That was the fem*MA Advancement Award of the summer semester 2026!

Our five winners will begin their positions at the institute this semester, thereby strengthening the foundations of their academic research careers. In an official and festive ceremony on March 25, 2026, during the Faculty Council meeting with our Dean, Univ. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Wolfgang Wagner, our award recipients were presented with their certificates - along with the book “Beklaute Frauen” by Leonie Schöler, a No. 1 Spiegel bestseller.

Each semester, fem*MA presents the fem*MA Advancement Award to female* students who have demonstrated exceptional achievement, with the aim of supporting them in their careers as independent researchers. This semester, we had the honor of presenting the fem*MA Advancement Award to five young women.

By embedding master’s students within the institute’s research structures and working groups, the programme positions them at the heart of academic life. Award recipients work closely with PraeDocs, PostDocs, and faculty, gaining first-hand experience of research, collaboration, and the day-to-day realities of academia.

The idea: provide genuine insight into academic work, foster meaningful connections, and inspire these talented women to take the next step—pursuing a PhD and continuing their path in research.

Once again, we extend our heartfelt congratulations and wish you all the best for your future!

Learn more about the winners of the 2026 fem*MA Award in the following interviews:

Julia Buchegger

1. Can you briefly describe your academic journey so far? In which area is your master's thesis? 

I completed my bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Vienna. After finishing my bachelor's, I was not sure which master's programme to pursue, so I decided to gain some practical experience first. I did an internship at the Austrian Institute of Technology, where I worked on optimization problems in the transport sector. This experience strengthened my interest in research-oriented work. Afterwards, I started the master's programme in Mathematics in Economics at TU Wien. During my studies, I became particularly interested in courses such as Environmental and Population Economics and Dynamic Macroeconomics. This eventually led me to the topic of my master's thesis, titled "Yule-Walker Estimator and Adaptive Learning in Macroeconomic Models". In my thesis, I compare two different learning algorithms that describe how agents in macroeconomic models form expectations about future inflation and the output gap. I was also very fortunate to receive a Marshall Plan Scholarship, which allowed me to spend five months at the University of California, Irvine, where I worked on my master's thesis.

2. Have there been people who have supported you along the way? How have they helped you? 

Yes, I have been very lucky to receive support along the way. In particular, my supervisor, Prof. Emanuel Gasteiger, has supported me a lot. He helped me establish contact with Prof. William Branch at the University of California, Irvine, who co-supervised my thesis during my time in California. Both have supported me through academic guidance and technical discussions, which have been very helpful for the development of my thesis.
Prof. Gasteiger and Prof. Branch also encouraged me to consider pursuing a PhD after my master's degree, which has been very motivating for me.

3. How did you come across this programme?

I came across the programme through my supervisor, Prof. Emanuel Gasteiger, who encouraged me to apply.

4. When will you be starting the programme?

I will start the programme in June.

5. What are you looking forward to about getting a glimpse into academic life, and what would you like to gain from the experience?

My interest in research first developed during my internship at the Austrian Institute of Technology, and working on my master's thesis has deepened this motivation even further. Through the fem*MA programme, I am looking forward to gaining a better insight into academic life and research at the university.
I hope to deepen my knowledge in my specific field, adaptive learning in macroeconomic models, but also to learn more about the research interests of other people in the economics research group at TU Wien. I am especially looking forward to connecting with researchers and gaining a clearer impression of what an academic career could look like.

Katharina Schindegger

1. Can you briefly describe your academic journey so far? In which area is your master's thesis? 

I did my Bachelor's in Mathematics, spent a semester abroad in Spain through Erasmus, and I'm now finishing my Master's at TU Wien. My thesis is in discrete mathematics and combinatorial analysis, I'm counting sequences with certain properties and looking at how their number behaves long-term.

2. Have there been people who have supported you along the way? How have they helped you? 

My fellow students have probably been the biggest support along the way, just knowing you're not going through it alone helps a lot.

3. How did you come across this programme?

A friend mentioned the programme to me and it sounded interesting.

4. When will you be starting the programme?

I'll be starting in June.

5. What are you looking forward to about getting a glimpse into academic life, and what would you like to gain from the experience?

What I'm mainly looking forward to is being able to keep doing research in my area while having a position at the university. Also having financial support for that and being part of a team rather than working on everything by yourself sound great.

Anna Medwed

1. Can you briefly describe your academic journey so far? In which area is your master's thesis? 

I did my bachelor’s in mathematics in Innsbruck and then I moved to Vienna to study the master in Probability - Statistics - Mathematics in Economics. I am currently in my last semester and writing on my master thesis in the area of Statistical Mechanics. 

2. Have there been people who have supported you along the way? How have they helped you? 

During my bachelor I had a great group of friends, who studied with me. We would solve exercises together, support and help each other, but also enjoy the fun side of student life. Especially, in the beginning it was very important to me to have people around me, who also struggled sometimes, and we would push each other to get better. And now it still impresses me a lot to see, what they are doing after their degree. 

3. How did you come across this programme?

I got an email from the fem*MA-Team addressed to all female Master students. 

4. When will you be starting the programme?

Since I am currently working as tutor, I will start the program in August, but I already got a desk in the institute to work open my thesis there. 

5. What are you looking forward to about getting a glimpse into academic life, and what would you like to gain from the experience?

As I am finishing my master’s degree soon, I have to decide what I want to do afterwards, and I am looking forward to seeing how doing research at the university looks like. Hopefully, this experience will give me an insight into the work of a PhD student and maybe this could be something for me as well. 

Christina Huber

1. Can you briefly describe your academic journey so far? In which area is your master's thesis? 

I did my Bachelor’s degree at TU Wien and I am currently in the fourth semester of my Master’s in Applied Mathematics. During the last semester, I had the opportunity to spend an exchange semester at ETH Zurich, where I was able to work as part of an internship at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, continuing a research project that I had initially started in Vienna. The experience I gained in Zurich, together with the results I had already developed in Vienna, now forms the foundation of my Master’s thesis. My thesis lies in the area of modelling and simulation, with a specific application in pharmacology.

2. Have there been people who have supported you along the way? How have they helped you? 

Yes, definitely. First and foremost, my fellow students, with whom I went through all the exercise sheets and long study sessions - after all, a problem shared is a problem halved. And of course, I’m very grateful to my supervisors of my Master’s thesis Assistant Prof. Andreas Körner and Alexander Edthofer, who supported me in establishing the contact at ETH and made it possible for me to continue my project work there.

3. How did you come across this programme?

I received an email with all the information about the program and since it immediately appealed to me, I decided to apply.

4. When will you be starting the programme?

I will officially start the program in May 2026. However, as I am already working as a student assistant at the institute, I got the opportunity to get to know the research group and start working on my Master‘ thesis. 

5. What are you looking forward to about getting a glimpse into academic life, and what would you like to gain from the experience?

Yes, I am really looking forward to getting a deeper insight into university life and meeting new people through the program, as well as building new networks. I’m excited about the opportunities that may arise and I also hope that it will support me in my decisions about the next steps after completing my Master’s.

Nina Radostits

1. Can you briefly describe your academic journey so far? In which area is your master's thesis? 

After finishing school, I completed a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at the University of Vienna. Afterwards, I switched to TU Wien for the master’s programme in Financial and Actuarial Mathematics. My master’s thesis focuses on the menu cost model. In particular, I study the logarithmic price process and analyze how to minimize adjustment costs while examining the sensitivity to changes in volatility. The key result is that the log price remains within a corridor, whose boundaries shift when volatility increases.

2. Have there been people who have supported you along the way? How have they helped you? 

I would divide this group of people into two parts. First, my fellow students. I spent countless hours with them preparing exercises, studying together and overcoming academic challenges that often seemed impossible at first. I would also include several professors and tutors, who took the time to explain topics even beyond the courses they were teaching us in. Second, my family and my non-mathematical friends. There were times when I felt overwhelmed by everything university life demands. Knowing that there is always someone willing to listen from outside the mathematical bubble helped me a lot, and it is something I would never take for granted.

3. How did you come across this programme?

To be honest, I first saw the email introducing the programme, but initially I thought I was not qualified for it. Later, my supervisor encouraged me to apply, even though we had never discussed it before. That made me realize that I should definitely give it a try.

4. When will you be starting the programme?

I will be starting the programme in August since I have a tutoring job until July.

5. What are you looking forward to about getting a glimpse into academic life, and what would you like to gain from the experience?

I am very curious, while also aware of the challenge, about writing my thesis as part of an ongoing project. I am especially looking forward to experiencing how academic research works in practice, where one not only studies existing theories, but also works on questions that have not yet been fully answered. Through this and by taking part in the programme, I hope to find out whether working at a university is something I could see myself doing after completing my master's degree.