08. January 2013 Helmholtz Head Office

Nine outstanding researchers receive Helmholtz International Fellow Awards

The Helmholtz Association has chosen nine outstanding researchers in the second round of the Helmholtz International Fellow Award. Each award provides funding of €20,000 and entitles the winner to conduct research at one or more Helmholtz Centres. The aim is to establish new cooperation structures with international research institutes and to enhance existing cooperation.

“The Helmholtz International Fellow Awards honour excellent achievements by internationally renowned researchers who work in research fields relevant to the Helmholtz Association. Furthermore, the awards allow us to work with outstanding scientists whose wealth of experience enriches our research activities,” said Prof. Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association. “This means that we can pool expertise, work effectively on major joint research areas and make concrete progress in projects.”

Helmholtz International Fellow Awards are targeted at outstanding researchers and science managers based outside Germany who have excelled in fields relevant to the Helmholtz Association. The candidates must be nominated by a Helmholtz Centre. Outstanding performance in a relevant scientific field is the most important criterion for the award. The candidates’ research fields and projects must complement the activities of the specific Helmholtz Centre that nominates them. Up to ten Helmholtz International Fellow Awards can be awarded each year. Nominations may be made at any time. The Helmholtz Executive Committee meets twice per year to select the award winners.

The following researchers have received a Helmholtz Fellow Award:

Dr Janice L. Bishop, senior research scientist, the SETI Institute and NASA AMES Research Center (US), nominated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Prof. Harald von Boehmer, professor at the Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School and professor of pathology, cancer immunology & AIDS at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US), nominated by the Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health

Prof. Alberto Etchegoyen, director of the Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículares (ITeDA) Buenos Aires (Argentina), nominated by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Prof. Jérôme Gaillardet, professor at the Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Université Paris Diderot (France), nominated by the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

Prof. Björn Jonson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics and professor of physics, Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg (Sweden), nominated by the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research

Prof. Naftali Kaminski, director of the Dorothy P. & Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease, University of Pittsburgh (US), nominated by the Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health

Dr Craig D. Roberts, senior physicist and leader of the theory group, Argonne National Laboratory (US), nominated by Forschungszentrum Jülich

Prof. Jeremy A. Thomas, professor of ecology, University of Oxford (UK), nominated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ

Prof. Harry L. Tuller, director of the Crystal Physics and Electroceramics Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge (US), nominated by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie