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Prizes and Awards

Each year, our scientists are honored with a number of prestigious prizes, awards, and medals for their achievements in a variety of scientific disciplines. See a selection here.

Prizes and Awards

  • Poster-Award for Dr Theresa Hennig

    Dr Theresa Hennig, head of the “Geochemistry of Disposal” working group at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, was awarded the ECS Award for early career researchers for her poster presentation on the 9th “International Conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement”.

  • Dr. Steffen Schneider Named Early Career Scientist of the Year 2024

    Steffen Schneider from the Institute of Computational Biology at Helmholtz Munich has been named the "Early Career Scientist of the Year 2024" by academics. He received this honor for his outstanding research in artificial intelligence and neuroscience, as well as his social commitment to promoting educational equity.

  • Award for Hereon researcher Nils Christiansen

    The Hamburgische Wissenschaftliche Stiftung gives the Kurt Hartwig Siemers Science Award every two years to researchers who have made an outstanding scientific achievement beyond their doctoral thesis. This year's recipient is Dr Nils Christiansen, who graduated from the University of Hamburg and is researching renewable energies at the Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon in the Cluster…

  • Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla Awarded the Leibniz Prize 2025

    The German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded Prof. Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Germany's highest scientific honor. The prize recognizes her outstanding research in the field of stem cell biology and early development.

  • Leibniz Prize awarded to Ana Pombo

    The German Research Foundation (DFG) has announced that biochemist Ana Pombo from the Max Delbrück Center is among this year’s winners of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. With a grant of €2.5 million, the Leibniz Prize is one of the highest endowed research prizes in Germany.

  • Prestigious honor for AWI Director

    The Principality of Monaco has honored Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), with admission to the Order of Saint Charles, founded in 1858. The award of the Order of Saint Charles and Grimaldi recognizes the exceptional work of the marine biologist.

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