Fulbright - Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Grant

Overview | Application (with Fulbright Austria)

The Fulbright-Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Award

Grant Profile:

Fulbright Austria (the Austrian-American Educational Commission) offers up to five Fulbright-Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Awards for full-time research and/or study. These grants are generously funded by the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation→ and intended for PhD candidates in STEM disciplines and related fields. Applications from highly qualified graduate students and recent undergraduates with strong project proposals in relevant fields will also be considered.

Fulbright proposal types:

  • Independent study/research: Yes

  • Graduate degree enrollment: No

Benefits:

  • Travel and relocation allowance of €2,000

  • Monthly stipend of €1,300 for nine months (October–June) (The grant is designed to cover basic living expenses, but additional funds may be needed to cover expenses beyond the monthly grant payment.)

  • Fulbright-funded accident and sickness coverage up to $100,000 for the grant period including orientation (late September–June)

  • Enrollment and tuition remission at the Austrian public university designated in your project proposal

  • Fulbright Austria orientation, support, and guidance

  • Invitations to Fulbright Austria-organized enrichment activities throughout the year

Candidate profile:

  • PhD candidates, graduate students, and recent graduates will be considered.

  • Fulbright Austria and the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation review project proposals for their coherence and quality. They are particularly—but by no means exclusively—interested in proposals of bilateral or comparative relevance that enhance research collaboration between Austrian and American institutions.

Accepted degree levels:

  • Bachelor's

  • Master's

  • PhD

Ineligibility:

  • Applicants proposing study or research in medicine or veterinary medicine will not be considered.

  • Foreign-language proficiency

  • Recommended: Intermediate level of German

  • Contingent upon project proposal

  • Fulbright Austria expects students to study German as part of their preparations for their stay in Austria to help fulfill the program’s bilateral mandate of promoting mutual understanding and to negotiate the challenges of everyday life. As a rule, university courses are taught in German, although an increasing number of courses are offered in English, and English is the working language in many research facilities.

Dependents:

Dependent support is not available.

Michaela Polley was a 2023–24 recipient of the Fulbright-Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Awards for Research in Science and Technology.

Michaela's affiliate for her project was the University of Klagenfurt, and her research project was entitled Enumeration of Generic Guillotine Rectangulations. Watch the interview to find out more about Michaela's experience in Austria in general and with this grant type in particular.

I am so thankful that I can hear [my colleagues’] stories and perspectives from all over the globe—we represent five countries on four continents with five native languages!

-Elizabeth Sarkel, 2018–19 US Fulbright student, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Affiliate profile

All Fulbright grantees, including PhD candidates, must be fully matriculated at accredited universities in Austria to facilitate tuition remission, health insurance, the use of libraries, archives, labs, etc. Fulbright Austria facilitates university enrollment at the applicant's preferred university. Applicants should identify the individuals and institutions that will provide on-site guidance for their projects and include letters of affiliation from host institutions. Invitations are absolutely necessary for full-time research and study grants and should indicate how applicants will be anchored and supervised at host institutions.

Affiliation fees/tuition

Fulbright Austria facilitates university enrollment at the applicant's preferred university, and the Austrian government provides for the waiver of tuition fees at public universities. Fulbright Austria does not cover tuition costs for enrollment at private institutions of higher education or other programs of advanced study in Austria that do not waive tuition fees.

Letter of invitation

Before applying, applicants should correspond with preferred institutions about availability of equipment and facilities and solicit letters of invitation.

Recipients of this Fulbright grant:

2024–25

Cody Eskandarian|
Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
Characterizing Immune Evasion in Metastatic Cancer Using CaTCH

Paige Liebel
University of Innsbruck
Optimization of Performance in Female Soccer Players

Joseph Puthumana
Medical University of Innsbruck
Immunoreactivity of modified surface in breast implant-based surgery.

2023–24

Laura Hankins
University of Vienna
Optimizing a novel Langerin Ligand for a Langerhans Chemotherapeutic Delivery System

Dylan Ines
University of Vienna
Molecular Probe and Drug Development for the Oxytocin and Vasopressin Signaling Systems

Michaela Polley
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
Enumeration of Generic Guillotine Rectangulations

Jagienka Timek
Medical University of Vienna
Immune Response of Spider Silk Components in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells In Vitro

2022–23

Annie Huang
Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
Genome-wide identification of transcriptional function

Jesse Hudspeth
Medical University of Innsbruck
Structural Characterization and Mutational Analysis of P. cubensis Methyltransferase PsiM

Sara Kouchehbagh
Vienna University of Technology
Conflict and Migration: Examining Trends in Austria through GIS and Cartography

Kian Shamskhou
Johannes Kepler University Linz
Chemically Sustainable Catalytic Reduction of CO2

2021–22

Brooke Boisvert
Medical University of Vienna
The effects of THC on the developing postnatal hippocampus

Grace Bukowski-Thall
Medical University of Graz
The Connection Between a Disrupted Gut and Depression

Sara Butler
University of Vienna
Quantum Gravity in Vienna: Testing the Limits of General Relativity with Quantum Optics

Benjamin McKenna
Institute of Science and Technology Austria
The Matrix Dyson Equation: Landscape Complexity and Gaussian Multiplicative Chaos

Chase Yakaboski
Johannes Kepler University Linz
Artificial Intelligence in Music

2020–21

Isabel Garon
Graz University of Technology
Applying Biologically Inspired Learning Algorithms to Spatially Embedded Neural Networks

Vincent Pham
Institute of Molecular Biotechnology
Modeling and analysis of structural brain connectivity in 3D cerebral organoids

2018–2019

Zoë Dobler
Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria
Optimizing activity-dependent labeling techniques to characterize synaptic changes in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability

Amulya Pratapa
Medical University of Vienna
The Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Heart Rate Variability

Elizabeth Sarkel
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)
GENE1 and NutrientA deficiency regulate gravitropic set-point angle in Arabidopsis thaliana

2019–2020

David Berger
Medical University Innsbruck, Department of Virology
Synergy of Heterologous VSV-GP Vaccination and PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Blockade in a Murine Model of Colon Carcinoma

Jessica Thwaites
Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz
Data analysis in magnetospheric space plasma physics with MMS

Keziah Sheldon
University of Vienna
Foundations of Quantum Physics: An Exploration and Development of a Second-Order Coherence g(2) Function Demonstrator

Hope McGovern
IST Austria
A Machine Learning Method for Aberration Correction in Coordinate-Targeted Super-Resolution Microscopy

Alexandra Hauke
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)
Evaluation and Reduction of Methane Emissions from European Biogas Plants