A New Dimension in Research Funding

The brain is the most complex and sophisticated organ of the human body, which is why understanding how the brain works is not only the greatest scientific challenge for humankind but also a quest to rationalize consciousness, the “human self,” maximize performance, and provide templates for disciplines that use the human brain as a model for various actions. The Cluster of Excellence aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how different types of inhibitory neurons – essential cellular nodes of any neural network – develop and interact to control circuit operations that underlie behavior, and how they are susceptible to disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and epilepsy. New concepts of personalized pharmacotherapy will be developed to alleviate mental illnesses.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring together leading minds in Austrian neuroscience, both from basic research and clinical research, to make tangible progress in understanding brain function and developing therapies for brain diseases in a large-scale project,” says Tibor Harkany, Director of Research, about the objectives of the Cluster of Excellence.

Exploiting limited resources to produce consumer goods creates wealth in the short term, but threatens the very existence of many forms of life in the long term. The Cluster of Excellence “Circular Bioengineering” is investigating ways of decoupling economic growth and resource consumption. The production of platform chemicals and materials from renewable raw materials and their efficient and, above all, circular use makes it possible to switch from petroleum-based to bio-based materials. Green chemistry concepts and biotechnological processes can be used to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative. The Cluster of Excellence will be investigating fundamental methods and processes for establishing a circular bioeconomy and training a new generation of young researchers with comprehensive skills to face the challenges of the future.  

“We are researching new environmentally friendly methods and processes for the production of bio-based chemicals and materials, focusing especially on their impact on the environment and on society, to help develop the best possible solutions for our future,” says Roland Ludwig, Director of Research, about the new Cluster of Excellence.

Researchers from the University of Graz, together with colleagues from the Medical Universities of Graz and Vienna, will study the regulation of healthy aging as part of this Cluster of Excellence. Under the acronym “MetAGE,” the researchers are investigating how metabolic control disorders influence the risk of age-related diseases. At the same time, clinical testing will focus on targeted nutritional interventions. The special feature of this Cluster of Excellence is that findings from basic research in model organisms will be transferred directly into clinical research. The idea is to encourage prevention – turning “medicine against illness” into “medicine for health” in the future.

“Combining research into human aging with basic research is at the core of our Cluster of Excellence. While life expectancy is generally increasing, the healthy lifespan is not increasing to the same extent, which ultimately means an increased risk of age-related diseases. Our project is primarily aimed at extending the health span, i.e. helping people achieve as many active and enjoyable years as possible,” says Frank Madeo, Director of Research, about the objectives of the Cluster of Excellence.

The “Bilateral AI” research project, coordinated by the Johannes Kepler University Linz, combines the two most important strands of research in the field of artificial intelligence to date: sub-symbolic AI (machine learning) and symbolic AI (knowledge representation and reasoning). The project will now be bringing together both approaches, with the common goal of developing the foundations of “Broad AI.” Broad AI could be capable of coming to its own conclusions and demonstrating comprehensive cognitive abilities. While existing AI programs like ChatGPT are currently causing a sensation, they ultimately only evaluate existing data. New AI systems could plan better, adapt quickly to changing situations, and become creative in a broader sense.

“Broad AI could help to make our everyday lives, as well as systemically relevant areas and processes such as energy, transport, and healthcare, more ecologically sustainable, efficient, and resource-friendly," says Sepp Hochreiter, Director of Research, about the new Cluster of Excellence.

The “Eurasian Miracle” (Jack Goody) developed over the course of three millennia, from Central Europe to Asia: historical transformation processes that continue to have an impact even on modern times. The growth and decline of empires, environmental changes, and mobility and migration affected economic developments, resulting in new constructions of identity and strategies of exclusion in societies and religions. Historical sources from this period are preserved in a variety of languages and writings. The cultural heritage of this large region is in many cases still waiting to be processed and analyzed.

A team of 31 Austrian scientists at four institutions will be dedicating themselves to researching these topics in dialog with international partners and training a new generation of doctoral students and junior researchers with broad skills in research-led teaching.

