Since April 2021, ESPRIT offers highly qualified postdocs an improved opportunity for advancing their academic careers. ESPRIT strives to support researchers as best as possible in their career development, to integrate them into Austrian cutting-edge research, and to further promote equal opportunities and diversity. This change comes after an in-depth  consultation process with several stakeholder groups, the results of which have been incorporated directly into the design of the new career advancement programme.

The objectives of ESPRIT are

 

• to promote excellent, innovative research,
•  to retain, attract, and win back outstanding researchers and thus strengthen Austrian research institutes,
•  to support outstanding women researchers,
• to promote career and skills development (develop/establish own research profile based on an independent research project),
• to enhance career prospects (boost competitiveness through publications, collaborations, and increased visibility).

The FWF also places particular emphasis on the promotion of women. The programme offers, like Elise Richter (and formerly Hertha Firnberg), specific measures to promote women’s careers, such as child allowances for full-time employed mothers of children up to the age of 3, coaching and networking activities, and mentoring and visibility measures for women. Half of the available funds are reserved for women. Ongoing projects offer a lot of flexibility and can be continued with a global budget if the researcher receives a tenure-track position during the course of the project.