Helmut Schwarz will continue as President of the Humboldt Foundation for another five years. In re-appointing Schwarz, Federal Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, adopted a unanimous proposal made by the Board of Trustees in May of this year.

The Max Planck Research Award 2012 goes to Martin Hellwig from the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn and Katharina Pistor from the Columbia Law School in New York for their work in the field of “regulating international financial markets”. The award winners each receive 750,000 EUR to finance their research, particularly to finance cooperation with academics in other countries.

Who actually does what at Humboldt headquarters? Who are the people behind the scenes making sure that everything runs smoothly? This page is devoted to the colleagues at the Humboldt Foundation and their lives at work and beyond. Today: Mercedes Barbón.

On 14 February 2012, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle opened the German Science and Innovation Forum in São Paulo, Brazil. The Humboldt Foundation, DAAD and other science organisations and universities will be setting up representations in the newly opened Forum.

Helmut Schwarz’ outstanding services to Germany as a location for science and industry are to be recognised.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is launching the African-German Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES) in conjunction with researchers from various African countries.

The Annual Meeting of the Foundation, which took place from 27 to 29 June in Berlin, brought together over 600 researchers and their families from approximately 75 countries.

Eight eminent academics were presented with the most valuable international award for research in Germany on 12 May 2011. The Alexander von Humboldt Professorships were conferred by Cornelia Quennet-Thielen, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and Helmut Schwarz, President of the Humboldt Foundation, at a ceremony in Berlin.

More academic cooperations across national and disciplinary boundaries: this is the aim of the Humboldtians in Central and South-Eastern Europe, who met for a colloquium in Budapest from 6 to 8 May 2011.

May 23rd marked the launch of the German-Russian Year of Education, Science and Innovation 2011/12, which is designed to offer an opportunity for active exchange and promote collaboration between Russia and Germany.

Humboldtians play an outstanding role not only in research, but also in many areas of social and economic development in their home countries. The workshop “North Africa – New Perspectives for Scientific Cooperation?”, held on 5 July by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn with academics from North Africa, impressively demonstrated the enormous significance of this group as beacons of hope for their societies and pioneers of democratic transformation.

In February 2011, the Board of Trustees decided to appoint Thomas Hesse to the position of Deputy Secretary General.

In the first elections since 1993, the Faculty of Humanities at Cairo University has chosen Humboldtian Randa Aboubakras its new Dean.

For the fifth time, the Humboldt Foundation has granted the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award to young research talents, providing them with venture capital for innovative projects at an early stage of their careers.

The universities of Bielefeld, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Göttingen, Heidelberg and Cologne, and the Technical Universities of Chemnitz and Munich are the winners of the third round of the Welcome Centres competition for cosmopolitan universities in Germany, which was initiated by the Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Twenty years ago, just at the time of German reunification, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s first German Chancellor Fellows from the United States arrived in Germany.

The international contest between research nations is getting more intense. The response of the European Union (EU) is to create a European Research Area in which the European countries line up together to face global competition and in which Brussels expands its role as a funder and instigator of research.

At the invitation of the Humboldt Foundation’s International Advisory Board (IAB), the 4th Forum on the Internationalisation of Sciences and Humanities was held in October 2010 at the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin.

South and South East Asia are up-and-coming regions with great scientific potential that can be better utilised through systematic networking among the scientists in the region and should be put to greater use in expanding research collaborations with Germany. These are the core statements of two interdisciplinary conferences organised by the Humboldt Foundation which took place in Vietnam and Nepal in November and were each attended by approximately one hundred researchers.

The Foundation congratulates Humboldt Research Award Winner Ei-ichi Negishi on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010, which he was awarded jointly with American Richard F. Heck and Akira Suzuki from Japan for bonding carbon atoms into complex molecules.

Humboldt Foundation President honoured for use of the mass spectrometer as a chemical laboratory and establishing the organometallic chemistry in the gas phase.

Humboldt research fellow László Lovász honoured for outstanding contribution to mathematics.

On 11 May 2010, five top academics were officially awarded the title of Alexander von Humboldt Professors.

The Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has appointed Enno Aufderheide as the Foundation’s new Secretary General. He assumed office on 1 July 2010.

The ideas for networking initiatives recognised by this year’s Humboldt Alumni Award come from Japan, Italy and Chile.

