The Data:Research:Austria funding program of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) serves to support research projects in the field of data/microdata research, in which existing data is used for fundamental research into social topics and issues. In three rounds of calls (2023, 2024, 2025), a total of 9 million euros will be awarded competitively and throughout Austria. An accompanying roadshow will provide detailed information on the call and offer networking opportunities.
The new programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) financed by the Fonds Zukunft Österreich (Nationalstiftung für Forschung, Technologie und Entwicklung) serves to promote data‐based research (microdata research) in Austria. In 2022, research on register data was made possible by legal provisions and the establishment of the Austrian Micro Data Centre (AMDC) at Statistics Austria. The funding programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences provides a significant impulse to data-driven research in Austria by supporting valuable research on these new data sources. Funding is provided for projects at Austrian research institutions that open up existing AMDC data sets or comparable official statistical administrative data (registers, panels, surveys etc.) for extended empirical-quantitative applications and questions in the field of social science research. Promotion of young scientists is of great importance to the Austrian Academy of Sciences as part of the funding programme.
Data‐based research represents an enormous potential for socially‐relevant fundamental research. It can provide answers to major social questions and make evident social trends and problems through analysis and correlation of data from the fields of health, demography, social affairs, business and economics, education, the labour market, migration and integration, and thus make a contribution to evidence‐based policies.
In three funding rounds (2023, 2024, 2025), project-related funds will be made available to establish the use, correlation and analysis of existing datasets in Austria as a research topic in a sustainable manner.
The funding programme addresses researchers in all disciplines in Austria who develop empirical‐quantitative applications and questions in the field of socio‐scientific research.
Projects may be applied for individually or as groups of up to three researchers from different disciplines. Submission of an application as a group allows data sets to be analysed from different perspectives or different data sets to be processed together. The aim is to take into account the interdisciplinary potential of data‐based research and to enshrine the corresponding approaches in scientific practice. The programme especially addresses young scientists who want to make use
of the opportunities of data‐based research already at an early stage in their career. An appropriate gender balance should be ensured when submitting the application and carrying out the project.
Maximum of 2 years
The budget for each of the projects is between a minimum of EUR 150,000 and a maximum of EUR 350,000. The total funding available is EUR 3.0 million.
The grant is intended to cover overheads of 10% of the direct project costs. The following direct costs may be applied for:
The call for proposals is open to all topics and is published in all of Austria.
It is a two‐step application procedure: Step 1 of the application procedure (short proposal) is open to all applicants who fulfil the application requirements (see above); step 2 of the application procedure (full proposal) may only be entered into upon invitation.
The selection process is international; the application and assessment will be done in English.
Call begins: 4 March 2024
The coordinator must submit the following to the Department of Research Funding ‐ National and International Programmes by email to programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at ) by 30 April 2024:
Webinar (in German) – 12 March 2024, 2–3 pm, Zoom-Link
Webinar (in English) – 21 March 2024, 2–3 pm, Zoom-Link
By taking part in this call for proposals the applicants acknowledge that the related data and documents will be forwarded to the members of the jury and to experts. The data and documents will be forwarded for the purpose of evaluation of the application and decision‐making with regard to the award of grants (see also the Data Protection Information of ÖAW).
The ÖAW abides by the Guidelines of Good Scientific Practice of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity (ÖAWI). All applications will be checked for plagiarism using Similarity (Turnitin). Violations of the rules of good scientific practice will result in immediate exclusion of the application.
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Department of Research Funding ‐ National and International Programmes
Dr. Alexander Nagler
E-Mail: programmmanagement(at)oeaw.ac.at
Phone: +43-1-515-81-1272; -1270
The following nine projects were approved in the first round of calls for proposals in 2023:
Principal investigators: Erwin Stolz (Medical University of Graz), Carlos Watzka (Sigmund Freud Private University Linz), Christian Jagsch (Medical University of Graz, State Hospital Graz II)
Fields of expertise: Public Health, Epidemiology, Sociology, Gerontology, Clinical Psychiatry
Funding amount: EUR 181.979,49
Abstract: Suicide is a tragedy at the individual level and a serious public health problem at the societal level. Although often overlooked, suicide rates in both Austria and other European countries increase rapidly with age, so that the highest suicide rates tend to show among the oldest old, and here, specifically among men. Austria has one of the highest suicide rates among the oldest old within the EU-27 countries. The high number of suicide deaths among older adults in Austria is not only a present-day concern, but also worrying against the background of population ageing, specifically the ageing of the large baby boomer generation, as this will likely lead to an increase in the absolute number of suicides among older adults in the decades ahead. The main research question of this project therefore is what risk factors can predict old age suicides in Austria, which can subsequently inform suicide prevention efforts. Against the background of newly available individual-level register data linkage in Austria within the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC), the aim of this project is to provide new and hitherto unavailable evidence on who among the older population is at an elevated risk of suicide death. Specifically, we seek to identify risk factors in two populations: (1) the whole general older population (low-risk setting) and (2) older psychiatric inpatients (high-risk setting). Risk factors will include demographic and socioeconomic factors, physical and mental health problems, disability and social disconnectedness. We will not only look at these factors in isolation, but also assess whether there are multiplicative effects for suicide risk, that is, when multiple risk factors co-occur at the same time, e.g. when the loss of spouse coincides with a cancer diagnosis. With this research project, we aim to better understand old age suicide in Austria, to inform suicide prevention efforts, and to illuminate the life circumstances of those older adults who see no other way but to (often violently) end their own lives.
Principal investigators: Valeria Bordone (University of Vienna), Caroline Berghammer (OeAW, Vienna Institute of Demography – VID)
Fields of expertise: Demography
Funding amount: EUR 265.390,40
Abstract: This project investigates the consequences of divorce and partnership dissolution, focusing on economic resources, residential mobility, and re-partnering. It aims to address social inequality and inform social policy by comparing these consequences across different population groups. The project focuses on Austria, a conservative country with traditional gender roles in (western) European comparison.
Austria's divorce rate is moderate, declining since its peak in 2007, but cohabiting unions are increasing, as is the phenomenon of grey divorce (i.e. dissolution after age 50 or long-term marriages). This growth makes it timely to explore differences across partnership types and age groups. Austria also legalized same-sex partnerships relatively late (same-sex marriage since 2019) and acceptance of homosexuality tends to be lower than in other (western) European countries.
Existing European research on the consequences of divorce/partnership dissolution for population sub-groups is limited, mainly due to data limitation. The use of large-scale register data in this project allows, for the first time, to study the consequences of divorce and partnership separation in Austria across population sub-groups.
The project anticipates identifying disparities in economic resources and poverty post-dissolution, with women, in particular older women, experiencing higher financial losses due to traditional gender roles still present in the Austrian society. However, same-sex couples and younger age groups may exhibit fewer gender-based economic consequences. Residential mobility after divorce/partnership dissolution considers who moves out and why. Evidence on gender differences in this respect is inconclusive, but custodial parents, often mothers, tend to stay more frequently in the home. Guided by marital search theory, which assumes that partner selection is driven by resource maximization, younger individuals and those with greater resource needs are expected to re-partner more quickly.
In summary, this project contributes to research on consequences of divorce/partnership dissolution by exploring understudied aspects and sub-group heterogeneity, leveraging newly available register data, and providing policy-relevant findings addressing resource inequalities post-dissolution.
Principal investigators: Andrea Weber (Central European University)
Fields of expertise: Labour market policy, Corporate finance, Gender Studies
Funding amount: EUR 258.626,90
Abstract: Even though women are catching up with men in the labor market, they are still strongly underrepresented at the top of the earnings distribution and in leading positions. To confront gender inequality at the top and to break the “glass ceiling” which prevents women from advancing into top corporate positions multiple countries have followed the Norwegian example and introduced laws mandating gender quotas for corporate boards. In 2018, Austria followed suite and introduced a gender quota for supervisory boards in large companies. The regulation requires a minimum of 30% for supervisory board members of each gender and addresses a group of companies defined by the legal form, size, number of capital representatives on the supervisory board, and other criteria.
This project aims to evaluate the effects of the quota reform on gender inequality in the Austrian labor market. We first study the direct effects on firms that are mandated to increase the share of female board members looking at the share of females in positions with decision power and on gender specific promotion probabilities within firms. Second, we investigate whether the reform also has spill-over effects on other firms by establishing role models that can break traditional gender norms.
The empirical evaluations in this project will be facilitated by a novel data base that will be established with the help of the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC). We will access multiple administrative registers and link firm-level information on board membership with detailed employment and earnings records from the Social Security registers and information on firm outcomes.
The hypotheses underlying our work are firstly that women on supervisory boards can actively influence company decisions and implement measures that improve career opportunities, working conditions and wages for female employees. Secondly, we expect women on supervisory boards to have a signaling effect on other companies and on women's decisions in the labour market and therefore to have an impact beyond company boundaries. How large these effects are is an empirical question that we are addressing making use of Austrian micro data.
Principal investigators: Harald Amberger (Vienna University of Economics and Business)
Fields of expertise: Taxation, Accounting, Public finance, Business administration, Tax law
Funding amount: EUR 255.708,20
Abstract: As multinational firms continue to shift taxable income across borders and reduce their global tax burden, pressure on high-tax countries’ fiscal budgets and social systems is mounting. Therefore, the tax strategies of multinational firms and potential legislative counter measures to curtail cross-border income shifting are a primary concern for society, policy makers, and researchers. Despite the broad relevance of income shifting and the far-reaching reforms of the international tax system proposed by the OECD, we still lack consensus about the magnitude of income shifted and the extent to which specific counter measures effectively curb the behavior. In addition, the real-economic effects of cross-border income shifting are not well understood.
Drawing on administrative tax-return data for the universe of Austrian corporations, the project addresses these research gaps along three dimensions. First, the project provides an estimate of income shifted out of a small open economy such as Austria and the associated loss in tax revenue. The estimate is obtained by quantifying the difference in taxable income reported by Austrian subsidiaries of multinational firms relative to comparable domestic firms. In this regard, the project assesses the suitability of publicly available financial statement data, which the extant literature regularly uses in place of confidential tax-return data, for identifying and quantifying cross-border income shifting. The project also identifies conditions under which the empirical relationship between financial reporting income and taxable income varies. Second, the project exploits the adoption of legislative counter measures as quasi-exogenous shocks and investigates the effect on income shifting. In addition to speaking to the effectiveness of anti-abuse provisions and recent reform efforts, the analysis sheds light on potential firm responses and the interrelations between shifting strategies. Finally, the project investigates whether cross-border income shifting shapes firm-level investment incentives and studies the real-economic effects of anti-abuse provisions.
Collectively, the project advances our understanding of cross-border income shifting and the suitability of commonly used data sources and research methods for identifying and quantifying the behavior. The project also sheds light on the effectiveness of anti-abuse provisions and associated real-economic effects. The expected results speak to international researchers interested in the tax strategies of multinational firms, inform policymakers around the globe in their tax-reform efforts, and contribute scientific evidence to an increasingly emotional public debate about the taxation of multinational firms.
Principal investigators: Jesús Crespo Cuaresma (Vienna University of Economics and Business), Serguei Kaniovski (Austrian Institute of Economic Research – WIFO), Sebastian Poledna (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – IIASA)
Fields of expertise: Economics, Computer simulation
Funding amount: EUR 303.050,00
Abstract: The current rise in inflation and the subsequent monetary policy response have distributional effects on corporate and household income. With the aim of realistically modeling the heterogeneity in the income, credit, and risk channels of monetary policy transmission in the production sector, we will develop a novel macroeconomic agent-based model (ABM) calibrated using data provided by the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC).
Macroeconomic agent-based modeling based on microeconomic data represents a cutting-edge technology for simulations of the impact of policy measures, which became available in Austria and other countries with the advent of comprehensive microeconomic data. Similar simulation approaches have also become established in other fields. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the usefulness of fine-grained simulations for forecasting and policy analysis in the context of disease control. The global trend toward opening administrative data sources for research, advances in computing power, and statistical analysis techniques (esp. machine learning) are likely to increase interest in large-scale simulation methods in academia and foster the demand for such simulations from policymakers, who increasingly require addressing the distributional consequences of policies as a standard element of impact assessment.
Linking the data provided by the AMDC with balance sheet data will allow us to develop a simulation model that represents the financial conditions of firms with an unprecedented degree of granularity and empirical realism that is unmatched by existing macroeconomic models. The model will simulate how incomes respond to economic conditions by accounting for feedback effects between economic agents, enabling us to accurately project macroeconomic dynamics under different scenarios for energy prices and interest rates and to highlight the distributional consequences of these scenarios for firms and households. We will also examine how centralized wage bargaining and a bank-based financial system may affect monetary transmission. This project is thus an important step towards creating a "digital twin" of an economy that can be used to assess the impact of economic policies on individual firms and households in general and contributes to the literature on monetary policy and inequality that has traditionally focused on household income.
Principal investigators: Daniela Dunkler, Susanne Strohmaier, Georg Heinze (Medical University of Vienna)
Fields of expertise: Statistics, Data science, Epidemiology
Funding amount: EUR 285.938,90
Abstract: Microdata have an enormous potential to inform stakeholders such as health policy makers, health professionals and the general public about the impact of their decisions on public and individual health. The estimates of such impact depend on the quality of the underlying data source as well as the choice of statistical analysis approach. A single research question can lead to many sensible paths of analysis, depending on a researcherʹs experience and preferred analysis approach. This can lead to variation in results, also termed ʹvibration of effectsʹ. This may be perceived as variation in researchersʹ opinions. Thus, this natural variation may have contributed to the evident skepticism toward science in the general public.
Using Austrian microdata, we will address three health‐related research objectives focusing on 1) the effectiveness of branded versus generic chronic disease medications, 2) the association between night shift work and cancer incidence and 3) the effect of kidney transplantation on survival in diabetic patients. While these topics are of interest to the relevant target population in their own right, we also employ them to explore our meta‐scientific objective – to investigate the size of vibration of effects in these three applications.
To this end, we will develop a consensus state‐of‐the‐art statistical analysis plan (SAP) as well as meta‐SAPs comprising all alternative options at each step of an SAP for the three studies together with a panel of national and international methodologists. Data analysis will follow the state‐of‐the‐art‐SAPs and all pathways through the meta‐SAPs. Hence, we will be able to answer the three research questions on health issues, but also to quantify the vibration of effects in these health studies. We will also explore different sources of this vibration of effects, such as the vibration induced by the translation of the written SAP into software code or differences in data analyst’s experience and expertise.
We will disseminate our insights of vibration of effects in peer‐reviewed journals and provide a comprehensive SAP template for microdata analyses to enhance reproducibility. Additionally, two web applications in German and English to communicate the vibration of effects to other researchers and the general public will be deployed and distributed through social media channels. The results of the three health‐related objectives will be published in relevant peer‐reviewed journals. The guidelines of Open Science will lead our dissemination endeavor, i.e., sharing all relevant project results and communicating the results in different ways and through different channels to various target audiences. Thus, our project will also serve as a blueprint for similar activities in other fields with the long‐term goal of making scientific work more transparent and accessible to the general public.
Principal investigators: Bernhard Mahlberg (Institute for Industrial Research – IWI), Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz (OeAW, Vienna Institute of Demography – VID)
Fields of expertise: Labour market policy, Demography
Funding amount: EUR 346.160,28
Abstract: Most industrialized countries are facing an aging and shrinking workforce together with shortage of skilled workers. Insofar as this trend comes as a consequence of persistent low fertility and the retirement of the baby boom generation, it will continue in the future. As a way to mitigate the impact of this demographic development, it is important to foster the integration of older workers into the labour market. This project aims at a better understanding of the productivity of older workers and identifying firm characteristics facilitating the integration of older workers into the labour force. Using panel econometrics and drawing on a panel data set spanning from 2009 to 2021, we will analyse the relationship between the age structure of the work force and labour productivity/wages at the firm level in Austria. Being able to consider both firm (e.g., size, sector, location, capital intensity…) and worker characteristics (e.g., age, gender, tenure, education...), we will be able investigate the factors that shape the relation between older employees and labour productivity and wages at the firm level. In doing so, we will pay particular attention to the trends towards digitalisation and automation. From the results we will conclude which factors at the firm and employee level determine whether older employees are kept longer in working life and help to mitigate the shrinking of the working population and the resulting shortage of skilled workers.
Principal investigators: Sonja Spitzer (University of Vienna)
Fields of expertise: Economics, Demography
Funding amount: EUR 334.228,10
Abstract: This project provides a missing puzzle piece for understanding the persistent gender differences in earnings. Studies have shown that the longer child-related career interruptions of mothers are related to their lower income, but the mechanisms behind this link are still unclear. Many researchers have alluded to the idea that mothers lose work-related skills during extended parental leave durations, which could be one explanation for their lower earnings. However, empirical evidence for this potential link is missing.
