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Talking about ... Graz, a student’s city with a cozy and friendly vibe

Since I'm studying at TU Graz, I have been living in Graz, Austria, for the past two years. Not only is university life a lot of fun, but the city itself is a delightful place and motivates me to enjoy my time.

My name is Gergő Horváth and I come from Balatonfenyves, which is a small town in Hungary. In this blog post I want to present Graz to you as one of the best cities to study in.

In this blog post I want to present Graz to you as one of the best cities to study in.

Why exactly Graz?

Graz is a...

Talking about ... Important steps before and upon your arrival in Graz

Jovana Vujačić summarises all the important steps internationals should consider when deciding to study at TU Graz: planning process, when and how to apply, legal matters, language, fees, scholarships and more.

The most important tip: If you want to study abroad, plan ahead

"As soon as your vision to study abroad is crystal clear, you should start preparing all the necessary documents. Don’t be lazy, don’t leave it until tomorrow, start at that very moment."

It all starts when the idea pops up: “Hey, I...

Talking about Life as a researcher and everyday life in the time of coronavirus

TU Graz computer scientist Johanna Pirker reports on whether and how the measures to contain the corona virus have changed her everyday work.

In computer science in particular, we can carry out a large part of our research outside the office. In our Game Lab we develop and research games and virtual reality environments. Without the appropriate hardware, this is currently somewhat more difficult, and study programmes with students, for...

Talking about the origin of pandemics in the microbiome

The coronavirus has the world holding its breath. Environmental biotechnologist Gabriele Berg, head of the Institute of Environmental Biotechnology at Graz University of Technology, explains the role of the microbiome in these and other pandemics.

The microbiome is composed of microbiota and their surrounding habitat. All living microorganisms, bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae and protists – a certain group of single to multi-celled organisms – go to form microbiota. Viruses are not counted as part of the this, but do belong to the surrounding...

Talking about How I chose TU Graz out of so many Universities

For Lazar Gugleta, coming to Austria to study Computer Science was one of the biggest choices in his life. He writes about the factors that influenced his decision to leave Serbia to study for a degree at TU Graz.

Who am I?

My journey began with a simple idea – to move away from my country and become an international student. Now before I tell you all about my journey, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Lazar Gugleta and I come from Novi Sad, Serbia. It is the second largest city in my country that is...

Talking about sonible - from start-up to international pioneer

Graz University of Technology graduates Baumgartner, Sciri and Wankhammer founded sonible in 2013. The goal: to develop and successfully market innovative audio software and hardware. The journey: a steep learning curve.

First off, if we had unlimited resources at sonible, we would implement all the ideas we have. Simply because we have incredible fun developing new things. But reality showed us quite quickly that as an entrepreneur you sometimes need something urgently: focus. We – that is, Ralf Baumgartner, Peter...

Talking about My experiences as a visiting researcher at TU Graz

Mojtaba Pourbashiri came to Graz, Austria, during his PhD. Since January 2019 he works as a postdoctoral guest researcher in the field of advanced materials science. He has found Graz to be a city of science and peace.

I have found people at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) to be so kind and full of productive and helpful comments. The institutes and the labs have a warm and friendly environment. The professors, researchers, students and staff are always treated with respect and warmth. They helped me a lot...

Talking about Studo – from start-up to partner for digitalisation

Anyone who tells the founding story of the university app “Studo” has to look back beyond the year of the company's formation in 2016. The five founders – four men and one woman – got to know each other during their studies at TU Graz.

Runtastic for the gym

Valentin Slawicek, the initiator of Studo and current Chief Technical Officer (CTO), was already programming in 2014 – but on a fitness app. “Back then, Runtastic was really big and since my colleague Christian was an avid fitness athlete, it was only logical to develop an app...

Talking about From idea to product

The young founder and TU Graz student Lukas Watzinger has developed "REELOQ", an innovative safety device for smartphones and the like. In this article he shares his experiences on the journey from idea to product.

One should always make the best of a bad situation. But in the summer of 2018, quite frankly, that was a lot to ask. Had I known at that time what effects a broken mobile phone would have on my life, my frustration would have faded very quickly. But long story short – what happened? In a careless...

Talking about coming to TU Graz as a degree seeking student

Brenda Barrios came to Austria as a student of the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Master's Programme at Graz University of Technology. In her Blog Post she tells us, why Graz became the city of her heart.

I have been a degree seeking student of the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering (CPE) Master’s Programme at the TU Graz since October of 2017. Before coming to Graz, as soon as I got my acceptance letter the TU Graz Welcome Center got in contact with me. Elisabeth and Birgit, currently the main...

Talking about … a summer job like no other.

Hannah Kaspret spent her summer as FIT intern at the Institute of Solid State Physics of TU Graz and built flower pedals out of Polydimenthylsiloxane that reacts to water vapour.

Ever since the start of 6th grade I started to develop a greater interest in technology and science. So when one of my friends told me about a project, that their sister was once part of, whose goal is to get more girls invested in IT and science and provides the opportunity of a summer job at the...

Talking about … Summer school in the Land of the Rising Sun

PhD student Katharina Kocher tells how two completely different cultures can together contribute substantially to the realisation of sustainable energy production via controlled oxyhydrogen gas reaction.

Every year, the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology of TU Graz in cooperation with the Yokohama National University organises the International Summer School on PEFCs, at which teaching staff from six different countries help students and researchers to further develop...

Talking about … Microelectronics: The unsung hero of everyday life

Microelectronics from Austria? Really? Patrick Schrey is meanwhile wearily used to this reaction. For him, as an electrical engineer, it’s normal to be ever present but never seen.

I wasn’t aware before that microelectronics is developed and produced in Austria. For me microelectronics was always far away in Silicon Valley or in the Asian region. But, in fact, I can reach a manufacturing facility within the hour from my flat in Graz – comfortably even by public transport. ...

Talking about … Smart district development in small towns

Aglaée Degros, head of the Institute of Urbanism at TU Graz, describes how small and medium-sized towns are able to deal with the challenges of sustainable urban development.

Scant sustainable forms of mobility, vacant shops in the town centres and stagnation in the implementation of the energy revolution particularly affect small and medium-sized towns and European urban regions. The Institute of Urbanism at TU Graz is giving its attention to this topic and together...

Talking about … The new economy and the old economy

What’s it like to actively take part in a start-up within the structure of the ‘new economy’? Kevin Fister – former TU Graz student – has given this some thought.

Wikipedia defines the new economy as the ‘transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy’. In plain language: Spotify, Netflix and Dropbox instead of MP3 players, DVDs and USB sticks. And of course, this includes every type of service, for instance – financial and medical...

Talking about … Teach, Present, Publish: English for Academic Purposes

Roxane Koitz-Hristov describes her impressions of participating in the faculty training programme Teach, Present, Publish at the TU Graz in cooperation with lecturers from Montclair State University.

How can you overcome the hot summer month of July? Ideally with an English refresher. All “Dad jokes” aside, this July I attended the programme “Teach, Present and Publish in English” at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). Do you publish papers in international journals, correspond with partner...

Talking about … advice for first semester students at TU Graz

The admission period starts at TU Graz on 9th July and with it advice about enrolment. Mathematician Erika Lavia explains the questions she had as a prospective student and shares some practical advice.

In my last school year before taking the ‘Matura’ – which are the school leaving exams for university entrance – I thought about whether I wanted to go to university or not, and if so, what I wanted to study. After all, all the admission procedures and admission deadlines are all different for the...

Talking about … TU Graz StreeTech and me: Same same but different

Robots, hackers, racing cars, dinghies and a concrete canoe: the Graz inner city will soon be transformed into a hotspot of inventive spirit – an arena for student projects.

What do the student teams of TU Graz and Lisa Friessnig have in common? An event! More precisely, the ‘TU Graz StreeTech – the next generation’ which takes place in the heart of the Graz old town on 16th June. Just for one day Main Square and ‘Eiserne Tor’ will become a playground for student...

Talking about … Sailing at the Course Croisière EDHEC

Katharina Zvetolec recounts why a very special international experience is putting new wind in the sails of the High Performance Sailing Student Team.

At the end of April we were ready. The High Performance Sailing (HPS) TU Graz Student Team was the first Austrian team to take part in the 50th EDHEC regatta in Brest (France). The team was proud to secure eighth position among the 25 Student Teams in our boat class – that’s in the top middle. But...

Talking about … the TU Graz Field Robotics Team TEDUSAR

How do you build robot systems which can explore the environment autonomously? The field robotics team TEDUSAR deals with this question and many others.

We the Field Robotics Team TEDUSAR (Technology and EDucation for Urban Search And Rescue robots) of TU Graz, are students who share a fascination: robots. More precisely – autonomous robots which can perform certain tasks independently without outside help.

It all began with the development of...

Talking about … Innovation through synthetic biology

Henrik Seyfried and the NAWI_Graz 2017 iGEM student team managed to get robots and microorganisms to communicate with each other for the iGEM Competition 2017.

There are problems and tasks everywhere in this world and in a variety of shapes and sizes. From ‘small’ challenges in biotechnology to seas contaminated with plastic and climate change. The ‘international genetically engineered machine (iGEM)’ competition inspires students throughout the world to...

Talking about … the Mirage 91 BCI Racing team

Biomedical Engineering student Anthulla Dushi shares her experience in immersing in Brain-Computer Interfaces as a member of the “Graz BCI Racing Team – Mirage 91” of TU Graz.

How did I enter the team?

My interest in Neurotechnology as well as the International Welcome Days, organized by the University, made me aware of the Graz BCI Racing Team – Mirage 91. The team has considerable experience in developing state of the art Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and in...

Talking about … my month on Mars

For many people a mission to Mars would be a dream. For Michael Müller, physics student at TU Graz, this was a dream come true – at least almost. He reports on his experiences as a field crew member of the AMADEE-18 Mars Simulation project in Oman – from his arrival on the ‘red planet’ to the...

In February 2018 I was given the honour of becoming a member of the field crew of the AMADEE-18 Mars Simulation project in the Dhofar region in Oman. In February the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) carried out an analog Mars mission to test technologies, procedures and experiments for suitability on...

Talking about … vehicles of the future

How to build the world’s most efficient vehicle? What materials are suitable? Is electromobility the mobility of the future? In the TERA team we deal with all these questions and others besides.

TERA TU Graz is a student team that develops energy-efficient vehicles. We are students of various Graz universities, and we work together because we want to educate ourselves further and because we want to help shape the future of mobility.

What does the TERA team actually do?

Since 2010 we’ve...

Talking about … hacking with LosFuzzys

Life as a Fuzzy and all the trimmings. Marcel Schnideritsch on his membership of LosFuzzys.

Membership of LosFuzzys can be briefly described as: challenges, weekly training sessions and a family-like environment. In addition to participation in CTF cyber security challenges, the focus is on knowledge transfer and community. This combination of things is what being a member of LosFuzzys is...

Talking about … concrete canoes and me

What? Can it really float?! Yes. And there are even international competitions. A very successful TU Graz student team with boats they’ve built themselves.

I was part of the Betonkanu TU Graz. team in 2015, while studying civil engineering. As a team we were able to brilliantly master the challenge of building the lightest concrete canoe of the regatta and win in this category. Our canoe weighed 3.1 kg per linear metre and had a total length of 5.39 m,...

Talking about … arranging a study or work placement abroad

Proper organisation is very important if you want to study or do a work placement abroad. We give you some information and tips on choosing a mobility programme, applying, selection criteria and more.

Selecting a mobility programme

First, you need to choose the right mobility programme for your placement abroad. This will depend on what you want to study or research, as well as your language skills. If you want to do a placement abroad, but can’t decide whether you want to stay in Europe or go...

Talking about Digital education in Ghana

At over 70 the teacher trainer Margarete Grimus wrote a doctoral thesis at TU Graz about the integration of mobile learning in sub-Saharan Africa - and infuses much into the teaching situation there.

A challenge during retirement

Retirement after 43 years in Austrian teacher training and continuing education? That can’t be everything, surely! My life has always been full of exciting tasks. In the late 1980s, when I was 40 and working full time, I enrolled in a university computer science...

Talking about … moving to Graz

It’s been quite some time since I moved to Graz to go on with my master´s program: time flies, every day there is something new – I never get tired of discovering this wonderful city anew.

First of all, my parents always wanted me to see the world, study abroad, get precious experience. After finishing my bachelor’s at home and having worked for a bit, I also realized that I’m still young and not ready yet to stay firmly in one place – I have the whole world waiting for me! 

However,...

Talking about … Meeting great role models

Beate Steller, doctoral student in chemistry at TU Graz, met the absolute greats of her specialty at the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Every year since 1951, the Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau on Lake Constance has taken place with the aim of bringing together young, promising researchers with Nobel prizewinners of the same specialty. Dialogue and the exchange of knowledge between the generations of scientists is promoted in...

Talking about … an academic year in Bordeaux

Bernd Somitsch is studying Mechanical Engineering and Business Economics at TU Graz and is setting off for the Université de Bordeaux for one year to gain experience.

I will spend 2017/2018, the coming academic year, in Bordeaux, France. A stay abroad offers students boundless opportunities and possibilities, combining university education with personal development and an enormous accumulation of experience.

One of my professors at TU Graz specifically pointed...

Talking about … the international success of TU Graz student teams

Rector Harald Kainz on TU Graz’s student teams and why companies are sending out feelers for these high potentials.

As Rector of TU Graz I have many reasons every day to feel proud of this institution. We are an international university with a wide range of English master’s programmes, a highly desirable cooperation partner for business and science, our research focuses are at the top of the international...

Talking about … Developments revolutionising logistics

TU Graz researcher Christian Landschützer explains why some 250 experts from 15 countries are coming together in Graz to develop the “Physical Internet” – a hyper-networked logistics system.

The Physical Internet – is this just another buzzword or a solid concept which will revolutionise freight logistics? Outlined roughly, the Physical Internet (PI) is a completely new system which will move, store, sort and supply physical objects in the future. Instead of sending packets of data...

Talking about ... Exhibiting at the Milan Design Week

Graz meets Milano. Architecture students of TU Graz presented their solid-wood seating furniture prototypes at the Design Week in Milan, reaping great enthusiasm for their designs.

“amm – architektInnen machen möbel” does exactly what it says: TU Graz architecture students design furniture. The label was initiated in the Furniture Design Production course in 2012 by Irmgard Frank at the Institute of Spatial Design – and has been very successful in the last few years since with...

Talking about … City of the future – Los Angeles

Alexander Gebetsroither, architecture graduate at TU Graz, has developed a future scenario for Los Angeles. He explains how he came to win the Archiprix International 2017 from 385 entries.

In my master’s thesis, I considered how a city can develop and function in the future. How to expand the urban planning horizon through an architectural idea without pretensions to solving particular problems. The thesis made use of Los Angeles. The creative and fictional aura around the dream...

Talking about …frequently asked questions concerning your studies

Be student at TU Graz – just TU it! Have you got any open questions about studying at TU Graz? Here are the most frequently asked questions – from the studies information fair BeSt³ to your screen.

From the view of a team of advisors at the TU Graz fair stand, a day at the fair can be exciting and even quite challenging when we have to answer detailed questions on particular fields of study. Here is a selection of the most frequently asked questions which we’ve compiled for you.

What study...

Talking about … my business trip into space

Franz Viehböck, the first and only Austrian ever to have been in space reveals very personal memories of the Austromir mission in the TU Graz blog.

Sometimes I still dream of space. It’s mostly when I’m reminded of the spaceflight, when I meet people from that time or see things which remind me of my stay in space station Mir. That was over 25 years ago and I still remember very well the hard preparation time for the Austromir mission. The...

Talking about … the beauty of uncertainty and its dangers

Michael Hartmann’s research focus lies in motion planning of autonomous vehicles regarding pedestrians in uncertain and dynamic environments.

On the way to work or to the supermarket each day, every one of us performs constantly recurring movement patterns without always consciously thinking about them. These movement patterns can be recorded, and an autonomous vehicle can learn about typical patterns using algorithms to predict movement....

Talking about … Driving in a wooden box

Love of technical gadgets is almost part of the job at TU Graz. Not surprising that I had to shout “ME!” when test persons were being sought for the in-house driving simulator.

“In reality I drive much better,” were my unbelievably contrite and apologetic words as I got used to the simulator driving seat at Inffeldgasse. I had lost my orientation, started off on the wrong side of the road, trembled discretely while staying in lane, and immediately exceeded the maximum...

Talking about … the recipe to build the perfect sandcastle!

Dry sand flows, so does water with some sand. However, if one uses a proper mixture of sand with some water, the sand becomes sticky, and a sandcastle can be built.

An observation often tested, especially in summer times! Fortunately, scientific work does not stop at such (primitive) observations: it seeks an explanation for the effect. 

For the situation of wet sand, it took a while to find the latter: the first scientifically-sound explanation for the...

Talking about ... Nikola Tesla’s time at TU Graz

Bernhard Reismann on a technological genius and his personal highs and lows

Around 1870 the radiance of the Technical College of Graz was felt way beyond the borders of Styria. In those days, especially talented students interested in technology from north Italy and southeast Europe found their way to the Styrian provincial capital. The most gifted of them was without a...

Talking about … timber – the construction material of the future

Wood is a trendy material – and not only in the music scene (thanks to the 257ers) but also in the construction sector. Because timber is natural, calculable, timeless, modern, flexible and fascinatingly versatile.

Ok, I admit it: I’ve got the ‘timber bug’. Not only because I am working for a company dedicated to promoting the use of timber but above all because I am convinced that the future belongs to timber construction. Indeed, building in wood brings out the best in this natural material. And now new...

Talking about …the feedbackr app

Christian Haintz and Karin Pichler have founded a start-up based on their master’s theses. They talk about their experiences, successes and everything they’ve learned as founders.

