Doctoral Award

In this way, we provide targeted support for young scientists and attract talented individuals to research in the long term.

The award winners receive a one-time prize of 5,000 euros. In addition, we support stays abroad with a travel and material cost allowance of 2,000 euros per month. This sum is granted for a period of up to six months.

Nominations are made by the Executive Boards of the Helmholtz Centers.

Prize Winners 2021

Helmholtz Promotion Prize 2021

Amran Al-Ashouri

Forschungsbereich Energy

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin

Eliminating Interface Losses in Perovskite Single Junctions for Efficient Tandem Solar Cells

Simone Andresen

Research Field Earth and Environment

Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI), Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung

Impact of Structural Components on Natural Vibrations. How The Inspiration by Nature Can Help Us Improve Vibration Properties

Selina Jansky

Research Field Health

German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)

Developmental programs in neuroblastoma dissected by single-cell analysis

Sarah Schröder

Research Field Matter

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

External injection of electron beams into plasma wakefield accelerators

Alina Roitberg

Research Field Key Technologies

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Uncertainty-aware Models for Deep Learning-based Human Activity Recognition and Applications in Intelligent Vehicles"

Celia Amélie Baumhoer

Research Field Aeronautics, Space and Transport

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Glacier front dynamics of Antarctica – Analysing Changes in Glacier and Ice Shelf Front Position based on SAR Time Series

Prize Winners 2020

Helmholtz Doctoral Prize 2020

Dr. Nils Hutter

Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)

Research Field Earth and Environment

"Resolving Leads in Sea-Ice Models: New Analysis Methods for Frontier Resolution Arctic Simulations"

Dr. Mahak Singhal

German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)

Research Field Health

"Angio-regulation of liver neovascularization and lung metastatic progression"

Dr. Martin Johannes Schuster

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Research Field Aeronautics, Space and Transport

"Collaborative Localization and Mapping for Autonomous Planetary Exploration Distributed Stereo Vision-Based 6D SLAM in GNSS-Denied Environments"

Dr. Valeria Perseo

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP)

Research Field Energy

"Impurity flow measurements with Coherence-Imaging Spectroscopy at Wendelstein 7-X"

Dr. Miriam Brosi

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Research Field Matter

"In-Depth Analysis of the Micro-Bunching Characteristics in Single and Multi-Bunch Operation at KARA"

Dr.-Ing. Edouard Fouché

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Research Field Key Technologies

"Estimating Dependency, Monitoring and Knowledge Discovery in High-Dimensional Data Streams"

„Collaborative Localization and Mapping for Autonomous Planetary Exploration Distributed Stereo Vision-Based 6D SLAM in GNSS-Denied Environments”

Previous Prize Winners

Prize Winners 2019

Helmholtz Doctoral Prize 2019

Josua Vieten
Research Field Energy
German Aerospace Center (DLR)

“Perovskite materials design for two-step solar-thermochemical redox cycles”

Dr. Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth
Research Field Earth and Environment
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)

“Effects of climate change on a reptile community in arid Australia. Exploring mechanisms and processes in a hot, dry, and mysterious ecosystem”

Katrina Meyer
Research Field Health
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)

“A peptide-based interaction screen on disease-related mutations”

Dr. Anita Schulz
Research Field Aeronautics, Space, and Transport
German Aerospace Center (DLR)

“Acoustic boundary conditions of perforated wall liners in flow ducts—physical models and eduction”

Yi-Jen Chen
Research Field Matter
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

“Light-induced ultrafast tunneling dynamics of a many-electron system: from weak to strong fields”

Dr. Miriam Menzel
Research Field Key Technologies
Forschungszentrum Jülich

“Finite-difference time-domain simulations assisting to reconstruct the brain’s nerve fiber architecture by 3D polarized light imaging”

Prize Winners 2018

Helmholtz-Doktorandenpreis 2018

Dr Ing Antoine B. Jacquey
Research field Energy
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

Antoine Jacquey’s work has contributed greatly to improving numerical descriptions of the physical conditions in geological reservoirs. The decisive improvement was his development of new tools that three-dimensionally observe both the heterogeneities below the surface caused by geological factors and the physical processes taking place there.

Dr Sinikka Lennartz
Research field Earth and Environment
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

In her thesis, Sinikka Lennartz has investigated marine emissions of climate-relevant sulfur gases and found that these sulfur emissions are lower than previously assumed. Their results help to integrate ocean emissions into climate models more efficiently and to improve climate forecasts.

