The Curtain Rises on Award-Winning Basic Research

Around 500 guests from science and research gathered in the arcaded courtyard of Vienna City Hall on June 25, 2025 to honor pioneering scientific achievements, including the first ever FWF ASTRA Awards. The festive highlight of the evening was the announcement of the FWF Wittgenstein Award winner Elly Tanaka by Minister of Science Eva-Maria Holzleitner, FWF President Christof Gattringer and Vice-President Ursula Jakubek. Read on to discover the most memorable moments of the evening.
June 26, 2025
Gruppenbild mit der FWF-Wittgenstein-Preisträgerin Elly Tanaka im Kreise aller Preisträger:innen und weiterer Gäste
FWF Wittgenstein Award winner Elly Tanaka joins the other 2025 Austrian Science Award winners and other guests for a group photo at the end of a memorable evening. © FWF/Klaus Ranger

The FWF Austrian Science Awards ceremony is an annual highlight for the Austrian scientific community. At the ceremony, researchers are presented with the country’s most highly endowed awards for innovative research achievements at an international level. In addition to the award winners, accompanied by their teams and families, around 400 guests from politics, science, and research attended the summer event in the arcaded courtyard of Vienna City Hall. Numerous representatives from universities and non-university research institutions as well as previous FWF Wittgenstein Award winners were also among the well-wishers. ORF journalist Lisa Gadenstätter from the Austrian national public broadcasting agency ORF hosted the event on stage.

Kicking off the event, Minister of Science  Eva-Maria Holzleitner, Vienna City Councillor Veronica Kaup-Hasler, FWF President Christof Gattringer, and FWF Executive Vice-President Ursula Jakubek discussed the importance of Vienna as a research location and the value of freedom for research and the innovative power of a society.

A total of 18 FWF ASTRA Award winners, who came to Vienna from all over Austria for the event, were delighted to receive their awards. The spectrum of their research topics ranges from the analysis of large networks and the history of security policy innovations to the secret signals that keep plants green.

A study by the WIFO, IHS, and Joanneum Research published in 2024 shows that the positive impact of basic research on the economy and society take effect significantly faster and more extensive than previously assumed. WIFO Director Gabriel Felbermayr summarized the key findings of this study for the audience.

Speaking for many young researchers, neuroscientist Nicole Amberg from the Medical University of Vienna and mathematician Juan Aguilera told us what they value about Vienna as a research location and what keeps them here.

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Afterwards, the FWF presented the second annual round of Zero Emissions Awards, the privately financed funding awards of the FWF's alpha+ Foundation. Chemist Rajesh Jethwa (ISTA), microbiologist Eva Maria Prem (University of Innsbruck), and chemist Katalin Barta Weissert (University of Graz) accepted the awards for their climate-relevant research projects from Georg Winckler, Chair of the Foundation, and the donor of the grant money, US entrepreneur Patrick Dumont. Ursula Jakubek then thanked Georg Winckler, who will be handing over the chair of the foundation to Sabine Seidler over the summer, for his many years of service.

 

Wittgensteinpreisträgerin 2025 Elly Tanaka mit ihrer Trophäe
The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) honors Elly Tanaka for her impressive life's work in research. © FWF/Klaus Ranger

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the 2025 FWF Wittgenstein Award to Elly Tanaka from the IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), who was honored for her outstanding work in regeneration research.

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has been giving out the FWF Wittgenstein Award since 1996. To date, Austria’s most prestigious scientific award has been presented to 43 outstanding researchers working in Austria.