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Research Year in Parliament

Are you involved in a parliament-related research project? Do you need access to the knowledge resources of the Austrian Parliament? Would you like to exchange ideas directly with experts from the Parliamentary Administration?

Then submit your idea for the "Research Year in Parliament" which is annually awarded by the Parliamentary Administration. The initiative offers a contract for a scientific research project, in the total amount of EUR 28,500.00 (post-doc-level) or EUR 21,500.00 (prae-doc-level) gross. A particularly innovative and excellent project will be selected by the Scientific Advisory Board (see below).

The "Research Year in Parliament" begins in the autumn of each year. The project is supposed to: (i) use the knowledge resources of the Austrian Parliament ("Digital Bibliography of Parliamentary Research", archive, library, databases, parliamentary materials, etc.) and, thus, contribute to their contextualization and development, (ii) contribute to current scientific debates, and (iii) be relevant for parliamentary processes, the information activities of the Austrian Parliament and the provision of knowledge in and by the Parliamentary Administration. The researcher receives continuous support from experts of the Parliamentary Administration.

At the 2026 Day of Parliamentary Research, the Head of the Scientific Advisory Board presented the newly selected research project to the public for the first time.

Further information about the project "Alignment in Political Representation: Citizens and Representatives in the Austrian Parliament", submitted by political scientist Ermela Gianna of the University of Salzburg, will be published here when the project begins in October 2026.

During the ongoing "Research Year in Parliament", art historian Julia Rüdiger is investigating how changing ideas of democracy are reflected in the architecture of the Austrian parliamentary building. In her interdisciplinary research, she combines architectural history, spatial sociology and perception studies.

The preliminary results of the project were presented at the Day of Parliamentary Research 2026. The accompanying slides can be found as part of the report on the Day of Parliamentary Research 2026.

More detailed information can be found in this article (in German): "Forschungsjahr im Parlament" 2025

In previous years, the following projects were selected: 

The Selection Process

The call for submissions opened in November 2025 and closed on March 9, 2026. During the subsequent review phase, the documents received were checked for formal criteria and prepared for the decision of the Scientific Advisory Board.

On April 20, 2026, the Scientific Advisory Board met to select a project for the "Research Year in Parliament" 2026.

Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board is composed as follows:

  • Susanne Janistyn-Novák, Head of the Advisory Board, former Deputy Secretary General of the Austrian Parliament
  • Daniel Barben, Professor: Head of the Department of Science, Technology and Society Studies, University of Klagenfurt
  • Zoe Lefkofridi, Professor of Politics & Gender, Diversity & Equality: Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg
  • Maria Stopfner, Senior Lecturer and Senior Researcher: Department of German Studies, University of Innsbruck and Institute for Applied Linguistics, Eurac Research
  • Felix Uhlmann, Professor: Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Co-Director of the Centre for Legislative Studies, Chair for Constitutional and Administrative Law as well as Legislative Studies