IST Austria:Institute of Science and Technology

Gerald Murauer November 18, 2011

The Eight Principles behind IST Austria

(Harari, Kuebler, Markl)

Starting From Scratch: Trying to Build the Best of All Worlds

International Scientific Careers

The Spirit of IST Austria

International Institution: Science, scientific support, Kindergarten, schools, etc.

Objectives:

1. Performing world-class research. 2. Training world-class scientists.

Scientific excellence and promise as only hiring criterion:

No predefined professorial slots or research topics. Centralized admission of PhD students.

No internal hierarchies and boundaries:

No departments; single, multi-disciplinary PhD program. Few scientific support staff: professors supervising students. Sharing of space and other resources.

A New Institution

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

IST created by Austrian law

Campus opening (June)

1st lab building (Oct)

Professors arriving

50 employees in July 2010

200 employees by the end of 2011

2nd lab building

2011

Cell Bio

Evol Bio

Comp Sci

Neuro Sci

Research Portfolio

4 research areas seeded: 20 research groups

2011 2016

6-8 interacting research areas: 40-45 research groups

4 research areas seeded: 20 research groups

Cell Bio

Evol Bio

Comp Sci

Evol Bio

Cell Bio

Comp Sci

Physics

Neuro Sci

6-8 profsNeuro

Sci

Math

Research Portfolio

-person before area -quality before speed

IST Austria – Research Clusters

Computerscience

Cell Biology - Biophysics

Mathematical and Evolutionary Biology

Neuroscience

Mathematical and Evolutionary Biology

Nick Barton

Jon Bollback

Sylvia Cremer

CarolineUhler

Cell Biology - Biophysics

Tobias Bollenbach Calin Guet

Michael Sixt

Carl-Philipp Heisenberg Harald Janovjak

Daria Siekhausstart: 2012

Neuroscience

Jozsef Csicsvari

Peter Jonas

Gasper Tkacik

Simon Hippenmeyer

start: 2012

Ryuichi Shigemoto

start:2013

Computer Science

Krish Chatterjee

Herbert Edelsbrunner

Christoph Lampert

Tom Henzinger

Chris Wojtan

Krzysztof Pietrzak

Vladimir Kolmogorov

Scientific Service Units

Franz SchäferComputing & IT

Ekaterina PapushevaBioimaging

Patrick DanowskiE-Library

Matthias NowakLife Science

Facilities

Stefan HipfingerMachine Shops

Michael SchunnPre-Clinical Facility

IST Scientists from 31 Nations*

* per September 2011

IST Employees 2011

fulltime equivalent (November 1, 2011)

Scientists 96.5

Professors 19

Postdocs 36,5

PhD Students 35

Student intern 5

Staff Scientists 1

Scientific Support 36,75

Administration 35 (+4 apprentices)

TOTAL 172,25

IST Austria Graduate School

• Biology, Computer Science, Neuroscience and interdisciplinary areas

• Application Deadline: January 15, 2012

• Bachelor's or Master's degree required

• Program language: English

• Internationally competitive PhD salaries

• Campus Visit Day: November 26, 2011

First, unaffiliated phase:

Courses; lab rotations; qualifying exam. 1 year for MS students; 1-2 years for BS students.

Second, affiliated phase:

Research; annual progress reviews; PhD thesis. 3-4 years.

IST is committed to support scientific careers: Independence of students from projects. Thesis committee formed early to accompany student

Our students’ success will be our success!

IST Austria Graduate School

Public Funding

– 290 million from Federal Government, thereof 195 million guaranteed

(95 million from Federal Government conditioned on third-party funds)

– 140 million from Lower Austria for construction

Science Funding (ERC, FWF, HFSP): until 2011 about 20 million Euro

– ERC Advanced Grants for Nick Barton, Tom Henzinger, Peter Jonas

– ERC Starting Grants for Sylvia Cremer, Krzysztof Pietrzak, Krishnendu

Chatterjee, Jozsef Csicsvari, Michael Sixt

Donations: currently 17 million Euro

– Bertalanffy Foundation: 10 million

– Voestalpine, Raiffeisen: 2 million each

– OMV, Mondi: 1 million each

Long-term: licensing of Intellectual Property

The Budget 2007-2016

Research Grants *

FUNDING AGENCY AMOUNT GRANTED

ERC European Research Council € 13.166.413

FWF Austrian Science Fund € 1.773.550

DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft € 951.622

EC Framework Program 7 € 3.719.602

NSF National Science Foundation € 114.338

HFSP Human Frontier Science Program € 550.000

Others € 205.021

TOTAL € 20.703.439

*Oct. 2011

IST Austria Donors

Bertalanffy Foundation Laboratory Building

Raiffeisen Lecture Hallvoestalpine Administration

Building

Mondi Seminar Center

The Campus in 2016/2017