In the last FWF Board meeting of 2022, the FWF put 119 projects on track for about €72.6 million, selected from an application volume of about €370 million. Projects were approved in Special Research Areas, Research Groups, ESPRIT, doc.funds and doc.funds.connect, and the Science Communication program, among other programs.

More basic knowledge on the influence of climate change on genetic adaptation and on the historical analysis of political power structures - the FWF is strengthening cutting-edge research in Austria with two new Special Research Areas based on international standards. The new networks, coordinated by researchers from the Academy of Sciences and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, will each receive funding of around €4 million over a period of four years.

If you think research is just for scientists, you couldn’t be more wrong. For amateurs, or "Citizen Scientists," there is a lot of work to be done. At the beginning of October, the FWF approved four new Top Citizen Science projects. Citizens are actively encouraged to participate. It’s a win-win situation for both science and society.

AI Mission Austria, a new funding initiative by aws, FFG, and FWF, is supporting the development of AI as a key technology, from research to implementation.  Applications can be submitted under several programmes starting 3 November 2022. 

The Austrian Science Fund has joined the Europe-wide Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). The Coalition’s objective is to establish new guidelines in research assessment, working in cooperation with numerous scientific organisations.