Teaching Award 2026: Life Sciences

Faculty of Life Sciences

 

We are excited to announce the new round of Teaching Awards, again for all three study programs of the Faculty: Biology, Nutritional Sciences, and Pharmacy. These awards aim to celebrate and reward innovative teaching methods and are an important step in recognizing and encouraging excellence in teaching.

About the Teaching Awards:

The topic of this year's Award is "Successful teaching in courses for beginners".

This year, we are recognising outstanding faculty lecturers teaching large groups of students in the first semesters of bachelor and master programs, fostering active and continuous learning. Our Faculty will award three Teaching Awards, one for each study program biology (SPL 30), nutritional sciences (SPL 33), and pharmacy (SPL 32), respectively. Each Award is worth € 3000,-.

In an effort to encompass the diversity of our teaching, we have designed the awards to be inclusive of courses and lectures given by faculty staff within the first modules at both Bachelor and Master level. The prerequisite for nominations is a large cohort of students*.

The deadline for nominations is 16/04/2026. The awards will be presented within a Faculty event in June or October 2026.

We are excited about the prospect of showcasing and rewarding the outstanding efforts of our faculty lecturers in onboarding of beginners and handling large groups of students. Student participation is key to the success of this initiative, and we look forward to receiving a large number of entries.

Criteria for student nomination

We encourage all students to participate by submitting their nominations from the drop-down menu below.

  • Continuous learning is promoted through interactive teaching/learning methods (analog and/or digital) that are suitable for large courses
  • Well-founded teaching/learning materials allow students to work independently
  • The course deliberately teaches subject-appropriate learning strategies
  • The teacher promotes learning communities and the subject-specific integration of students
  • Cooperation with student tutors/mentors is deliberately structured  

The following courses are eligible:

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  • Bachelor Biology

    300001 / Einführung in die Biologie I / Sylvia Kirchengast

    300718 / Statistik in der Biologie / Konrad Fiedler

    300034 / Anatomie, Phylogenie und Evolution der Tiere / Andreas Wanninger

    300448 / Struktur und Funktion der Pflanze / Wolfram Weckwerth

    300239 / Grundlagen der Ökologie / Stefan Dullinger

  • Master Biology

    300102 / Verhaltensbiologie des Menschen / Sonja Windhager

    300412 / Plant Biogeography / Gerald Schneeweiss

    300363 / Restaurationsökologie und ihre Anwendung im Naturschutz / Jacqueline Loos

    300464 / Behavioral Ecology / Eva Millesi

    300112 / Current topics in human-animal relationships / Petra Sumasgutner

  • Bachelor Nutritional Sciences

    330008 / Ernährungslehre: angewandt und multidisziplinär / Petra Rust

    330048 / Einführung in Biologie und Botanik / Doris Engelmeier

    330057 / Ernährungslehre: Mikronährstoffe / Jürgen König

    330101 / Warenkunde I - Produktion und Qualität pflanzlicher Lebensmittel / Jürgen König

    330104 / Ernährungslehre: Energiestoffwechsel, Makronährstoffe / Karl-Heinz Wagner

    330109 / Warenkunde II-Produktion und Qualität tierischer Lebensmittel / Jürgen König

  • Master Nutritional Sciences

    330022 / Kulturgeschichte der Ernährung / Jürgen König

    330100 / Besonderheiten der Ernährung während des Lebenszyklus / Petra Rust

    330115 / Angewandte und Vertiefende Humanernährung / Ina Bergheim

  • Bachelor Pharmaceutical Sciences

    321002 / Steop Biologie für PharmazeutInnen - B2 / Sabine Glasl-Tazreiter

    321003 / Steop Allgemeine Chemie für PharmazeutInnen - B2 / Stefan Poschner 

    321006 / Grundlagen der Arzneibuchanalytik - B4 / Stefan Poschner

    321009 / Nasschemische Arzneibuchanalytik - B5 / Michaela Böhmdorfer 

    321013 / Arzneistoffsynthese - B7 / Verena Pichler

    321014 / Anatomie und Physiologie - B8 / Manfred Ogris

    321015 / Pathophysiologie – B8 / Sophia Khom-Steinkellner

  • Master Pharmaceutical Sciences

    322001 / (Bio)pharma. mit Wirkung auf metabol. Störungen & eingeschr. Organ- und Systemfunktionen - M1 / Manuela Schmidt

    322002 / Antiinfektiva, Antineoplastika und (Bio)pharmazeutika mit Wirkung auf das Immunsystem - M2 / Judith Maria Rollinger

    322005 / (Bio)pharmazeutika mit Wirkung auf das Herz-Kreislauf-System - M4 / Thierry Langer

    322006 / (Bio)pharmazeutika mit Wirkung auf das Nervensystem - M5 / Gerhard Ecker

    322007 / Pharmazeutische Technologie und Biopharmazie für Masterstudierende - M6 / Ulrich Lächelt 

Nomination Teaching Awards 2026

Required fields are marked with a red square
Teaching Awards 2026
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This field is required: First and last name (of you, the student)
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This field is required: Student univie e-mail adress
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This field is required: LV number and title (see above for eligible LVs)
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This field is required: Short description of why this LV was great for big student cohorts (~100 words)

We hope for clear favorites amongst the eligible courses. In addition, and to ensure a fair and comprehensive evaluation, a diverse panel of judges will be assembled, with at least 50% student representatives. This approach aims to provide a balanced perspective and reflect the opinions and preferences of those directly impacted by the teaching methods.

Award details, application and selection process:

A specific application by course organizers is not necessary. To be eligible for consideration, teaching activities must meet the following criteria:

  • Key criterion: large groups of students*
  • Course types: All within first semesters
  • Academic levels: Bachelor and Master level
  • Course leaders are staff of the Faculty of Life Sciences
  • Course organized by: SPL30, 32 and 33

*Eligible courses are selected according to passed exams („Abschlusszahlen“) in WS24 and SS25. For Bachelor programs, larger numbers (> 200 – 350) are taken into account than for master programs (> 45 – 150). Courses have at least 3 ECTS or 3 SWS, depending on the study program.

All of the courses from the drop-down menu fulfil these criteria.