FWF: Statement on sustainability

Starting on the December 1, 2025, the FWF requires that all principal investigators attach a statement on the “ecological sustainability” in the implementation of their own project in the elane portal (new annex 4). This concerns the coordinators for Principal Investigator Projects (PAT), Principal Investigator Projects International (PIN, also called WEAVE when FWF is leading agency) and Clinical Research (KLP) programs. More information is available in the “FWF Sustainability Strategy” document.

This requirement is intended to raise awareness by encouraging researchers to reflect on their own practices. This document should have a maximum of 1 page and should describe the environmental/ecological sustainability-relevant aspects in the implementation of the proposed research. In other terms, it must be project specific.

In the first phase, those statements will be checked by FWF and will also be sent to the reviewers. But reviewers will be asked not to take this statement into consideration for their evaluation.

To further help you to write your Statement of Sustainability, we compile important information regarding the Environmental Sustainability at BOKU University:

Information (after login): https://boku.ac.at/fos/projektsupport/foerderprogramme-stipendien-preise/nationale-foerderprogramme/fwf-oesterreichischer-wissenschaftsfonds/fwf-statement-on-sustainability

We also prepare a template that could help you in drafting your own “Statement on Sustainability”, to be found in our download centre (after login): https://boku.ac.at/fos/projektsupport/downloads

 

The BOKU Pre-Award Team of the Research Support, Innovation & Technology Transfer assists researchers interested in submitting FWF projects. Do not hesitate to contact us for any question: projektsupport(at)boku.ac.at

Do not hesitate to also check regularly our webpage, where we inform researchers about upcoming calls: https://boku.ac.at/fos