FWF ASTRA Awards

Benefits & funding

• €500,000 to €1 million in project funding over five years.
• Eligible costs can include the principal investigator’s salary, project personnel, equipment, materials, travel, and other project-specific expenses.
• At least half of ASTRA Awards are granted to women. Eligible women principal investigators may apply for an additional €200,000 tenure package within the first three project years.
• Women principal investigators working full-time after the birth of a child can receive €9,600 per child per year until the child’s third birthday.
• Finalists who attend the hearing but do not receive an ASTRA Award may receive a three-year Merit Award of up to €450,000 if their alternative project plan is accepted.

Eligibility

• Applicants may work in any discipline, including arts-based research. Eligible clinical projects must have no direct commercial interest and require the relevant ethics approval.
• The lead applicant must have the qualifications to direct the proposed research and an internationally visible publication record. The current guide requires at least two quality-assured, internationally visible publications from the previous five calendar years that show a substantial independent contribution.
• A doctorate must have been awarded at least two and no more than nine years before 30 September 2026. Arts-based researchers without a doctorate may qualify with two to nine years of relevant arts-based research experience. Approved career interruptions can extend the eligibility window.
• Applicants who already hold or have accepted a permanent professorship or equivalent permanent research-leadership role are not eligible.
• An individual may apply to ASTRA no more than twice during their career and may lead only one approved ASTRA project.
• An eligible Austrian research institution must submit the proposal. The project must be carried out in Austria, and the principal investigator must normally be employed by the lead institution for at least five hours per week from the project start through its full term. The project cannot be led from abroad.
• The FWF states no nationality, residency, age, or gender restriction for applicants.

Application process

1. 1
   Agree on the project, employment arrangement, infrastructure, and institutional support with an eligible Austrian research institution.
2. 2
   Complete the required forms in the FWF elane portal, including the research-institution assignment, application data, cost breakdown, academic abstract, co-authors, and relevant partner details.
3. 3
   Upload the proposal, the two-publication eligibility record, the five-year publication list, and an alternative three-year project plan for possible Merit Award funding.
4. 4
   Both the applicant and the lead research institution must approve the complete submission in elane by 10 September 2026 at 14:00 Vienna local time.
5. 5
   The FWF checks formal eligibility, obtains international peer reviews, shortlists candidates for a mandatory hearing, and makes the final decision through its Scientific Board on the international jury’s recommendation.

Program timeline

1. Applications open.

   1 July 2026

2. Application and institutional approval deadline.

   10 September 2026, 14:00 Vienna local time

3. After submission

   Formal checks and international peer review.

4. After peer review

   Shortlisted applicants attend a mandatory hearing with an international multidisciplinary jury.

5. The FWF formally announces the ASTRA Awards.

   June