We’re excited to announce the first winners of our Impact Grant for Research, a new funding program specifically designed to promote the social and practical impact of academic research. The grant aims to strengthen the impact of our research with regard to key stakeholders and multipliers through innovative, outcome-focused science-to-practice activities.

The grant, funded by the WU Foundation, targets WU researchers whose work has already undergone quality assurance and who wish to take the practical impact of their research findings to the next level by translating their results into applications that benefit society as a whole. The pilot phase launched in 2025, and it is our pleasure to announce the first three winners today:

1)   Martin Bruckner

An interactive platform for food sustainability 

Martin Bruckner is developing a new interactive, bilingual website that will serve as an open educational resource to visualize the global environmental impact (on climate, water, biodiversity) of the food we eat, making the footprint of our food more tangible. This proof of concept will translate complex scientific data from the FABIO model into accessible content that appeals to school children and adults alike. Developed in collaboration with partner schools and in association with the WeltTellerFeld initiative, the platform will connect abstract data to concrete personal dietary choices, thereby encouraging informed action for ensuring sustainable food systems.

2)   Franz Stephan Lutter

Mining Viewer

The Mining Viewer will lift the accessibility and applicability of data on global mining impacts compiled in various research projects to a completely new level. The Mining Viewer will be a comprehensive online tool for the global mining sector and its environmental impacts, providing unprecedented coverage of production data and related impact visualizations at the level of single mining sites. The heart of the Mining Viewer will be an interactive global online map that makes it possible to zoom in on mining regions and assess production trends as well as environmental impacts at mine sites and in their surroundings.

3)   Teresa Weber

Taking democracy innovations from Vienna to the federal level

The project “Wiener Demokratiebeitrag zum österreichischen Verfassungskonvent” aims to ensure that the democracy innovations enshrined in Vienna’s democracy strategy are duly taken into consideration in the Constitutional Convention that Austria’s federal government plans to establish. Through a workshop with civil society organizations, the project aims to develop realistic, legally viable proposals for improving the democratic system. The goal is to enable civil society representatives to contribute to the national reform process with well-founded proposals and to make sure that democratic innovations are taken into account at the federal level.

Congratulations to our three grant winners!

The next application period opens on February 1, 2026. Applications will be accepted until March 31, 2026. Click here to find out more: bach.wu.ac.at/d/grants/1178