The Future of the ESI

The Future of the ESI

The Austrian Ministry of Science informed the ESI officially on November 8, 2010, that the Institute's funding will be terminated with effect from January 1, 2011.

News of the funding cut quickly spread among the scientific community and sparked off a large number of messages to Dr. Beatrix Karl, the Austrian Minister of Science and Research, in support of the ESI. The remarkable support for the ESI by the international research community was a major contributing factor in negotiations between the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research, the University of Vienna and the Erwin Schrödinger Institute, with the aim of allowing the Institute to continue its mission. The outcome of these negotiations is as follows:


The ESI will continue operation in its present form until May 31, 2011. On that date the University of Vienna will create a `Forschungsplattform' (Research Platform) under the name `Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics'. This new Forschungsplattform will continue the scientific tradition of the Institute - in its current location - and will in particular fund and support the scientific activities approved by the ESI for the years 2011 and 2012.
 
The Ministry of Science has promised funding of the new Forschungsplattform until 2014, and possibly until 2015. The current Junior Research Fellows Programme of the ESI cannot be extended by the new Forschungsplattform due to lack of financial support.


The Directors of the ESI would like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude to the international scientific community for their overwhelming support of the ESI during this difficult period.


The following mathematicians and mathematical physicists have sent messages to Dr. Karl in support of the ESI, with copies to the Erwin Schrödinger Institute. We apologize for any omissions - they are certainly not deliberate!



File translated from TEX by TTHgold, version 4.00.
On 18 Feb 2011, 12:30.