When we developed the first prototype of our app, we had no idea that one day it would lead to a company. In 2011 TU Graz was looking for a tool which could make mass interactions possible in the lecture room. Our supervisor and mentor, Martin Ebner, who leads the TU Graz Educational Technology...

Talking about humans, machines and the atmosphere of the Swiss competition

David Steyrl of the Mirage 91 student team from TU Graz describes his impressions of the Cybathlon in Zurich – the competition at the interface between man and machine.

Two full years of intensive preparations are coming to an end. Today is the day when we have to show how far these two years have brought us. Our brain-computer interface has to harmonise with the pilot. It’s time to concentrate. Not an easy job in the sold-out SWISS Arena and the amazing joyful...

Talking about The Innovation Marathon – the big challenge

TU Graz student Philipp Rouschal on experiences at the TU Austria Innovation Marathon. The aim is to develop unfamiliar new ideas, throw new light on a problem, and bravely ask new questions.

Borrowing from Star Trek, there are also farther reaches of space at the Innovation Marathon – those of the mind.  And our adventure also boldly went where no man has gone before: 24 hours, eight teams with five members each, three phases, one mission, and no sleep till you get back home. It was a...

Talking about ...refugees, architecture and comics

Architecture student Johanna Regger's master thesis deals with the flight routes of young Syrians. She created a touching graphic model from the stories young refugees shared with her.

What makes the graphic novel “In Mind” so interesting is its two-level context – i.e. the level of architecture and the level of the escape – that makes sense through the artistic form of the comic. The novel tells of our environment and the perspective from which we perceive it. This may sound...

Talking about …from "Down Under" to the Erzberg

Visiting Professor Oliver Nebel talks about how the two science hubs Graz and Melbourne have moved one step closer together.

In the 1960s, the old geoscientific concept of an expanding earth – i.e., the notion of an ever broadening and growing world – underwent a Renaissance. This theory has since been scientifically proven wrong; in fact, today our earth appears to be shrinking every day. That is not strictly...

Talking about Talking about... going back to university

In 2011, after several years of professional life, Josip Bozic decided to throw himself back into university studies. And to this end, the native Croat moved a bit further north – to TU Graz.

Monday, 14 February 2011, 5am. It’s hardly been one year since, after much consideration, I decided to plunge back into university life. And now, just a couple of days after saying goodbye to my last employer, I got into my car on a cold winter’s morning and drove to an unknown city in a different...

Talking about ...mathematics as the art of learning

Roswitha Rissner from the Institute of Analysis and Number Theory of TU Graz gives an insight into her view of mathematical research.

The word “mathematics” comes from the Greek; as far as I know it derives from an expression which means more or less “the art of learning”. I find this a very beautiful and apt description. I feel scholarly work in mathematics is a constant learning process. I learn in order to understand something...

Talking about …the courage for basic research

Reflections from Hans Sünkel, former Rector of TU Graz and chairman of the supervisory board of the Austrian Science Fund, on science and research.

Armed conflicts, streams of refugees, financial crisis and such like – in view of these worrying developments should we, may we, think aloud at all about topics such as the future of science or should we instead be putting all our energy into solving the problems of the present? We may and should do...

Talking about ...the “Month of free education” project

Sascha Rossmann, deputy chairman of the Students’ Union (HTU Graz) and project coordinator, talks about the idea of making university education available to everyone.

“Everyone can get an education”: under this slogan, in the month of May, Students’ Unions from the whole of Austria bring courses out of their usual venues directly to the people. Whether during a walk through the town or the park, while drinking coffee in the little café next door, or while driving...

Talking about … field research in Tehran

Architecture master’s student Lola Anna Seibt spent six months in Tehran, the capital of Iran to carry out research for her master’s thesis.

Welcome to the city where every day holds a story and paradox is commonplace. A brief outline of a day in Tehran. There is hardly any other city which inspires such curiosity and interest in me as this one. I’m fascinated how people sound out existing boundaries every day and interpret them anew....

Talking about ...science going public!

Reinhold Scherer on brain-computer interfaces, science slams and the rewarding experience of public relations work.

When I read scientific literature, I always ask myself the question: WTF? I’m not the brightest candle on the cake, but sometimes it’s just impossible to decipher scientists’ justifications and inferences. Everyone knows this feeling! Why is it so difficult to write reports in a brief, concise and...

Talking about … my TU Graz

Rector Harald Kainz talks very personally here about his experiences as a university student, scientific assistant and, finally, the CEO of Graz University of Technology (TU Graz).

Having passed their school leaving examination qualifying them for university entrance, the world is virtually completely open to school graduates. Often it is very difficult to make the right decision: there are just so many opportunities available. And today, more so than ever. But even when I...