Dr Ann-Christin Baranski
Research field Health
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)

Ann-Christin Baranski focused her work on the development of a very promising medication for bimodal imaging and robot-assisted removal of primary tumors and prostate cancer metastases that is suitable for direct clinical use.

Dr Ing Daniel Leidner
Research field Aeronautics, Space, and Transport
German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Daniel Leidner thesis involved the improvement of the cognitive abilities of service robots so that they can perform their assigned tasks independently. Robots like "Rollin' Justin" are thus transformed from mere tools into full-fledged work colleagues. These systems are to be used, among other things, in future space missions.

Dr Oleg Gorobtsov
Research field Matter
DESY German electron synchrotron

Oleg Gorobtsov’s thesis involved the development of novel concepts for harnessing the coherence of hard X-rays. He used an extremely original approach to show how these concepts could be used in the X-ray range to analyze data and develop new kinds of instruments.

Dr Ing Alexandra Amherd Hidalgo
Research field Key Technologies
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Centre for Materials and Coastal Research

Alexandra Amherd Hidalgo’s work provided new insights into the use of titanium alloys and their powder processing of such alloys. The studies she conducted made a significant contribution to the potential use of a cost-saving production technology for highly stressed components used in industries such as aeronautics and medicine.

Prize Winners 2017

Helmholtz Doctoral Prize 2017

Dr Benjamin Korth
Research Field Energy
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ)

"On the thermodynamics of electroactive microorganisms"

Dr Emma Järvinen
Research Field Earth and Environment
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

"Investigations of Angular Light Scattering by Complex Atmospheric particles"

Dr Laleh Haghverdi
Research Field Health
Helmholtz Zentrum München

"Geometric Diffusions for Reconstruction of Cell Differentiation Dynamics" 

Dr Estefania Munoz Diaz
Research Field Aeronautics, Space and Transport
Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

"Inertial Navigation System for Pedestrians"

Dr Johann Haber
Research Field Matter
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

"Hard X-ray Quantum Optics in Thin-Film Nanostructures"

Dr Christoph Bäumer
Research Field Key Technologies
Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)

"Spectroscopic characterization of local valence change processes in resistively switching complex metal oxides"

Helmholtz Doctoral Prize Winners 2015

Dr Matthias M. May
Research Field Energy
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin

Dr Clara J.M. Hoppe
Research Field Earth and Environment
Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)

Dr Volker Hovestadt
Research Field Health
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum

Dr Michael Kühn
Research Field Key Technologies
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Dr Benjamin Schmidt
Research Field Matter
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Helmholtz-Doktorandenpreis 2014

Dr. Heidi Ursula Heinrichs
Forschungsbereich Energie
Forschungszentrum Jülich"Analyse der langfristigen Auswirkungen von Elektromobilität auf das deutsche Energiesystem im europäischen Energieverbund" Dr. Anja Klotzsche
Forschungsbereich Erde und Umwelt
Forschungszentrum Jülich"Full-waveform inversion of crosshole GPR data for hydrogeological applications" Dr. Natalie Jäger
Forschungsbereich Gesundheit
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum"Computational analysis of cancer genome sequencing data – the genetic landscape of pediatric brain tumors and X chromosome hypermutation" Dr. Pengfei Yang
Forschungsbereich Luftfahrt, Raumfahrt und Verkehr
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt"Relation of muscular contractions to mechanical deformation in the human tibia during different locomotive activities" Dr. Torsten Sehl
Forschungsbereich Schlüsseltechnologien  
Forschungszentrum Jülich"2-Steps in 1-pot: enzyme cascades for the synthesis of chiral vicinal amino alcohols" Dr. Felix Werner
Forschungsbereich Struktur der Materie 
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie"Detection of Microwave Emission of Extensive Air Showers with the CROME Experiment"

Helmholtz Doctoral Prize Winners 2013

Dr. rer. nat. David Fellhauer
Research Field Energy
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Dr. rer. nat. Sebastian D. Rokitta
Research Field Earth and Environment
Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)

Dr. rer. nat. Jan Krumsiek
Research Field Health
Helmholtz Zentrum München

Dr Anja Bauermeister
Research Field Aeronautics, Space and Transport
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Dr lng Lena Lore Hecht
Research Field Key Technologies
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Dr Stefan Ulf Pabst
Research Field Matter
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY