Awards and Prizes

Illustration Preise und Auszeichnungen
© Uni MS - Robert Matzke

Prizes and awards not only serve to recognize individual achievements, but also promote scientific progress by creating incentives for excellence and serving as inspiration for young talent. Science prizes are particularly career-enhancing for early career researchers, as they represent early recognition of their excellent research and facilitate the start of a successful scientific career. Awards put award winners in the spotlight of their research community and open up a variety of networking opportunities. They also enable future research projects through prize grants.

Take the opportunity to take your work or the achievements of your colleagues to the next level with an award!

An overview of successfully awarded researchers at the University of Münster can be found here.

Our services and support

Are you interested in nominating yourself or would you like to nominate a colleague for a science award? Then please get in touch with us. We at the SAFIR research funding support office would be happy to assist you with your award nomination. We offer the following services:

  • offering individual advice - from doctoral candidates to established academics - on tailor-made prize competitions and other awards such as academy memberships
  • providing information on current calls for applications for science prizes and awards
  • offering support obtaining the necessary documents for your nomination
  • reviewing your nomination documents strategically upon request
  • organising and hosting events on the subject of science prizes and awards. We would be happy to tailor these to your individual needs upon request.
  • networking with academics and administrators at the University of Münster who are responsible for science prizes in the departments and collaborative projects
  • benchmarking and scouting potential nominees for science prizes, whom the Rectorate is authorised to nominate

At the University of Münster, you can use the FIT information service (SSO login with your University user ID) and the ELFI research funding search service to  find suitable calls for proposals.

Current Calls

2025 Election Junge Akademie: The Junge Akademie is committed to promoting outstanding early career researchers (3–7 years into their post-doc phase) and artists, interdisciplinary work and projects at the interface of science, art and society.
Deadline: 11 November 2024

Hector Research Career Development Award: The Hector Fellow Academy supports the career development of W1 assistant professors (with or without tenure track) and junior research group leaders in similar positions in the natural or engineering sciences, medicine or psychology (max. seven years into their postdoc phase). The researchers selected for this honour become members of the Hector Fellow Academy's network of top scientists for five years. They receive 25,000 euros, funding to set up a doctoral position and the opportunity to apply for further funding.
Deadline: 30 October 2024

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize: The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is the most prestigious research funding award in Germany. The recipients receive prize money totalling 2.5 million euros which can be used at their discretion to finance their research projects. The nomination is submitted by the Rectorate. Therefore, please contact us well before the deadline (see below).
Deadline: January 2025 (tent.)

Academy Prize: The Academy Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences is awarded in recognition of outstanding scientific achievements in any disciplinary field. The award includes prize money of 50,000 euros and may be awarded biennially. The nomination is submitted by the Rectorate. Therefore, please contact us well before the deadline (see below).
Deadline: 15 January 2025

Nominations with Rectorate endorsement

If you are interested in a nomination, please contact us at an early stage.

Deadline: 15 Jan. 2025 (tent.)

Deadline: Mid/end of Feb. 2025 (tent.)

Deadline: Jan. 2026 (tent.)

Deadline: Jan. 2025 (tent.)

Deadline: 31 Aug. 2025

Deadline: 31 May 2025 (tent.)

Deadline: 15 Jun. 2025

Deadline: 15 Mar. 2025

Deadline: 1 Sep. 2024

Scientific Awards of the University Münster

Awarding of the 2024 rectorate prizes
© Uni MS - Christoph Steinweg

The University of Münster recognizes outstanding achievements of its academics and students in research, teaching and studies with highly endowed prizes. Nominations for these prizes are accepted at regular intervals.

Information on the University of Münster's Rectorate Prizes can be found here.