doc.funds.connect

Attractive career opportunities for doctoral students help them gain a foothold in promising research fields – doc.funds.connect grants fund joint doctoral training programs at universities and universities of applied sciences. The program facilitates cooperation between institutions, strengthens the research competence of universities of applied sciences, and offers doctoral students additional opportunities for career development.

In cooperation with the Christian Doppler Research Association (CDG)

Target group

The funding program is aimed at all Austrian universities pursuant to the Universities Act (UG) and all Austrian universities of applied sciences pursuant to the Universities of Applied Sciences Act (FHG), where at least 5 researchers or arts-based researchers join to form a multi-institutional consortium to implement a collaborative project. project.

Funding goals

The main goal of the program is to fund the establishment and expansion of structured doctoral programs based on international standards, developed and organized jointly by universities and universities of applied sciences. These cooperative training and research structures are intended to help provide doctoral students with an excellent education in the long term.

At the same time, the funding also supports the development of research staff at universities of applied sciences according to the Universities of Applied Sciences Studies Act (FHG) and strengthens the cooperation between universities of applied sciences and universities.

Long term, the program aims to interlink basic and applied research and help establish application-oriented basic research.

Funding period and funding amount

Personnel costs for up to 5 doctoral candidates plus training costs of up to €5,000 per doctoral candidate per year for a total of four years

Prerequisites

  • Consortium of at least 5 researchers from universities and universities of applied sciences with outstanding research records by FWF standards
  • A target of 40% of the underrepresented gender in the consortium; the composition of the consortium is one of the deciding factors in the review and evaluation process.
  • Only joint applications by at least one university pursuant to the Universities Act (UG) and at least one university of applied sciences pursuant to the Universities of Applied Sciences Act (FHG)
  • Basic funding by the participating research institutions, i.e. provision of all necessary infrastructure and ensuring institutional affiliation
  • Involvement of doctoral students in a focused and consistent research framework; education through research
  • Existing structures and procedures for:
    • Admission and selection of doctoral candidates
    • Supervision and monitoring, suitable working conditions
    • Completion of the doctoral program
  • Based on and oriented towards international standards
  • No applications accepted for additional funding for ongoing FWF-funded projects from the Doctoral Programs, doc.funds, or and doc.funds.connect programs
  • For further details, please see the application guidelines.

Approval

  • Late November 2024 by the FWF Scientific Board based on the recommendation of the international doc.funds.connect jury; recommendations are made on the basis of an international peer review and hearings
  • Recommendations are prepared in the doc.funds.connect jury meeting on November 21 and 22, 2024

Number of eligible projects

About 3–4 projects funded per call

Funding institution

Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Submissions

Currently no submissions

Inquiries and contact

Mag.a Birgit Woitech
birgit.woitech(at)fwf.ac.at
+43 676 83487 8602

Application portal