The Copernicus Award is a joint initiative of the Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej (FNP, Foundation for Polish Science) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation). The award is conferred every two years to two researchers, one in Germany and one in Poland, for outstanding achievements in Polish-German research cooperation in all fields of science and the humanities. The DFG and the FNP now invite nominations for the award, which will be presented for the tenth time.

The purpose of the Copernicus Award is to recognise researchers active in Polish-German research cooperation who have reached exceptional achievements in their field as a result of that cooperation. In particular, researchers are expected to have rendered outstanding services to Polish-German research cooperation by bringing together complementary skills, expertise and resources in order to jointly address research problems. The results of such cooperation should be of significant relevance for the respective research community and have future potential to open up new perspectives in the respective research field and beyond.

The award is granted on the basis of an open competition that invites nominations from all fields of science and the humanities. The prize money of €200,000 is donated in equal shares by the DFG and the FNP, and the award is divided equally between the two recipients. The funds should be used to intensify Polish-German research cooperation.

Members of the Polish and German academic communities are invited to nominate candidates. Only researchers who have at least a doctoral degree and are currently working at universities and/or research institutions in Germany and Poland are eligible to nominate candidates. Self-nominations will also be considered. To be eligible, candidates must also have at least a doctoral degree, work at a public university and/or research institution in Germany or any entity belonging to the higher education and science system in Poland, and be engaged in ongoing research projects. Nominations of female researchers are encouraged.

Nominations must contain the following documents in English:

• Acknowledgement of the clearly defined, joint academic achievement of the two candidates
• Curricula vitae of each candidate in tabular form (max. two pages each)
• A list of up to ten publications based on verifiable joint research in support of the achievement
• One additional independent letter of reference for each couple of researchers when the nomination is submitted by a third party, two independent letters of reference for self-nominations.

The jury evaluates the merit of nominations based on the academic excellence of joint achievements and the success of the cooperation, both with special relevance to the respective research field. The jury consists of eight jury members – renowned researchers from the German and Polish academic communities. In order to cover all fields of science and the humanities represented by the candidates, up to two associate jury members may additionally be appointed.

The deadline for submitting nominations is 12 July 2023. Nominations must be submitted electronically using the FNP’s submission portal (see link below).

The awardees will be announced by June 2024, and the award ceremony will take place in Germany in October 2024.

Further Information

Nominations can be submitted via the FNP’s submission portal:

• https://wnioski.fnp.org.pl

For more information about the Copernicus Award please visit:

• www.dfg.de/copernicus_award
• www.fnp.org.pl/en/oferta/the-polish-german-scientific-award-copernicus

FNP programme contact:

• Dr. Monika Biłas-Henne
  phone + 48 604 129-087
  bilas@fnp.org.pl

DFG programme contacts:

• Dr. Annina Lottermann
  phone +49 228 885-2802
  annina.lottermann@dfg.de
• Stephanie Laß
  phone + 49 228 885-2442
  stephanie.lass@dfg.de

The DFG takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. Please note the DFG’s data protection notice, which can be downloaded at: www.dfg.de/privacy_policy

Please forward this information to the persons nominated whose data you upload. Insofar as there is a legitimate interest (e.g. secrecy), the persons nominated by you must be informed not later than when the decision to nominate is being published.