(Vienna, 03 June 2026) Franz König took up a §99(4) professorship in the field of Medical Statistics at the Medical University of Vienna. The internationally recognised biostatistician is based at the Center for Medical Data Science and heads the Adaptive Designs working group at the Institute of Medical Statistics. With this professorship, the Medical University of Vienna further expands its expertise in regulatory statistics and innovative clinical trial methodology.
Franz König’s research combines methodological innovation with regulatory applicability. His work focuses on adaptive designs, platform trials, master protocols, interim analyses, multiplicity, and statistical decision-making processes in drug development. The aim of his research is to make clinical trials more efficient, ethically responsible, and scientifically robust — particularly in areas where classical trial designs reach their limits, such as rare diseases or small patient populations.
König gained international regulatory experience from 2008 to 2010 as a National Expert on Secondment at the European Medicines Agency in London. There, he worked as a statistical expert in the Human Medicines Development and Evaluation unit, contributing statistical expertise to scientific advice procedures, paediatric investigation plans, and the assessment of clinical trial protocols. He also co-initiated the foundation of the Biostatistics Working Party, which for the first time connected statisticians across the European regulatory network.
At the Medical University of Vienna, König is active in numerous national and international research consortia. Examples include projects advancing adaptive methodology and focusing on rare diseases and small sample sizes (IDEAL, INVENTS, Realised), platform trials and master protocols (EU-PEARL, EU-PEARLDIVER), and regulatory statistics in the European context (CONFIRMS). A current focus is EU-PEARLDIVER, a Wellcome Trust-funded platform trial in depression, for which his team at the Medical University of Vienna contributes to the development of the statistical infrastructure.
König also plays an important role in teaching. Since October 2022, he has been coordinator of the PhD programme “Medical Informatics, Biostatistics & Complex Systems” and has been contributing to its further development towards Medical Data Science. He also developed and led the “Methodenseminar Statistik” for many years, supporting medical students in the statistical planning and analysis of their diploma theses.
About Franz König
Franz König studied statistics at the University of Vienna and obtained his habilitation in Medical Statistics at the Medical University of Vienna. Since 2013, he has been Associate Professor at the Medical University of Vienna. His scientific work has received broad international recognition and covers topics such as adaptive designs, platform trials, master protocols, data transparency, and regulatory science. König is also a member of the Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Vienna.