Things to know about the Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences

„Out of the Box 2026“ Award I Associate Professor Dr. Angela Hof I Department of Environment and Biodiversity

Publication Award – ‘Kurt Zopf Encouragement Prize’

– Value of the Kurt Zopf Encouragement Prize: € 15.000,00

– Award winners from the NLS Faculty:

Associate Professor Dr Kerstin Hödlmoser I Department of Psychology (2022)
Associate Professor Dr Martin Himly I Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (2022)
Associate Professor Dr Iris Gratz | Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (2020)
Professor Dr Tuulia Ortner | Department of Psychology (2019)
Professor Dr Stefan Dötterl | Department of Environment and Biodiversity (2018)
Professor Dr Manuel Schabus | Department of Psychology (2018)
Professor Dr Jens Blechert | Department of Psychology (2016)
Professor Dr Fritz Aberger | Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (2014)
Professor Dr Nicola Hüsing | Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials (2014)
Professor Dr Eva Jonas I Department of Psychology (2014)
Professor Dr Johann Brandstetter I Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (2012)
Professor Dr Josef Perner I Department of Psychology (2012)

Award of Excellence

– Value of the Award of Excellence: € 3.000,00

Young Investigators Award

– Prize money per research area (6 research areas = € 3.600,00):

Per research area: 1st place € 300,00 / 2nd place € 200,00 / 3rd place € 100,00

Award winners from the NLS Faculty (EXPLAINING NATURE: NATURAL AND LIFE SCIENCES) in 2025 and 2024:

Dr Daniel Euchler, BSc MSc I Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials (1st place 2025)
Dr Andreas Fellner, BSc MSc I Department of Environment and Biodiversity (2nd place 2025)
Dr Helene Sieberer, BSc MSc I Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (3rd place 2025)
Dr Georg Stockmaier, BSc MSc I Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (1st place 2024)
Dr Elena Fischer, BSc, MSc I Department of Psychology (2nd place, 2024)
Renate Bauer, BSc, MSc I Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology (3rd place, 2024)
Dr Thomas Vikoler, BSc, MSc I Department of Psychology (3rd place, 2024)

Research projects funded by the Early Career Grants 2025/26:

‘SCEBIC’ by Dr Christoph Bamberger, BA MSc, Department of Psychology
‘FUSOGA’ by Dr Sebastian Diechler, MSc, Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology
‘ARISE-ACL’ by Dr Jana Holder, MSc, Department of Sport and Movement Sciences
‘DendroGlacier-SETP’ by Dr Ru Huang, Department of Environment and Biodiversity

Research projects funded by the 2025 Transfer and Innovation Grants:

‘Synapse-guided Therapeutic Screening & Integration System’ by Associate Professor Alexander Leithner, PhD, Department of Biosciences and Medical Biology
‘PFA’ by Associate Professor Dr Thomas Berger, Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials
‘SiNanoPrint’ by Associate Professor Gilles Bourret, PhD, Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials
“Participatory Development” by Dr Hannah van Alebeek, MSc, Department of Psychology
“ClinDX” by Professor Dr Florian Hutzler, Department of Psychology
“Safe-to-eat insecticides” by Dr Andreas Fellner, BSc MSc, Department of Environment and Biodiversity

You can find further interesting research projects at the Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences HERE.