The "Zero Emissions Award", a privately endowed funding prize for climate-relevant basic research, awarded for the first time this year, goes to Felix Panis (University of Vienna) and Thomas Rath (TU Graz). The chemists will receive a combined total of around €800,000 to close knowledge gaps in the field of the energy transition or to pursue promising new approaches. In future, around €900,000 per year can be distributed for this purpose, the FWF announced in a press release.
This is made possible by a private donation to the FWF science fund's alpha+ foundation from US entrepreneur Patrick S. Dumont, who has Austrian roots. The contribution comes from him personally. A total of €4.5 million is available. In the first funding round, Felix Panis from the University of Vienna was selected for his research on peatlands, and Thomas Rath from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), who focuses on organic solar cells.
Panis is investigating how climate change affects enzyme activity in the world's largest peatlands, which serve as efficient carbon stores. He is working to better understand the biophysical and chemical mechanisms of these wetland landscapes and their stability. Rath is researching how photovoltaic cells made from organic compounds — which are significantly lighter, extremely thin, and flexibly shapeable compared to conventional solar cells — can be manufactured more efficiently and with fewer resources in the future.
Researchers from universities and non-university research institutions working in the fields of renewable energy and the energy transition are eligible to apply for the "Zero Emissions Award". The FWF draws on independent international reviewers for the evaluation process. The final selection is made by the alpha+ foundation on the basis of proposals from the FWF board of trustees.
In subsequent funding rounds, around €900,000 will be available, which may be distributed across one or more projects depending on the submissions received. Overall, according to the press release, research projects worth €1.5 million per year are currently being funded through the FWF via private contributions.
