Evaluation Report Confirms the Strategic Value of the doc.funds Program
© Unsplash/Kvalifik
Experts from the research and consulting agency 3s research laboratory and the CHEPS – Center for Higher Education Policy Studies evaluated the impact of the doc.funds program, which has been running for ten years. Now available, their evaluation report confirms the strategic added value of doc.funds for science and innovation in Austria.
The doc.funds program has proven to be an effective tool for making research institutions in Austria attractive to young, international talent and for providing the best possible support. A key factor here is the ability to recruit highly qualified doctoral candidates and offer them secure funding. Even though doc.funds can be viewed as a focused rather than a broad-based program due to its limited financial and time resources, it nevertheless offers the funded projects a space where innovative approaches can emerge and develop. These approaches have the potential to trigger institutional changes and strengthen structured doctoral training at the respective research institutions.
This funding format has also significantly transformed the academic culture at the institutions, initiating a shift towards team-oriented doctoral supervision, productive interdisciplinary discourse, and higher standards in quality assurance. At the same time, doc.funds has opened up new opportunities for collaboration and research, both within and between research institutions, extending beyond the projects’ durations.
Further development of the funding program
The analyses and recommendations contained in the evaluation report now give the FWF the opportunity to further improve the program. For the next phase of development, the focus will primarily be on the following strategic areas of action: Improving the integration of underrepresented disciplines, securing long-term funding, optimizing decision-making processes, increasing flexibility for collaborations, strengthening training in interdisciplinary qualifications, and implementing more precise and systematic career tracking.
