Strengthening international collaboration – Helmholtz International Fellow Award recipients named

Five outstanding scientists from abroad have received 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 timing of their research is flexible.

“Collaborating with the finest minds in the world gives fresh momentum to our research – within the Helmholtz Association and also far beyond,” said Jürgen Mlynek, the association’s president. He also pointed out that the award is an excellent instrument for creating a network of the world’s leading scientists.

Nineteen candidates from 15 countries were nominated for this year’s selection round. Since 2012, when the first Helmholtz International Fellow Award was granted, 48 Fellows have received awards. The prize is intended for both researchers and science managers based outside Germany who have excelled in fields relevant to Helmholtz. Candidates must be nominated by a Helmholtz Centre that conducts research in similar fields. The award is financed by the Helmholtz President’s Initiative and Networking Fund, and the prize winners are selected by the Helmholtz Executive Committee. The quality of the candidates’ research is the most important criterion for the award. A total of ten prizes can be awarded every year. Candidates may be nominated at any time, and the next selection meeting is in December 2015.

The following researchers have received a 2015 Helmholtz Fellow Award:

Prof. Gretchen Daily, Director of the Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University (USA), nominated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ

Prof. David John Hinde, Director of the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility, Australian National University, Canberra (Australia), nominated by the Helmholtz Institute Mainz and the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research

Prof. Suk-Joong L. Kang, Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea), nominated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Prof. Jiangang Li, Co-Chair of the Chinese Fusion Advisory Committee and head of the design team of the Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (China), nominated by Forschungszentrum Jülich

Prof. John Andrew Todd, Professor of Medical Genetics and director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge (UK), nominated by the Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health