We fill this important research gap by answering the question “Does skill loss during parental leave contribute to gender disparities in earnings?”. The project takes a novel approach by matching detailed administrative data for Austria and Sweden with test scores on work-related skills from the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Survey of Adult Skills. This allows us to link parents’ skills to their income and labour market trajectories, as well as to those of their partners. By focusing on Austria with Sweden, we will compare two countries with very different family policies, gender norms, and labour market outcomes of mothers and fathers. In addition, we investigate how parental leave policies affect gender differences in job skills and earnings. For this, we compare the statutory parental leave regulations of 32 OECD countries from 1960 to 2023 and link them to the skill scores of parents. This allows us to estimate the effect of statutory parental leave duration on work-related skills for mothers and fathers during working age and in later life.
Our findings will inform the ongoing discussion on the reconciliation of family and work across economics, demography, and other fields of research that evaluate family-related policies. Most directly, we contribute to the vivid literature on the design of parental leave policies and their ambiguous effect on parents’ labour market outcomes. Our research will help assessing statutory leave duration from a policymaker’s perspective, who has to balance care and protection during significant life events, financial aspects, workforce productivity, and broader societal objectives such as gender equity.
This project is also highly relevant in light of demographic change and the current skill shortages across OECD countries. Exploiting existing human capital potentials is considered a promising strategy to address the shrinking skilled labour force. Here, increasing the labour market participation of mothers is often seen as an important lever. Our project will assess whether long parental leave has an impact that goes beyond the mere absence of skilled mothers, i.e. whether parental leave is linked to skill depreciation. The results may also prove important at the organisational level, where skill maintenance strategies are essential for companies to manage skill erosions during parental leave and other career interruptions.
Principal investigators: Claudia Reiter, Mario Steiner, Henrika Langen (Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna – IHS)
Fields of expertise: Empirical social research, Educational sociology, Econometrics, Statistics
Funding amount: EUR 347.352,50
Abstract: Scholars have long been interested in exploring inequalities of educational opportunities, with a particular focus on the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on educational outcomes. In Austria, this issue is of particular concern, as a large body of empirical evidence shows that educational trajectories are significantly impacted by SES. However, there remains a gap in understanding why some students’ trajectories deviate from what would be predicted given their SES. Studies that do examine these trajectories against the odds tend to concentrate on individual or behavioural factors and typically analyse a static situation such as a single educational outcome or transition.
In this project, we expand the existing literature in at least two significant dimensions. Firstly, we adopt a dynamic life course approach, focusing on complete educational trajectories rather than isolated outcomes, and study also the impact of changes in students' living conditions, such as family disruptions or parental job loss. Secondly, we explore the role of contextual factors at the regional, school, and class level on the likelihood of pursuing educational trajectories against the odds. This shift in focus from individual background characteristics to structural factors allows us to provide new empirical insights concerning equity and inequality in education and educational systems.
Our research builds on a comprehensive dataset that combines educational register data and register-based employment information with individual background and family characteristics as well as standardized test scores and contextual indicators, such as infrastructure or SES composition, at the regional, school, and class level. This allows us to follow an entire cohort of students over a period of 16 years. By applying cutting-edge methods, including a transition-oriented sequence analysis and a machine learning approach, we identify trajectories against the odds and study the role of contextual factors in driving these unusual pathways.
The main objective of this project is to investigate how contextual factors contribute to reducing or reinforcing inequalities of educational opportunities. Our project therefore perfectly complements the rich literature on the influence of individual characteristics on educational outcomes. By using novel methodological approaches, expanding the analysis to an entire cohort – with a focus on those who followed trajectories against the odds – and including both life changes and a variety of contextual factors, we intend to offer fresh empirical insights in the field of educational sociology. Moreover, our findings will inform policymakers on potential interventions and strategies for promoting greater educational equity and social justice. The implications of this project go therefore well beyond its academic contribution, with strong relevance for policymakers and society at large.
Accompanying the call, the OeAW will be giving interested scientists detailed insights into the call, providing information on current developments in the field of data/microdata research, and enabling direct exchange with sponsors, data-providing institutions, researchers from the community and other important stakeholders.
Thursday, 18 January 2024, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Raum Z.1.09
Universitätsstraße 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt
Wednesday, 28 February 2024, 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Europa-Saal
Mönchsberg 2, 5020 Salzburg
Tuesday, 5 March 2024, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Claudiana-Saal
Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 3, 6020 Innsbruck
Wednesday, 15 March 2023, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Wednesday, 8 March 2023, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Monday, 30 January 2023, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Alexander Nagler
Research Funding – National and International Programmes
Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
1010 Wien
alexander.nagler(at)oeaw.ac.at
T +43 1 51581-1272