Polish-German Research Collaboration: Nominations for Copernicus Award Now Open

€200,000 prize is designed to promote research collaboration between scientists and scholars in Germany and Poland.

The Copernicus Award is offered every two years to two researchers, one in Germany and one in Poland, for outstanding achievements in German-Polish scientific cooperation. It is conferred jointly by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG – German Research Foundation) and the Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej (FNP – Foundation for Polish Science).

The purpose of the award is to recognise researchers active in Polish-German scientific cooperation who have made exceptional achievements as a result of that cooperation. In particular, researchers are expected to have rendered outstanding services to Polish-German cooperation by bringing together complementary skills, expertise, and resources in order to jointly address research problems. The award is granted on the basis of an open competition that invites nominations from all fields of science and the humanities.

Eligible candidates must also have at least a doctoral degree, work at a public university and/or a research institution in Germany or any entity belonging to the higher education and science system in Poland, lead a research team at a Polish or German research institution, and be engaged in ongoing research projects. Nominations of female researchers are encouraged.

Nominations may be submitted by third parties, but self-nominations are also allowed. Nominations may be submitted by researchers with at least a doctoral degree, and currently working at universities or research institutions in Germany or Poland.

The available prize money is €200,000. The prize money is donated by the DFG and the FNP in equal shares, and is divided evenly among the laureates. The funds should be used to further advance research cooperation between Germany and Poland.

For the 2024 award, the deadline for nominations is 12 July 2023.

(This report was the subject of a RESEARCHconnect Newsflash.)