“Political attention is focusing increasingly on the region from Europe to Asia. This Cluster allows us to take a unique approach combining basic research, innovative research methods, and the training of a new generation with broad skills. We want to delve deep into the region’s history and participate in the global discourse," says Claudia Rapp, Director of Research, about the new Cluster of Excellence.

Microbiomes - communities of microorganisms that colonize all ecosystems and living organisms - are essential for the health of our planet and all its inhabitants. In this Cluster of Excellence, 30 scientists from a range of disciplines and seven different research institutions are working to decipher common basic principles of environmental microbiomes and human microbiomes. The goal is to understand how microbiomes control the health of our planet. With this knowledge, global change will become more predictable while enabling us to target microbiomes as an innovative solution for a sustainable future.

“In our Cluster of Excellence, we are creating completely new synergies by dissolving the boundaries between red and green microbiome research in Austria and directly linking medicine with environmental research. We want to learn to understand the basic principles of microbiomes in order to then strengthen our planet’s health by modeling and targeting them,” says Michael Wagner, Director of Research of the Cluster of Excellence.

Today we face a crisis of knowledge. Our claims to knowledge are being threatened by rapid and spectacular developments in technology, and by attacks on the very ideas of knowledge and truth themselves. The flood of information on the internet challenges our ability to tell truth from falsehood, and there is a widespread rejection of the standards of scientific evidence and expertise. The crisis raises deep philosophical questions about knowledge, truth, science, ethics, and politics, and ultimately about our relationship to reality itself. These questions will be addressed in entirely new ways by this Cluster of Excellence, which will work to understand the crisis of knowledge in all its manifestations, and to find ways to combat it and reshape our relationship to knowledge.

“This Cluster of Excellence will address fundamental questions about knowledge, many of which have deep social, ethical, and political relevance, by linking many different areas of philosophy which normally function independently. This is something that never has been done before in philosophical research,” says Tim Crane, Director of Research of the Cluster of Excellence.

The Second Quantum Revolution - the breathtaking development of modern quantum science - would have been inconceivable without groundbreaking contributions from Austria. Based on these discoveries, quantum technologies are being developed today that surpass traditional technologies in many areas. The Cluster of Excellence “Quantum Science Austria” aims to advance basic research in quantum science and expand the frontiers of knowledge, making it a driver for future innovations. Its focus is on fundamental questions about the quantum nature of space, time, and gravity, new paradigms in quantum information science, and the physics of quantum many-body systems. The Cluster’s researchers in Innsbruck, Vienna, Linz, and Klosterneuburg are asking innovative, groundbreaking questions that can only be solved by uniting the unique expertise available in Austria. With well-controlled model systems based on trapped ions, ultracold atoms, long-range interacting systems, superconducting quantum circuits, and nanoscopic solid-state systems, they aim to unravel the most complex mysteries of the quantum world.

“Austria has developed into a global leader in quantum physics over the past three decades, as demonstrated by the Nobel Prize for Anton Zeilinger. This development is in part thanks to the very close cooperation between different research groups in Austria. With the new Cluster of Excellence, we can further strengthen these collaborations and establish an internationally visible center of quantum science in Austria that will attract the best minds to Austria,” says Gregor Weihs, Director of Research, about the Cluster of Excellence’s goals.

The continued burning of fossil fuels to meet our growing demand for energy has brought the world to the brink of a climate crisis. In this Cluster of Excellence, researchers are working to create new technologies for efficient energy conversion and storage, paving the way to a fossil fuel-free society. One key factor is the storage of renewable energy in recyclable energy carriers: water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, and CO2 can be converted into higher-value products - even climate-neutral substitutes for natural gas and crude oil.

To fulfil this purpose, the researchers aim to develop catalysts on which chemical reactions can take place quickly and reliably. The Cluster will bundle expertise from various fields such as surface chemistry, surface physics, materials science, and computer simulation. The work of this Cluster of Excellence is an important step towards climate neutrality.

“It's already five minutes past 12. The energy transition can only be achieved if the best minds in materials research work together to develop innovative, climate-neutral ways of storing renewable energy. With this Cluster of Excellence, Austria is making a contribution to mastering this global challenge,” says Günther Rupprechter, Director of Research, about the new Cluster of Excellence.