“We have to seek out the brightest minds from all over the world,” says Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association. “For us, this is an essential component for making important contributions to solving major challenges facing society through cutting-edge research.” Helmholtz therefore offers young, internationally experienced scientists an attractive research environment including a funding program for Young Investigators Group leaders. “In this year’s round of selections, we once again received numerous fantastic applications. I am very pleased that we were able to select a total of 13 brilliant young scientists.” The long-term success of Helmholtz, Wiestler adds, depends significantly on being a magnet for the best minds from all over the world.
After an assessment procedure involving a total of 38 applications, 22 scientists were invited to present their ideas to a top-class interdisciplinary jury in the current selection round. In October, 13 of them were finally selected. Over a period of six years, they will each receive financial support of at least 300,000 euros per year to establish their own research groups at one of the 19 Helmholtz Centers.
The fact that these candidates included many outstanding scientists who had previously conducted research at international locations shows how attractive Germany and Helmholtz are, Wiestler went on to say. Seven of those selected are German scientists returning from abroad. Helmholtz was able to recruit four foreign scientists from well-known universities.
