FWF 1000 Ideas Programme

FWF 1000 Ideas Programme sits under FWF (Austrian Science Fund) as a seed-funding route for completely new, high-risk, or unusually original research ideas across all disciplines in Austria. It is built for projects that may be too unconventional for a standard review process and is framed as early-stage support for work that could open a new line of inquiry. Awards run from €50,000 to €175,000 for 6 to 24 months, with roughly 20 projects funded per call. Applicants need a PhD or MD and at least 50% employment at an Austrian research institution, while the institution itself is not funded through this route. The programme is annual, and the current cycle is between calls. Selection is notable for its double-blind jury review combined with random selection from the pool of proposals judged worthy of funding. That structure makes it a strong fit for researchers with bold, technically credible ideas that are still too new for conventional peer-review filters, especially where the main value lies in originality rather than incremental refinement.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.