The Institute of Statistics at BOKU University initiates the annual Fritz Leisch Award in memory of our late head of the institute, colleague and friend, who passed away after a serious illness in April 2024. The prize will be awarded to outstanding Master's theses (in German or English) of BOKU students that use statistical methods in a methodologically sound way.

The prize was awarded for the first time in April 2025 during a Symposium in Memory of Fritz Leisch.

The winners had the unique opportunity to present the winning thesis during the symposium.

For the year 2025, Master's theses approved between 1 January 2022 and 31 January 2025 may be submitted electronically by 9 March 2025, together with a brief statement by the student as to why his or her work should be awarded, and a brief acknowledgement of the outstanding aspects by the supervisor.

The award consists of a certificate, a monetary award of €500 and free participation in the symposium.

The winner for the year 2022 is Caroline Ehrendorfer with her thesis "Estimation of extreme flood discharge values with synthetic weather data in the Austrian Alps" under the supervision of Mathew Herrnegger and Karsten Schulz (Institute of Hydrology and Water Management).

The winner for the year 2023 is Rebecca Rau with her thesis "Timing of Fledging and Post-Fledging Survival Probability in Barn Owls (Tyto alba)" under the supervision of Alexandre Roulin (Universite de Lausanne).

The winner for the year 2024 is Pia Reschberger-Kummer with her thesis "Blütenbesucher in den Staudenbeeten der Großstadt Wien" supervised by Bärbel Pachinger and Monika Kriechbaum (Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research).