In the summer of 2013, the iFQ – Institute for Research Information and Quality Assurance carried out an online survey of academic staff at higher education institutions and non-university research institutes in Austria, commissioned by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The FWF is a publicly-funded institution of application-based research funding in Austria. The survey focused on the various dimensions of third-party funding by the FWF, in particular application behaviour, application success, the level of awareness of funding institutions, in particular familiarity with the FWF and its funding provision, and the attitudes of academics and researchers to the FWF's aims and principles, its criteria for funding decisions and its criteria for the selection of experts. In addition, the survey also collected data on the attitudes of Austrian academics and researchers towards the FWF office's service performance.
The content and methods of the survey are in line with those of the iFQ Scientists Surveys – barometer for the academic world. It also built on a survey of Austrian academics and researchers carried out in 2002 by the market research institute SPECTRA.
The findings of the Survey of academic staff at Austrian higher education institutions and non-university research institutes commissioned by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) are freely available.
