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2026 Humboldt Alumni Awards presented – Call for 2027 now open!

This year’s awards for the best networking initiatives developed by Humboldtians go to Argentina, Benin, Vietnam and twice to the USA.

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Fünf lächelnde Personen mit Brillen in verschiedenen Umgebungen, strahlende Ausdrücke und natürliche Hintergründe.
From left to right: Xiao-Ming Liu (USA), Adandé Belarmain Fandohan (Benin), Thi Thu Yen Le (Vietnam), Xiaoming Zhai (USA), Virginia Helena Albarracin (Argentina)
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This year, for the seventeenth time, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has granted awards to single out Humboldtians abroad for innovative networking ideas. The Humboldt Alumni Award supports initiatives undertaken by Humboldtians to deepen academic and cultural ties between Germany and the home countries of the individual Humboldt alumni and to strengthen the alumni networks there.
This year’s Alumni Awards go to Humboldtians from Argentina, Benin, Vietnam and the USA. The following projects were selected for the award:

  • a German-Argentine network to support women researchers working in the areas of microscopy, imaging technology and biotechnology,
  • an initiative to transfer knowledge regarding possibilities for the use of AI tools in forestry practice in Benin,
  • a network of researchers from Germany and the ASEAN region revolving around risk assessment and the development of joint strategies relating to climate resilience, the environment and health,
  • a network initiative to increase the number of women and minorities in earth sciences and 
  • a transatlantic network for knowledge transfer in the area of AI use for teaching MINT subjects in schools.
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More about the Humboldt Alumni Awards
Gruppenfoto bei der Verleihung des Humboldt-Alumni-Preises für innovative Netzwerkprojekte mit stolzen Preisträgern und Urkunden.
Awarding of the Humboldt Alumni Award to three of the outstanding network initiatives at the annual meeting in Berlin

The awards were presented at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Annual Meeting in Berlin in July. You can find here brief portraits of the awardees and their networking initiatives.

Interested Humboldt alumni have until 30 November 2026 to apply for a 2027 Humboldt Alumni Award. The award comes with up to €30,000 for developing the networking initiative. This funding is financed by the German Federal Foreign Office. 

Previous News Release The 2026 Philipp Franz von Siebold award winner