The prize is intended to help intensify cooperation with international scientists. In addition to the €20,000 in prize money, the senior scientists will receive an invitation to conduct research at one or more Helmholtz Centers.
The Helmholtz prize, which is financed by the Helmholtz President’s Initiative and Networking Fund, was awarded for the first time in 2012. The recipients of the award are nominated by Helmholtz institutions and chosen twice a year by the Helmholtz Executive Committee. Five researchers had already been recognized in a first round of calls for proposals in the summer of 2017. They have all excelled in extraordinary ways in research fields that are central to the work of the Helmholtz Association.
The five scientists selected in the current round of nominations for the Helmholtz International Fellow Award come from the U.S., Denmark, France, and Australia, and have already worked closely with Helmholtz Centers. In the course of their nomination, they presented concrete plans for continuing this cooperation. In their respective countries, the fellows also act as ambassadors for further cooperation between their institutions and the Helmholtz Association.
The following researchers were honored in the second round of the Helmholtz International Fellow Award 2017:
- Webster Cavenee, Distinguished Professor, University of California, San Diego (U.S.), nominated by the DKFZ (German Cancer Research Center)
- Valery Forbes, Professor of Ecotoxicology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul (U.S.), nominated by the UFZ (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research)
- Karsten Jensen, Professor of Geology, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), nominated by the FZJ (Forschungszentrum Jülich)
- Dr. Pascale Hennequin, Directeur de Recherche CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique (France), nominated by IPP (Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics)
- Paul Burn, Professor of Chemistry, University of Queensland (Australia), nominated by KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
The next call for award applications is scheduled for 2018. Information about the call will soon be available on this website.
The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major challenges facing society, science, and the economy through top-level scientific achievements in six research areas: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Key Technologies, Matter, and Aeronautics, Space, and Transport. With approximately 38,000 employees at 18 research centers and an annual budget of more than four billion euros, the Helmholtz Association is the largest scientific organization in Germany.
