“I’d like to wholeheartedly congratulate the prizewinners,” stated Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association. “The five distinguished colleagues selected in the second of this year’s calls for applications come from the USA, Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands – and they have all worked closely with Helmholtz Centers. This is a very clear indication of how important international cooperation is when it comes to studying the major challenges of our times.”
The award, which is financed by the Helmholtz President’s Initiative and Networking Fund, was presented for the first time in 2012. In addition to prize money of €20,000, the winners are invited to visit one or more Helmholtz Centers to conduct research. Through this, Helmholtz aims to promote intensified cooperation with the scientists and their research institutions.
“That is why we are also delighted that, in the context of their nomination, the chosen scientists have already developed specific plans to continue their collaborative relationships,” announced Wiestler. “Our hope is now that they will carry on as active ambassadors for close international cooperation at their institutions.”
Winners of the Helmholtz International Fellow Award 2018 in the second call for applications:
- Rachel Nechushtai, nominated by Forschungszentrum Jülich, Professor, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Israel
- Falk Amelung, nominated by the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Professor, Dept. of Marine Geology and Geophysics, University of Miami, USA
- William Unruh, nominated by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Lucio Frydman, nominated by the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Professor and Head of the Dept. of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute, Israel
- Janine Felix, nominated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Professor, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands
The Helmholtz Executive Committee selects prizewinners from nominations submitted by Helmholtz Centers twice a year. The current laureates were chosen at the beginning of November. The first call for applications in 2019 will be launched on February 1, 2019.
Helmholtz Association
Helmholtz contributes to solving major challenges facing society, science, and the economy through top-level scientific achievements in six Research Fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Key Technologies, Matter, and Aeronautics, Space, and Transport. With more than 39,000 employees at 18 Research Centers and an annual budget of around 4.5 billion euros, Helmholtz is the largest scientific organization in Germany.
