Since May 2025, epidemics project is no longer based at the University of Vienna, but has found a new home at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (Austrian Academy of Sciences).
This change was necessary due to certain Austrian legal peculiarities introduced by the government in 2021. These provisions state that after eight years of fixed-term contracts at an Austrian university, academics must leave the institution if they do not secure a permanent position. The intention behind the law was allegedly to motivate universities to offer more permanent positions. This only works in very few cases. Despite the project being ongoing, its leader, Vitus Angermeier, had to leave the university in April 2025 because he had completed eight years of service. As the project is funded by the FWF, it was possible to transfer it to another institution. Thanks to the generosity of the IKGA, especially its director, Prof. Birgit Kellner, it is now being completed at this refuge.
- Universitätsgesetz 2002 § 109, Fassung vom 31.12.2021
- Unterbau Uni Wien, bottom-up Intiative of academics in precarious employment situtations: http://uni-wien-unterbau.at/
- 9 suggestions to improve the Situtation: https://www.nuwiss.at/neun-vorschlaege/