In light of the growing interest within the European community in the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), we are pleased to invite you to the first Austrian HWO Community Workshop, which will take place on 17 September 2026 in the premises of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna - Bäckerstraße 13.

Planned as NASA Astrophysics Division’s next flagship mission, HWO will be a powerful, multi-purpose observatory equipped with ultraviolet, optical, and infrared instruments fed by a 6-to-8 meter space telescope: essentially a “super-Hubble.” While one of its central goals is the characterisation of potentially habitable exoplanets and the search for biosignatures, HWO will offer transformational capabilities across the full breadth of astrophysics, from cosmology and galaxy evolution to stellar physics and planetary science and defence.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently exploring the possibility of providing major contributions to the mission, in a manner similar to its role in the James Webb Space Telescope. At the same time, a call for instrument proposals is expected soon to be issued by NASA, and ESA is preparing to endorse its participation and then issue a call for ideas. This makes the present moment especially important for organising our community and positioning it to contribute to what is poised to become the most ambitious space observatory ever flown. This meeting will also anticipate, and thus help us prepare for, the European HWO symposium to be held in Paris between the 30th of November and the 4th of December.

The workshop aims to bring together scientists (specially early-career researchers) and engineers from across Austria who are interested in contributing to, and ultimately using, HWO. We warmly invite submissions for oral presentations on scientific themes, enabling technologies, instrument concepts, and engineering developments relevant to the mission. These contributions will help shape Austria’s potential role in HWO and foster new collaborations within the national community.

The workshop is sponsored by the Commission for Astronomy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and will run from 10:00 to 16:00. There is no registration fee, and lunch will be provided. Limited financial support is available to help cover travel and accommodation costs, with priority given to PhD students and junior postdocs.

To apply for travel support, send a short paragraph of text to luca.fossati(at)oeaw.ac.at describing the reason for wanting to participate to the workshop and including a rough estimate of the costs split between travel and accommodation.