Austria 2026 - Call for applications

Young female scientists in the fields of medicine, natural sciences or mathematics who

have been awarded a L'ORÉAL Austria sponsorship prize are invited to apply.

• completed their doctoral/PhD studies no more than four years ago (deadline is the submission date)
are Austrian citizens or have lived in Austria for at least three years,
• present a concrete project in Austria in the field of basic research in the above-mentioned disciplines (projects in related fields of study that pursue an experimental research approach can also be considered), and
• be able to present publications (peer review)
.

Exceptions

Delays (up to a maximum of 3 years) due to (child) care obligations, chronic illness or disability will be taken into account. Exceptions must be clarified with the Scholarships & Prizes Department of the Austrian Academy of Sciences before submitting the application

.

Selection procedure

The award committee consists of scientists working at a university or a non-university research institution in Austria. The committee members are nominated by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The selection process for the L'ORÉAL Austria Sponsorship Awards takes approx. 4-5 months. The selected award winners will be informed in writing after the decision of the award committee (usually in mid-July)

Legal recourse is excluded.

Selection criteria

The main selection criterion is the excellence of the applicant's current and past research as well as their plans for future research. The applicant's scientific qualifications, the innovative content and methodology of the current and future research approaches and the feasibility of the planned project will be assessed.

Procedure of the selection process

The applications are assigned to the members of the award committee according to the respective subject area. Strict attention is paid to possible grounds for bias. This means, firstly, that committee members and applicants must not work at the same university or research institution. In addition, possible professional or private close or competitive relationships are taken into account.

Pre-selection

In the first selection round, the award committee decides which applications will be reviewed externally. If the committee comes to the conclusion that an application does not meet the criteria of the funding program, it will be rejected.

For the applications that are reviewed externally, the committee members propose suitable reviewers who work abroad. During the selection process, strict attention is paid to reasons of bias or possible conflicts of interest.
There is no fixed pool of reviewers; for each application, experts are sought who can assess the evaluation based on their own scientific experience or research activities in accordance with international standards in the respective subject area. These reviewers work on a voluntary basis, i.e. they do not receive any financial compensation for their work.
Applicants have the right (e.g. for competitive reasons or due to a school dispute) to exclude up to three scientists from the review process without giving reasons.

Review procedure

At least one expert opinion is obtained for each application within the framework of the L'ORÉAL Austria program. This number can be increased for interdisciplinary applications covering several research areas.

An expert opinion consists of a written statement and a formal assessment of the applicant's scientific qualifications and aspects of the research project on a scale of 1-10 (1-2 = insufficient, 9-10 = excellent):

• Scientific qualification of the applicant
• Originality of the research project
• Clarity of the research questions (hypotheses) and methodological structure
• Feasibility of the project (institute equipment, scientific environment)

Finally, the reviewers are asked to provide a summarized recommendation as to whether the application is fully worthy of funding or should be rejected

.

If the written statement is not conclusive, a further expert opinion is obtained. The experts are asked to disclose any possible reasons for bias. If bias is subsequently established, the expert opinion will not be evaluated.

Decision on the award

The decision on the selection of the award winners is made at the award meeting.

The committee members rank the applications assigned to them on the basis of the expert opinions and present them to the committee. The applications are compared; the reviews, but also criteria with regard to the applicant's academic qualifications (such as publication record, mobility, etc.) and the significance of the award for the applicant's future academic career are discussed in detail.
The decision on the awarding of the prize is made by the entire committee.

After receiving the award

The implementation of the submitted project can begin from the time the candidate in question is notified of the award decision until the end of the current year.

Obligations

The award winners undertake to be photographed for public communication and to take part in the award ceremony (in October/November). If events are planned specifically for and with them in the 12 months following the award ceremony (maximum two), they are expected to attend. They may also be filmed and interviewed for non-commercial purposes related to the communication of the L'ORÉAL-UNESCO "For Women in Science" program.

These photos, videos and texts may be used for written and audiovisual publications and for distribution in Austrian and international media. Written permission for the image rights must be signed by each award winner.

By applying for a L'ORÉAL Austria Sponsorship Award, these obligations are accepted.

Reporting

A final report must be sent by e-mail to the Austrian Commission for UNESCO (walder-wintersteiner(at)unesco.at) and to the Scholarships & Prizes Department of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (stipref(at)oeaw.ac.at) no later than 3 months after completion of the project awarded the prize.

2007

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