single exception of the NANO program (see above), the FWF does not have any priority research areas for funding. We are proud of our "bottom-up" approach and hope to be able to maintain it in the future. The FWF has no program for "affirmative action." However, statistics on the proportion of female scientists who apply for a research grant are closely monitored; furthermore, we have two funding programs open only to female scientists. bridges: Is there any advice you would give scientists who plan to apply for a funding program? It is difficult to put all the advice in a nutshell but take this as an attempt: First, select the appropriate funding program (http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/projects/index.html ). Secondly, read the information provided thoroughly. Thirdly, having done so, please make a list of all questions you could not answer with recourse to the FAQ of the respective program. This list, which should not be too long, may serve as a structure for discussions with the relevant contact person in the FWF. A list of contact points can be found here: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/contact/index.html In the process of writing the proposal, look closely at the list of questions the FWF conveys to the reviewers. These questions should be easy for the reviewer to answer after reading your proposal. It is the peer reviewer for whom you write the proposal, not the FWF. A short "role-playing exercise" may provide helpful insights. The most frequent pitfalls when submitting a proposal are: - Vague description of the problem the proposed research aims at - Research objectives too broad - No hypothesis (just data collection) - Deficient discussion of the current state of research in the given field - Vague description of the working plan and the intended methods - Incomprehensible costs - No personal scientific input related to the proposed research - Proposals being too long or too short - Proposals in German - Deficient language skill in English bridges: Where can interested scholars find more detailed information on your programs? Who is the contact person for questions and applications at your institution? Visit the website of the Austrian Science Fund (German / English): www.fwf.ac.at The FWF's homepage at: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/index.asp About the FWF: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/portrait/portrait.html Detailed information on all funding programs the FWF offers at: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/projects/index.html Application forms can be found at: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/applications/index.html Subscribe to the FWF Newsletter community: http://www.fwf.ac.at/de/mailinglist_wissenschafter.html Visit the Schroedinger Portal to get information on the biggest Austrian program for post-doctoral study abroad (available only in German): http://www.schroedinger-portal.at/ Here you can find the contact information for relevant FWF experts: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/contact/index.html The FWF provides a Web-based database containing all funded projects: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/projects/projekt_suche.html Information on the FWF in brief is found in the Annual Statistics Booklet 2005 (PDF download "Statistikheft 2005") at: http://www.fwf.ac.at/de/downloads/pdf/fwf_statistikheft_2005.pdf
|
was established in 1967 and is Austria's central body for the support of basic scientific research. Its annual funding budget in 2005 was around €120 million, of which almost 80 percent is spent on personnel, i.e. scientists. The FWF pays the salaries of approximately 800 post-docs, more than 1,200 Ph.D. students and over 100 technicians.
