Two of the 2026 Science Awards of the Province of Lower Austria have gone to researchers at the University for Continuing Education Krems. Migration researcher Julia Mourão Permoser received a Recognition Award, while the Award for Innovative Higher Education Teaching went to Isabell Grundschober and Heidrun Maurer for their digiWERKSTATT teaching format.
Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf presented the awards at a ceremony on September 29. The awards recognize, on the one hand, Mourão Permoser’s research into how societal values influence migration policy. On the other, the province is honoring an inter-university, collaborative teaching model that helps municipalities address administrative challenges more effectively.
“I see this award as an important sign of recognition and support for high-quality, independent research on migration – especially at a time of strong polarization,” says Julia Teixeira Mourão Permoser. “I am particularly committed to research that looks beyond the perspectives of geopolitical centers of power and the interests of governments in order to better understand migration in its entirety and in the interplay of diverse actors and interests.”
Isabell Grundschober on receiving the award: “Helping municipalities solve practical problems in their everyday work while opening up new perspectives for their staff on the possibilities offered by digital technologies was a great experience as a researcher.”
-Klaus%20Ranger.jpg "© Klaus Ranger")
The Province of Lower Austria honored researchers from the University for Continuing Education Krems with its Science Awards for research on migration and an innovative teaching format for municipalities. From left to right: Stefan Oppl, Vice Rector, University for Continuing Education Krems; Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner; Isabell Grundschober; Julia Mourão Permoser; Viktoria Weber, Rector, University for Continuing Education Krems; Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf.
When protection and control come into conflict
Julia Mourão Permoser investigates how actors respond when goals such as humanitarian protection and border control come into conflict. Such dilemmas can also arise within groups that share common goals, for example in sea rescue operations or church asylum.
Together with Rainer Bauböck and Martin Ruhs, she developed an approach that provides a systematic framework for analyzing these conflicting objectives. “We want to offer solutions, even though genuine dilemmas cannot, of course, simply be eliminated. But they can be mitigated,” says Mourão Permoser.
From October 2026, she will continue this research in the project “Ethics in Action: Navigating Ethical Dilemmas of Migrant Solidarity,” funded by the European Research Council (ERC) through a Consolidator Grant. An interdisciplinary team will investigate in ten countries and regions how groups of actors deal with dilemmas when supporting migrants and refugees and what factors shape their decisions.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Julia Teixeira Mourao Permoser, MA BS, is Professor for Migration and Integration at the Department for Migration and Globalization at the University for Continuing Education Krems, where she coordinates the PhD program in Migration Studies.
Award for Innovative Higher Education Teaching goes to digiWERKSTATT
Isabell Grundschober and Heidrun Maurer received the 2026 Award for Innovative Higher Education Teaching for digiWERKSTATT, which they jointly designed and implemented. The format is structured as a municipal hackathon: municipalities bring concrete challenges from their administrative work, which are addressed jointly by students, municipal employees, and IT companies. Working in intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional teams, participants develop digital solutions in the form of prototypes with methodological support.
Participants strengthen their problem-solving and decision-making skills as well as their digital innovation competencies, while learning to bring together different perspectives. The first edition was designed and delivered by the University for Continuing Education Krems, in cooperation with the Geschäftsstelle für Digitalisierung und Innovation of the Province of Lower Austria and the House of Digitalization.
Isabell Grundschober, BEd BSc MA, is a research associate at the Department for Continuing Education Research and Educational Technologies at the University for Continuing Education Krems. She was responsible for the academic design, facilitation, and evaluation of digiWERKSTATT. Dr. Heidrun Maurer, Senior Scientist at the Department for E-Governance and Administration, played a key role in developing and facilitating the format.
About the Lower Austrian Science Awards
Since 1964, the Province of Lower Austria has supported outstanding researchers whose work makes a significant contribution to the province’s scientific independence. Each year, Recognition Awards and the Award for Innovative Higher Education Teaching are presented to highlight the importance of research and scholarship for Lower Austria. The awards honor people who contribute to progress through research and development. The Science Awards are granted by the Government of Lower Austria on the recommendation of an expert advisory board.
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