BOKU Sustainability Award

Category Research – Dissertations, Publications & Research Projects 

As part of the annual Sustainability Day, BOKU would like to bring attention to sustainability-related research such as dissertations, publications and research projects and make them visible.

BOKU students and researchers are therefore invited to submit their sustainability-related research of the last three years for a presentation at the BOKU Sustainability Day and thus for the BOKU Sustainability Award in the category "Sustainability Research - Dissertations, Publications & Research Projects".

What is sustainability-related research?

In the project "Intellectual capital reporting and sustainability", a definition of different types of sustainability-related research was made in 2023. For the Sustainability Award, sustainability research in the narrower sense and transformative research for sustainability are considered in particular. This is characterised by

  • Thematic allocation to a sustainability topic
  • Consideration of all three dimensions of sustainability and attention to conflicting goals
  • Inter- and/or transdisciplinary approach
  • Generation of target-, orientation- and transformation knowledge
  • Transformative research: claim to intervention


Under Submission there is a forum for questions (see below). Please use that if possible. Otherwise, please contact nachhaltigkeit(at)boku.ac.at .

Submission procedure for the Sustainability Award in the category “Research”:

  1. All complete papers submitted via BOKUlearn will be reviewed by a jury consisting of representatives of the Rectorate, the ÖH BOKU, the Center for Global Change and Sustainability and the Working Group Sustainability Research.
  2. The jury will select the submissions that will present at the BOKU Sustainability Day: the submitters will be informed in good time whether they have been nominated to present their research at the Sustainability Day.
  3. The speaker of the nominated work will present it at the BOKU Sustainability Day in Pecha Kucha format (see below). Please reserve the 13.11.2025 from 11:00-17:00. If you are unable to attend, you have the possibility to nominate a representative. Online presentations are NOT possible.
  4. The jury will select three of the presented works for the sustainability award on site and determine the winner. The sustainability prizes will be awarded during the evening event on BOKU Sustainability Day.

The BOKU Sustainability Award in this category is endowed with a total of €1,800 grossgross [1], with 1st place winning €1,000 gross-gross and a trophy, and the other two winners each receiving €400 gross-gross.

The submission criteria are:

  • Submissions must be made using a specified form (v.i), which requires an abstract and reference to the evaluation criteria (evident in the submission form). Submit complete publications as PDF and 1-3 photos that match the work.
  • Employees and students of BOKU (doctoral level) are eligible to submit. Former BOKU students and employees can also submit work that was developed during their time as a BOKU employee/student.
  • Completed work, e.g. finished (submitted) publications, final reports of research projects, completed dissertations are considered research work,
  • Finished research work from the last 3 years (2023-2025) can be submitted.
  • Several papers can be submitted per person, but a maximum of one presentation/prize will be awarded per person.
  • A paper can also be submitted by more than one person. In this case, the role of the main submitter in the project must be stated. The distribution of the prize money is the responsibility of the submitter*s.
  • Language for submissions and presentation: German or English.
  • Maximum length of abstracts: 3,000 characters incl. spaces.
  • Sources should be limited to the short form, e.g. (Müller 2010).
  • By submitting, you agree to the publication of your abstract and the data in the submission form. In case of third-party nominations, the consent must still be obtained by the organizers.

In addition: Please note that in the event of a nomination and subsequently in the event of winning, the relevant data (name and project-related information) will be used for communication and public relations purposes and published on BOKU-relevant communication channels (e.g. the BOKU screens in the university buildings or on social media channels) as well as on the BOKU website. If this is not an option for you, please contact nachhaltigkeit(at)boku.ac.at .

What to submit:

  • Submission form
  • your paper
  • 1-3 photos that match the topic of your work (incl. photo credits)

Important Information:

Submit the completed form at BOKU learn. Please upload the submission form, your paper and a photo which is related to your topic (incl. photo credits) for the category "Sustainability Research - Dissertations, Publications & Research Projects" on bokulearn: Kurs: BOKU Nachhaltigkeitspreis 2025 - Forschung Dissertationen/Publikationen/Projekte | BOKUlearn

  • Download submission form (English)
  • Dowload Einreichungsformular (German)
  • BOKUlearn course page
  • The BOKU Sustainability Day will take place this year on 13.11.2025. In case of a nomination you will be informed about the exact time of your Pecha Kucha presentation in good time.
  • The presentation at the BOKU Sustainability Day will be in Pecha Kucha format (20 slides of 20 seconds each, seehttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecha_Kucha). Other formats will not be accepted.
  • Please use the option “Self-enrollment” for the BOKUlearn course. If you do not have an active BOKU account, please ask someone from the submission team who does have an active account to submit (this does not change who is the main submitter). If this is also not possible, please contact nachhaltigkeit(at)boku.ac.at .

Evaluation criteria (see also submission form)

Mandatory criteria (the following criteria must be clearly stated):

• Does the research work deal with (single or multiple) Sustainable Development Goals? 
• Does the research work pursue a system-oriented approach?
• Is the research work inter- and/or transdisciplinary? 
• What is the particular innovative content of the research work?

Further optional criteria:

• What kind of knowledge was generated? ´
• Does the work strengthen the social impact in terms of sustainable development? 
• How are young scientists (pre-docs, master's students, etc.) involved in the work?

Examples of Pecha Kucha Presentations at BOKU Sustainability Days:

The submission deadline is September 26th 2025

[1] For award winners who are employed at BOKU, the prize money is considered a salary component (bonus - paid out via payroll accounting) and tax and, if applicable, social security contributions are due on it on the part of the employee. This can result in up to 40% less being paid out. The full amount is paid to persons who are not employed by BOKU, associations, institutes, etc. (intercompany invoices).