Despite surgery and subsequent treatment with chemotherapy and radiation, the majority of patients experience recurrence of malignant brain tumours. Research groups from Sweden and Austria have shown in cells in culture that an ion pump can deliver drugs more accurately, which gives less severe adverse effects in chemotherapy. The results have been published in Advanced Materials Technologies.
excellent=austria is the funding programme of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research to enhance Austria’s reputation as a top location for research among the international scientific community. The e=a funding tracks are managed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and offer researchers new opportunities to conduct top-level research. Universities and other research institutions can consolidate their strengths in a sustainable way. The aim is to boost Austria’s innovative capacity and to find answers to the challenges of tomorrow.
During its press conference, the Austrian Science Fund FWF presented its performance figures for 2020. Last year, the FWF invested a total of €243.6 million in over 700 research projects. Thanks to FWF funding, 4,343 researchers in Austria are currently generating new knowledge in every field of basic research. Particular emphasis was placed on getting corona-related research projects up and running quickly. So far, 24 teams have received funding in this fast-track procedure.
A higher funding budget, longer project durations, and year-round submissions—the ESPRIT career advancement programme starts on April 27. The new programme promotes the careers of highly qualified postdocs and replaces the Lise Meitner and Hertha Firnberg programmes.
Over the last two years, 85 female researchers have been awarded funding as part of the FWF’s Elise Richter and Hertha Firnberg career development programmes. They and many other successful female researchers accepted the FWF’s invitation to get together and discuss women’s careers in cutting-edge research.
In its latest tranche of funding, the FWF has approved 155 excellent research projects to the tune of €53 million. This includes six new doc.funds, which will be established in Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Wien and specifically support doctoral candidates. 13 projects from the field of arts-based research received a total of €5 million in funding. Nevertheless, the funding situation for researchers remains challenging, as projects totalling €22 million could not be launched despite receiving outstanding reviews.
