The Award of Excellence is a state award presented by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science & Research and since 2008, the award has been presented to the top 40 graduates of doctoral degree programs from the previous academic year. Dr. Anna Obereder (Department of State Organization and Public Finance Law) and DI Thomas Paireder (Christian Doppler Laboratory for Digitally Assisted RF Transceivers for Future Mobile Communications) were presented with their certificates in the Aula der Wissenschaften.

Paireder was presented with the award for his work "Nonlinear Interference Cancellation in LTE-A/5G Transceivers" in which Paireder used digital signal processing to work on estimating and compensating for non-idealities in analog smartphone components in a smartphone transceiver chip (transmitter-receiver chip). In addition, using algorithms, he developed highly efficient methods to estimate and eliminate strong interfering signals that can tend to superimpose the useful but weak receiving signal. He presented his dissertation at the joint CD lab, demonstrating outstanding and highly practical findings.

Obereder’s academic study titled "Feuerbestattung und der Umgang mit Leichenasche in Österreich" addressed the legal parameters of cremation and how human ashes are managed in Austria. The constitutional analysis clarifies the legal background and the applicability of guaranteeing fundamental rights, using this as a basis to analyze burial laws in the federal states. The main focus is on presenting structural similarities and differences with regard to handling human ashes, particularly with regard to the burial (of urns) outside of a cemetery.

Obereder (27) is currently employed at the Constitutional Court and divides her time between Linz and Vienna. She earned a law degree at the JKU and has been the recipient of many awards and accolades for her work, including the 2018 Erwin Wenzl Awards and the JKU 2022 Young Researchers' Award.