First Flora Hochsinger Grant goes to Chi Zhang

19.06.2025

The FGGA's new Flora Hochsinger Grant aims to support tenure(-track) professors at our Faculty. The first grant goes to Chi Zhang from the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics. Congratulations!

In 2025, the Faculty has introduced the Flora Hochsinger Grant, a new funding programme designed to support FGGA tenure (-track) professors. The grant awards a 3 year pre-doc fellowship within the framework of the Vienna International School of Earth and Space Sciences. It replaces the previous Emerging Field Grant programme.

2025 Awarded Project: Chi Zhang awarded the first Flora Hochsinger Grant

The 2025 Flora Hochsinger Grant was awarded to Chi Zhang (Meteorology and Geophysics), in collaboration with Stephan Glatzel and Raphael Müller (Geography and Regional Research). Their project, “PEAT-FLUX: Linking pore architecture, hydrology, and greenhouse gas emissions in peatlands,” explores the effects of peatland degradation on water storage, water transport and greenhouse gas fluxes, contributing to climate mitigation strategies.

Chi Zhang is a hydrogeophysicist studying complex fluid-rock interactions using geoelectrics, nuclear magnetic resonance, and modeling tools. Before joining the University of Vienna in 2021, Chi Zhang was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology at The University of Kansas.

About Flora Hochsinger

  • Flora Hochsinger (1878–1942) was the first female PhD student to graduate in Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Vienna in 1910. She was also a lecturer in adult education and advocate for women’s rights. As Jewish woman, she was persecuted and finally murdered during the Holocaust. This grant commemorates her scientific, educational and social achievements.

  • More about the Flora Hochsinger Grant and her biography

The 2025 Flora Hochsinger Grant was awarded to Chi Zhang from the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, in collaboration with Stephan Glatzel and Raphael Müller (Geography and Regional Research). Foto: Chi Zhang

Flora Hochsinger (1878–1942) was the first female PhD student to graduate in Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Vienna in 1910. She was also a lecturer in adult education and advocate for women’s rights. As Jewish woman, she was persecuted and finally murdered during the Holocaust. No photograph of Flora Hochsinger exists. The image shows the entrance to her last residence at Praterstraße 53, through which she passed daily. Photo: Franz Kerschbaum