Timothy Bromage of New York University College of Dentistry and Michael Tomasello of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig are the recipients of this year’s Max Planck Research Award. They received the award, which is valued at a total of 1.5 million EUR, for their outstanding achievements in the field of human evolution.

The Humboldt Foundation is extending its foreign network of active Ambassador Scientists to include Germany, too.

Since January 2010, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has been responsible for coordinating the EU’s “EURAXESS T.O.P. – Enhancing the Outreach and Effectiveness of the EURAXESS Network Partners” project, involving funding worth 2.9 million EUR.

The Humboldt Foundation commissioned an evaluation of its research award programmes. The evaluation included a written survey of award winners from 1986 to 2006, in which 540 people participated.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and CONACYT, the National Council on Science and Technology of Mexico, have agreed on closer cooperation in Mexico.

This year’s Nobel Prize for Economics is shared by the Reimar Lüst Award Winner Elinor Ostrom and the Humboldt Research Award Winner Oliver E. Williamson.

The Humboldt Foundation is granting International Climate Protection Fellowships to prospective leaders from threshold and developing countries engaged in climate change and resource conservation, be it in research, business or administration.

In October, Humboldt Research Award Winner Claudio Magris was awarded this year’s Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. German historian Karl Schlögel, himself a former host to Humboldtians, gave the laudatory speech.

The Kiel Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean” is about to start working together with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to recruit international researchers who are investigating the changes in the oceans as Humboldt Research Fellows.

In October 2009, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation selected the last two Humboldt Professors of the year. The Anthropologist Thomas Blom Hansen and the Neurobiologist Joachim Herz have been granted this international award for research in Germany, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and valued at up to five million EUR.

The battle against environmental problems and climate change is one of the most pressing issues that will face Chinese research in future. This was the message of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s interdisciplinary Humboldt Colloquium which took place in Beijing in September 2009, bringing together some 150 researchers, alumni of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation as well as junior researchers from China and experts from Germany.

In the coming four years, the European Union is granting the Humboldt Foundation funding amounting to five million EUR. This will allow the Foundation to award 25 additional research fellowships each year.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation welcomed more than 600 scientists and scholars from 70 countries to its Annual Meeting in Berlin. They are involved in research in the most diverse disciplines and are currently staying in Germany as Humboldt Research Fellows or Award Winners.

Every year, the Humboldt Foundation grants 10 German Chancellor Fellowships to prospective leaders from the USA (as of 1990), the Russian Federation (as of 2002) and the People’s Republic of China (as of 2005) respectively. As part of ongoing quality assurance of the Humboldt Foundation’s fellowship programmes, the Institute for Studies in Science and Technology (IWT) at the University of Bielefeld has evaluated this programme since 2006.

The Federal Minister of Research, Annette Schavan, and the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Helmut Schwarz, conferred the first eight Alexander von Humboldt Professorships on the award winners at a ceremony in Berlin in May. At 5 million EUR, the award is the most valuable international award for research in Germany.

Researchers from the Near East and colleagues from Germany met at the Humboldt Colloquium in Amman to discuss regional perspectives for research and cooperation with Germany.

In October 2008, nine researchers, eight men and one woman, were selected to receive the very first Alexander von Humboldt Professorships. The most valuable international award for research in Germany is being granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to globally leading academics of all disciplines working abroad.

For the fourth time, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has granted the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, valued at up to 1.65 million EUR, to young, cutting-edge researchers, providing them with risk capital to pursue innovative projects at a very early stage in their careers.

The universities of Bayreuth, Brunswick and Greifswald are the winners of the Welcome Centres Competition to find Germany’s cosmopolitan universities, which has been run by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation and the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany for the second time.

From 31 October to 2 November 2008, New Delhi was the meeting place for some 130 eminent Indian and German engineers.

On 6 December 2008, more than 40 eminent international experts from academia, science management and science policy accepted the Humboldt Foundation’s invitation to the second Forum on the Internationalisation of Science and Scholarship.

ERAMORE has a new name: EURAXESS. More than 30 European countries now participate in the Europe-wide information and advice network for internationally mobile researchers interested in spending time researching in Europe.

The objective of the Humboldt Foundation’s German-Israeli Frontiers of Humanities Programme is to give junior humanities scholars from Germany and Israel new opportunities for collaboration.

The Humboldt Foundation is striving to make greater use of its worldwide researcher network for research marketing. 30 Humboldt Foundation alumni in more than 20 countries throughout the world have already become Ambassador Scientists, disseminating information at universities and research institutions in their own countries about Germany as a research location, the Foundation’s sponsorship programmes and international network, as well as the funding opportunities offered by other science organisations

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation and the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany are embarking on the second round of the competition to find Germany’s cosmopolitan universities.

In June 2008, the Humboldt Foundation’s new website went online. Boasting a new design and improved navigation it provides yet more information and services than the Foundation’s previous Internet presence.

The amalgamation of the alumni association “Alexander von Humboldt Association of America” and the “American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation” is to strengthen the alumni networks in the USA and should provide a new basis for collaboration with the Humboldt Foundation.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has created a new and ambitious programme providing a new impetus for cutting-edge research in Germany: the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Leading international scientists and scholars of all disciplines from abroad are eligible to be granted an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship.

The Humboldt Foundation and its researcher network have been chosen as one of the “Landmarks of 2008” in the “Land of Ideas”.

The 2007 Max Planck Research Award, valued at a total of 1.5 million EUR, was conferred by Federal Minister of Education and Research, Annette Schavan, at the caesar research center in Bonn.

When Wolfgang Frühwald lays down his office as President of the Humboldt Foundation at the end of this year, one of the most distinguished science managers in Germany will be leaving the political stage.

The Humboldt Foundation thrives on the academic and research policy expertise of the great Humboldt Family. A good example are the 123 Humboldt Associations and Clubs in 65 countries.

The international career prospects of young scientists and scholars were the focus of the first discussions held by the Humboldt Foundation’s International Advisory Board in Washington in November 2007.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation wants to increase academic collaboration with African countries and is planning a host of events in Africa this year.

At its meeting in December 2006, the Humboldt Foundation Board agreed to replace the current age limits for granting fellowships and awards by a career-stage model.

As of this year, the Humboldt Foundation is granting its research fellows sponsorship of up to 800 EUR per month for research costs.

On 5 February 2007, the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 2006 by the Secretary General of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Georg Schütte, and the Provost of the University of Alberta, Canada, Carl Amrhein, was officially launched during an expert round on German-Canadian research cooperation.

The web portal of the German Mobility Centre at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is one of the five national portals in Europe to be awarded the mark "excellent".

At the regional meetings for its research fellows and award winners in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay in March 2007 the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation strengthened its academic network in Latin America and provided new impetus for German-Latin American research cooperation.

The British government has presented its “Strategy for International Engagement in Research and Development” in which it emphasises the importance of international science and innovation for meeting global challenges.

2007 is the "German-Egyptian Year of Science and Technology".

On 15 and 16 May 2007, a reception and symposium were held in Bonn in honour of Heinrich Pfeiffer.

Since the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation was founded in 1953, friends, sponsors, fellows and award winners have made donations or endowments to the Humboldt Foundation.

The universities in Bochum, Bonn and Marburg are the winners of the Welcome Centres Competition to find Germany's cosmopolitan universities, which was initiated by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation and the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany in the spring.

On 27th September 2006, the Deputy Minister of the Taiwan National Science Council (NSC), Professor Dr. Hung-Duen Yang, and Dr. Georg Schütte, Secretary General of the Humboldt Foundation, signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen German-Taiwanese academic relations.

The Humboldt Foundation has appointed two of its alumni to be the first Humboldt Ambassador Scientists and Scholars. Dr. Amita Chandra, Humboldt Ambassador Scientist in India is working together in an office partnership with representatives of the German Research Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service.

On 9th June 2006, about 30 African and German academics as well as experts from research organisations and politics met at the Humboldt Foundation to discuss how more intensive research cooperation might provide an impulse for sustainable development.

In order to make it easier in future to nominate potential award winners, the Humboldt Foundation has revised the call procedure for Humboldt Research Awards.

In the years 2006 to 2008 respectively, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation are granting the new Thyssen-Humboldt Award to two highly respected humanities scholars from abroad who have significantly influenced academic and cultural relations between Germany and their own countries or regions through their academic life's work to date.

"Does Germany need a more conscious, cohesive language policy?" This was the question being discussed by about 50 internationally recognised experts from academia, business and politics from 27th to 29th September 2006 in Bonn.

Finland is considered the epitome of successful cooperation between industry and applied science. What is the secret behind the Finns' success?

Since the beginning of 2006, the Humboldt Foundation has had a new cooperation partner in Washington: the "American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation".