UNIVERSITAT WIEN

Their core work

The University of Vienna is Austria's largest and oldest university, operating as a broad-spectrum research powerhouse across natural sciences, life sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Their H2020 portfolio reveals deep strength in quantum physics, microbiology and microbiome research, computational chemistry, and social science including migration and inequality studies. They produce fundamental research that underpins applied work — from quantum communication protocols to environmental microbiology and advanced materials like graphene. With 53 ERC grants (Starting and Consolidator) and 60 Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, they are one of Europe's top talent incubators for early- and mid-career researchers.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2015–2018), UNIVIE focused on fundamental physics and chemistry (quantum chemistry, structural biology), open access infrastructure, and social science topics like media, networks, and inequalities. By the later period (2019–2022), their portfolio shifted notably toward machine learning applications across disciplines, microbiome and environmental biology, quantum communication (from pure quantum physics), and citizen social science. The trajectory shows a classic research university adapting: moving from purely fundamental work toward data-driven and computationally intensive methods while maintaining their core strengths in quantum science and microbiology.

UNIVIE is increasingly integrating machine learning and computational methods into their established strengths in life sciences and quantum research, making them a strong partner for data-intensive interdisciplinary projects.

How they like to work

UNIVIE splits almost evenly between leading projects (123 as coordinator) and participating (127), which is unusual — most universities this size lean heavily one way. Their 1,325 unique partners across 71 countries indicate a hub organization that connects widely rather than repeatedly partnering with the same institutions. This makes them an excellent consortium anchor: they bring both the credibility to coordinate large projects and the network breadth to pull in partners from across Europe and beyond.

With 1,325 unique consortium partners spanning 71 countries, UNIVIE has one of the broadest collaboration networks in H2020 — reaching well beyond Europe into global research communities. Their partnerships are diverse rather than concentrated, reflecting the university's multidisciplinary nature.

What sets them apart

UNIVIE combines the scale of a comprehensive research university with an exceptionally high ERC success rate (53 Starting and Consolidator grants), signaling world-class individual researchers across many fields. Unlike specialized institutes, they can contribute expertise spanning quantum physics, microbiology, advanced materials, humanities, and social sciences — all within one institution. For consortium builders, this breadth means UNIVIE can fill multiple roles in a single project, and their nearly 50/50 coordinator-to-participant ratio shows they are equally comfortable leading or contributing.

Highlights from their portfolio

• QLev4G
  EUR 2.15M ERC grant on quantum control of levitated mechanical systems for gravitational quantum physics — represents UNIVIE's frontier quantum research at the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity.
• 9 SALT
  EUR 2M ERC grant on 9th century philosophy with a 6-year duration — demonstrates UNIVIE's strength in securing major funding even for deep humanities research, a rare capability.
• OpenAIRE2020
  Part of Europe's flagship open access infrastructure project — positions UNIVIE as a contributor to the continent's research data ecosystem, not just a consumer of it.