The principles of thermodynamics describe large systems. Can they be transferred to the microscopic level of quantum mechanics? Researchers at the Atomic and Subatomic Physics Institute of TU Wien are deliberating new perspectives on quantum systems. The process could lead to “thermal quantum machines” that work much more efficiently than their classical counterparts.
The Weiss Award, Austria's largest privately financed research award in the field of meteorology, goes to Bernadett Weinzierl from the University of Vienna. Administered by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the award of around €400,000 from the Weiss Science Foundation will enable physicist Bernadett Weinzierl to better detect and research microplastics in the atmosphere.
The FWF responds to inflation and increases funding for salaries in ongoing FWF projects for the year 2023. Researchers receive additional funding for personnel costs in both ad personam as well as PROFI funding mode. With this step, the FWF is helping to compensate for inflationary losses, especially for young researchers (two-thirds of all FWF-funded researchers are younger than 36 years old).
The FWF has been gradually converting the administration of its funding programs to the new PROFI mode since 2019. The goal is to make the funding process easier for researchers and their institutions, while still ensuring autonomy in the application process. As of May 31, 2023, the FWF’s international programs will now also be available in PROFI funding mode.
Austria's basic research community is growing, and with it the funding provided by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Investments increased again in 2022, reaching €273 million, and 743 projects were funded at Austria's research institutions. Currently, 4,842 scientists and scholars are conducting their research with FWF funding, and their discoveries help lay the foundations for progress, innovation, and prosperity. The FWF Distinguished Professor program, the third pillar of the excellence initiative excellent=austria, will start in 2023. The Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) will be providing the FWF with €1.124 billion for the 2024 to 2026 budget period.
