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Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Robert Schlögl, President of the Humboldt Foundation, awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Professorships in Berlin Monday evening. The 12 new Humboldt Professors were nominated by German universities and are relocating from other countries to Germany, where they will work at research institutes in Berlin, Bochum, Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Erlangen, Freiburg, Hanover, Munich, Potsdam and Stuttgart. Alexander von Humboldt Professorships each come with €5 million in funding for individuals conducting experimental research and €3.5 million for researchers working in theoretical fields.
In his speech, Humboldt Foundation President Robert Schlögl emphasised the importance of freedom for society and for the new Humboldt Professors: “The 2024 Science Year revolves around the issue of freedom for good reason. Our constitution will be 75 years old this year. It guarantees freedom of research, freedom of speech and opinion – all important values that cannot be cherished enough and must be protected. Cutting-edge research too can thrive only where there is freedom. Financial freedom, but also the freedom to be able to take chances and strike out in new directions. The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship gives you, dear honourees, this freedom for the next five years.”
Continuing to invest in research is worthwhile, even as budgets are getting smaller, Schlögl noted. “This is an investment in the future that will pay off. Research will supply the tools that will enable us to meet the challenges of today’s and tomorrow's world.”
The life stories of the award winners are an impressive demonstration of the potential that open-minded science can develop. Fortunately, there are people who continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.
In her address, Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger said, “Alexander von Humboldt was a visionary who was influenced by the world view of the Enlightenment. Openness and freedom were just as fundamental to him as working across borders. Following his leading example, the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship ensures research in Germany at the very highest level. Germany and its academic system are impressive, also by international standards. We attract the best from all over the world. The life stories of the award winners are an impressive demonstration of the potential that open-minded science can develop. Fortunately, there are people who continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and fight for the solutions of tomorrow. Let's do everything we can to ensure that universities remain places where freedom is lived and defended.”
The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship brings top international researchers from abroad to German universities. It is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The award offers optimal financial conditions and maximum flexibility for conducting leading-edge research in Germany. In addition to the candidates’ outstanding scientific and academic qualifications, a deciding factor in the selection process are the concepts developed by the universities that will offer the researchers and their teams long-term career prospects in Germany.
Information regarding all of this year’s Humboldt Professors is available here. Photos from the ceremony and related videos can be downloaded from the dossier page of the respective award winner.
Recipients of an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship:
- F. Ömer Ilday, Physics / Materials Science -> Bochum
is moving from Bilkent University in Ankara to Ruhr University Bochum - Benoît Ladoux, Biophysics -> Erlangen
is leaving the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) to join FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg - Michaela Mahlberg, Applied Linguistics -> Erlangen
is moving from the University of Birmingham to FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg - J. Daniel Prades, Electronic Technology -> Braunschweig
is relocating from the University of Barcelona to TU Braunschweig - Robert Raußendorf, Quantum Information -> Hannover
is moving from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to Leibniz University Hannover - Dieter Schmalstieg, Computer Graphics and Visualisation -> Stuttgart
is moving from Graz University of Technology to the University of Stuttgart - Ariel Dora Stern, Digital Health -> Potsdam
is switching from the Harvard Business School to the University of Potsdam (Hasso Plattner Institute) - Arnim Wiek, Sustainability Science -> Freiburg
is leaving Arizona State University to make the switch to the University of Freiburg
Recipients of an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for Artificial Intelligence:
- Stefanie Jegelka, Machine Learning -> München
is moving from MIT to the Technical University of Munich - TUM - Marcus Rohrbach, Multimodal Reliable AI -> Darmstadt
is coming to TU Darmstadt from Meta AI - Peter N. Robinson, Computational Biology -> Berlin
is relocating from Jackson Laboratory, Connecticut, to Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Suvrit Sra, Mathematics and Machine Learning -> München
is leaving MIT to join the Technical University of Munich - TUM
(Press release 9/2024)
Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The Foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries around the world – including 61 Nobel Prize winners.