DFG Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize Now Endowed with €200,000
One of the most important award in Germany for researchers in the start-up phase of their careers is relaunched in the DFG funding portfolio.
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize is an award of distinction for young researchers of any discipline and nationality. It is designed to honour their outstanding scientific work so far, while also offering further incentive for excellent achievements in their future research work. Prize-winners will have already established an independent scientific career since having gained their doctorates.
The prize was originally funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF – Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung). It is now being transferred to the funding portfolio of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG – German Research Foundation). The award amount is also being increased from €20,000 to €200,000.
The prize is named after nuclear physicist and former DFG President Heinz Maier-Leibnitz. It was during his term of office that the prize was first awarded in 1977.
The prize may be awarded to young researchers who hold a doctorate in any discipline, and who have performed outstanding research work either at a research institution in Germany or a German research institution abroad.
Nominations may be put forward by the following groups and organisations:
- Elected members of DFG Review Boards.
- Further members of the DFG.
- All universities and other doctorate-granting higher education institutions in Germany.
- Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities.
- Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres.
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
- Previous awardees of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize.
The DFG awards ten prizes of €200,000 each. The award money is intended for research purposes over a period of three years.
The prize is awarded on the basis of nominations received in response to an invitation for recommendations from the DFG.
The nomination deadline for the 2023 award is 26 October 2022.
(This report was the subject of a RESEARCHconnect Newsflash.)