Awards and honors are an important metric for measuring research excellence. The most prestigious grants for basic science on the European level are awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). The Council aims to stimulate scientific excellence in Europe by encouraging competition for funding between the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age.

So far 19 ERC Grants have been awarded to researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences.

In Austria the Wittgenstein Award as well as the START Grant, both granted by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), are the most generously supported research programmes. As such, they attract considerable media attention and thus contribute significantly to the understanding and acceptance of scholarly/scientific research by society.

So far 2 Wittgenstein Awards and 3 START Grants have been awarded to researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences.