Research Award of the State of Lower Austria 2026

On 29 September 2026 the State of Lower Austria honoured Roland Bernhard with its Research Award 2026 (Anerkennungspreis der Wissenschaftspreise des Landes Niederösterreich) — for research on character education in schools, with the European TEPACE study at its core, and for the way the Austrian Character Initiative carries this research into school practice. Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf presented the awards at the Haus der Digitalisierung in Tulln.

For the ceremony the State of Lower Austria produced short film portraits of the award winners — this one introduces the work in one minute (German with English subtitles).

An award with a long tradition

The State of Lower Austria has presented its science awards (Wissenschaftspreise) since 1964, when Governor Leopold Figl conferred them for the first time. They honour researchers whose work makes a substantial contribution to science in Lower Austria: the research has to take place in the state or deal with a topic specific to it. Each year the state government confers two Würdigungspreise and four Anerkennungspreise on the recommendation of an expert jury — in 2026 seven researchers from universities and research institutes.

In 2026 the Würdigungspreise went to Johann Georg Danzl (Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg) and Georg Gübitz (BOKU University, Tulln campus). Alongside Roland Bernhard, the Anerkennungspreise went to Maria Ibáñez (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Julia Mourão Permoser (University for Continuing Education Krems) and the Translational Radiobiology research group of MedAustron and the Medical University of Vienna, led by Dea Slade. On the same evening the state presented its Wissenschaft Zukunft Preis for outstanding master’s theses and dissertations and its prize for innovative university teaching.

“We are incredibly proud that we have become a land of science that has found recognition both internationally and nationally,” said Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner at the ceremony. Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf added: “There can be no science without freedom. And there will be no democracy without the freedom of science.”

What was honoured: research on character education in schools

Roland Bernhard had submitted a collection of research and practice-oriented work from the Austrian Character Initiative, which he founded at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria in 2022. Its common thread is the question of how schools can educate young people not only academically but also in their character — and what parents, teachers and school leaders contribute to this.

Character education — in German, Persönlichkeitsbildung — is the conscious and systematic cultivation of those inner strengths that, since Aristotle, have been called virtues: honesty, courage, gratitude, self-regulation, good judgement, compassion, civic-mindedness. Its aim is a flourishing life for the individual and for the community. Character strengths are closely linked to mental health and prosocial behaviour. Internationally, a broad, evidence-based discourse has grown up around these questions, carried by institutions such as the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham, the Oxford Character Project and the flourishing research at Harvard University; since 2025 the OECD, too, has advocated the goal of “Education for Human Flourishing”. In the German-speaking world this discourse has so far received little attention — and this is where the research at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria begins.

A school cannot not form character. Every rule, every word of praise, every tone of interaction leaves its mark. The only question is whether this happens consciously and reflectively, or by chance.— Roland Bernhard

TEPACE: what parents and teachers in Europe think about character education

The scientific core of the award-winning work is the study TEPACE — Teachers’ and Parents’ Perspectives on Character Education in Europe. It began at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria: in her doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Salzburg in 2025, Evelyn Kropfreiter was the first to survey systematically how Austrian lower-secondary teachers think about values-oriented character education. The quantitative results appeared in the Journal of Moral Education, and the questionnaire developed for the study — translated into numerous languages — became the basis of the European survey.

From 2023 to 2026 this grew into an international research project led by Roland Bernhard, with Martin Brestovanský (University of Trnava), Verónica Fernández-Espinosa (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid) and Tom Harrison (Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham) in the leadership team. More than 40 researchers from twelve countries worked together under the umbrella of the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA); Tiarnach McDermott was responsible for the quantitative analysis. For the first time on this scale for continental Europe, the study asked whether parents and teachers consider character education at school important, which virtues matter most to them, whether teachers feel confident about it, and whether character and achievement are seen as competing or as complementary. More than 10,000 people responded; the first comparative analysis covers 8,155 parents and 2,754 teachers from Austria, the Czech Republic, England, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Spain.

The results are remarkably consistent across countries: more than 93 per cent of parents and more than 93 per cent of teachers consider character education at school very important, and around 90 per cent expect it to bring better academic performance as well. When choosing a school, parents name the values a school stands for second only to the quality of teaching. At the same time the study reveals a telling misunderstanding: more than half of the teachers believe that parents care above all about grades; in fact this is true of only nine per cent of parents. Both groups want the same thing, but do not know it of each other.

There is also broad agreement on the character strengths both groups would like schools to foster. Parents put self-confidence first (64 per cent), followed by good judgement (57 per cent), honesty (46 per cent) and resilience (45 per cent); teachers put honesty at the top (50 per cent), followed by civility (48 per cent) and good judgement (46 per cent). Teachers want character education to be embedded across all subjects and the whole school culture, not taught as an additional subject.

The findings are now being presented to decision-makers at European and national level; in Slovakia they have already been drawn on to support the implementation of the character education standards of the new national curriculum. At the ECVA conference in Vienna in 2025, organised by Roland Bernhard — 130 participants from 23 countries, held under the patronage of Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner — the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, addressed the participants in a personal video message.

From research into school practice

What the research shows is meant to reach schools. This is the purpose of the Austrian Character Initiative, which combines research, the development of materials, the initial and continuing education of teachers and school leaders, and public engagement. Its principle: nothing without a scientific basis — and nothing that cannot be used in school straight away. In 2025 the initiative translated the Jubilee Centre’s Framework for Character Education in Schools into German. Behind it lies the principle of “caught – taught – sought”: character is caught in the school culture and from role models, consciously taught in lessons and sought by the pupils themselves.

Schools and teachers can now draw on the free online course on character education for mental health on the iMooX platform, with videos and ready-made teaching materials, which a whole teaching staff can complete as in-school professional development; a growing pool of freely available classroom materials on character strengths such as courage, gratitude, honesty and self-regulation; the workbook Leadership und Charakterbildung for school leaders and steering groups, with questionnaires for taking stock and building blocks for school culture and teaching; and the annual EULEAD Summerschool, which in 2026 brought together more than 100 leaders from education, business and civil society. From February 2027 a university certificate course on school-based character education for mental health will follow, in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy.

Lower Austria is a particular focus: the Education Directorate of Lower Austria has made “Leadership and Character Education” its annual theme for 2026/27 and works closely with KPH Vienna/Lower Austria on it — with the workbook, the classroom materials, the online course, and professional development and talks for school leaders of all school types. The link with leadership is no coincidence: no one shapes the culture of a school more strongly than its leadership.

The evening in Tulln

Many companions on the way came to the ceremony at the Haus der Digitalisierung. KPH Vienna/Lower Austria was represented by Vice-Rector Andreas Weissenbäck; from the church school system, Benedikt Michal, Head of the Catholic Schools Office of the Diocese of St. Pölten, and Constantin Haider, pedagogical managing director of the private schools of the Archdiocese of Vienna, offered their congratulations. From the Education Directorate of Lower Austria came Brigitte Schuckert, Head of Pedagogical Services, and the school quality managers Gunnar Hamann and Ute Zechner-Gjeci; from the Vienna Education Directorate, Ulrike Mangl, Head of Pedagogical Services. Among the guests were also Doris Pfingstner, head teacher of the Modulare Mittelstufe Aspern, Peter Stippl, long-standing President of the Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy, Aron Marton (Kompass School of Character Favoriten, Vienna) and Evelyn Kropfreiter (KPH Vienna/Lower Austria) — and the award winner’s family.

This award does not belong to one person. It belongs to a team of more than 40 researchers from twelve countries, to my colleagues at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria, to the Education Directorate of Lower Austria — and to the many school leaders and teachers who help children, day after day, to become honest, courageous, grateful and strong.— Roland Bernhard after the ceremony

Four questions from the State’s brochure

In its brochure on the 2026 awards, the State of Lower Austria put four questions to each award winner. Roland Bernhard’s answers, translated from the German:

Did you already want to be a researcher as a child, or was there a moment that awakened your curiosity?

As a child I actually wanted to be a singer first. I put on little concerts for my neighbourhood and performed songs by the Austrian band EAV. From my first year at university I wanted to become a university professor. I have always been fascinated by really getting to the bottom of things. I see myself as tirelessly searching for truth, and through my work I would like to spread as much good as possible in schools and society.

What does character education in schools mean, and why is it important?

Hardly anything is more important for a flourishing life than a person’s character, as recent studies show. Developing character strengths such as gratitude, courage and kindness demonstrably promotes mental health, helps relationships and friendships to succeed, and contributes to overcoming polarisation in society. That is why the topic belongs in schools — approached without ideology.

As a co-founder of the European Character and Virtue Association, how important is networking in research?

Over the past 15 years, starting from Oxford, Birmingham and Harvard, a lively international movement of researchers has formed who work on character education and character-based leadership at the highest academic level and with strong influence on policy and practice. I am proud to be part of this positive movement and, with ECVA, to make a contribution for Europe. Character education — which has hardly arrived yet in the German-speaking world — is a central topic for the future.

What conditions would you wish for the school of the future?

I would like the achievements of school leaders and teachers in Austria to be recognised much more. I have had the privilege of working with thousands of them and have seen an incredible amount of commitment. They are among the most important forces in our country: they shape young people and build our future. For this they deserve respect, recognition and better conditions. We also need to invest more in supporting and developing school leaders.

Media coverage

These media reported on the ceremony and on the award-winning research (all in German):

Kathpress, the Austrian Catholic news agency, also conducted a detailed interview — read it in full in English →

Official sources: press release of the State of Lower Austria (30 September 2026) · brochure (PDF) · short film on YouTube. All press features: press review →

What comes next

The next steps are already being prepared: a longitudinal study examining character education as a school effect, and a project to bring character-based leadership into school practice on a broad scale together with international partners. “We want to strengthen school leaders by giving them tools for what matters to them anyway,” says Roland Bernhard. Anyone who would like to support this work is warmly invited to get in touch.

Warm congratulations to all the fellow award winners — and many thanks to the State of Lower Austria.

Further links

• The TEPACE project: design, findings, consortium and publications
• Interview with Kathpress on character education, TEPACE and human flourishing (English translation)
• Free classroom materials on twelve character strengths · Workbook and tools for school leaders
• Kropfreiter, E., Bernhard, R., & McDermott, T. (2026). Austrian secondary school teachers’ views on character education: Quantitative insights from a mixed-methods study. Journal of Moral Education, 55(2), 213–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2024.2373167