Money for all your research activities: Overview of postdoc funding

1) Are you organizing an event at University of Graz?

First up: some insider advice:
Graz and Styria are happy to welcome international guests. The city of Graz or the province of Styria could provide city guides or a reception for your participants.
Brainstorm which local or national organizations could have an interest in the topic of your event. You might find that the Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Labor, relevant professional societies, or interest groups want to contribute financially.
Ask colleagues who have a lot of experience with event organization - there are some funding experts at our university!

Then some popular local funding schemes:
University of Graz Kostenbeitrag für wissenschaftliche Veranstaltungen (€1700)
PostDoc Event Grant (€1500, see our funding website 
Stadt Graz Kulturförderung / Wissenschaftsförderung
Land Steiermark Förderung wissenschaftlicher Veranstaltungen 2026
Programm „Internationale Kommunikation“ der Österreichischen Forschungsgemeinschaft ÖFG

All the links are on our website.

2) Need to get away from Austria for a little bit?  Looking to fund a research stay abroad?

Check the grants.at database by OeAD-GmbH – Agentur für Bildung und Internationalisierung
 It lets you select career stage, destination, duration, discipline, etc. and gives you available funding options.

Check with the International Office
They can connect you to Erasmus+ funding, as well as CEEPUS, ASEA and many other schemes for exchange between institutions (University of Graz employees look here)

Contact your friendly local European University Alliance 
Alliances like our Arqus European University Alliance offer many activities which include networking with the partner universities and even visiting scholar schemes: arqus-alliance.eu/calls/ 

Check with your faculty/school to look for high-profile outgoing scholarships 
 The University of Graz faculties invest in the international networking of their postdoctoral staff members. To learn about upcoming calls, inquire with the respective Dean's office (Fakultätsbüro)

See if your intended host institution offers short-term fellowships 
Universities want to attract international talent. They often fund short-term incoming researchers in the hopes that they will connect with local hosts (and write successful funding proposals with them!). We regularly publish these kinds of calls in our newsletter

Look at ÖFG, Verein der Freunde der Universität Graz, Land Steiermark, and other Austrian institutions that give our travel grants, details on our website,
Open calls are published by the research management unit here. 

Consider going away for longer with an Erwin Schrödinger fellowship by Austrian Science Fund FWF 
It has a reasonable success quota for applications and a great track-record in shaping careers!

 

3) What fellowships are available for postdoctoral researchers in Austria, and specifically if you want to work at University of Graz? 

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellowships (deadline September 9) provides you with a working contract for 12 – 24 months at the host institution and extra funding for your mobility, family and training costs, University of Graz supports applicants with a tailor-made workshop on Jun 16-17, 2026

Austrian Science Fund FWF Esprit Fellowship, until 5 years post PhD, gives researchers the opportunity to act as principal investigator in an independent research project, 

The Peter und Traudl Engelhorn Stiftung funds life sciences with postdoctoral fellowships for two years, deadline: Jul 15, 2026

Austrian Science Fund FWF ASTRA Awards: Highly competitive programme for internationally visible senior postdocs

Austrian Academy of Sciences - Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) Post-Doc-Track Fellowship for holders of a PhD in the humanities, social, and cultural sciences to transition to the postdoc phase

Austrian Academy of Sciences - Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) Apart MINT and Apart GSK Fellowship for the first postdoc phase of researchers, 

Austrian Science Fund FWF Erwin Schrödinger, fellowships that include mobility and provides support after the return

This is just a selection - there is more available if you look at the two main Austrian funding bodies, FWF and ÖAW!

Reach out to our University of Graz research managers for more information, open calls and contact here.

 

4) How can you fund costs associated with preparing a convincing funding proposal? 

As a postdoc at University of Graz, you can make use of the Research Careers Campus funding (€2000 proposal grant)

We also recommend to ask your group leader, or the head of your institute, for support they might want to give in the initial phase of your project; seed-funding might also be available via the Dean's offices of your respective faculty
 

More sources of seed-funding:

Theodor Körner Fund: You can receive €5000 for the preparation of third party funded projects, deadline: March 31, 2026

UFO-funding by the Land Steiermark, up to €110.000 with a short running time, can be used to obtain first data for a bigger project, should be opened again in 2026

EMBO Young Investigator grant when you are already a group leader

Stadt Graz: you can apply for support of smaller projects, date for applications is March 15, 2026

University of Graz offers seed-funding for ERC proposals in some cases

For more information, reach out to the Uni Graz research managers, contact and information.

 

(Johanna Stadlbauer, RCC, 9.1.2026)