News Release

€50,000 for German-Polish cooperation in the promotion of young researchers

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Foundation for Polish Science (Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej, FNP) have established the first-ever Copernicus Award

Grant and Award Announcement

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The first call for nominations for the Copernicus Award is a further step towards closer scientific cooperation between the neighbouring countries of Germany and Poland. With the Copernicus Award, the DFG and the FNP will honour researchers who have made outstanding and lasting contributions to German-Polish research cooperation, especially in the joint promotion of young researchers. The prize money of €50,000 will be divided equally among the laureates. The recipients may use the money for any scientific purpose that is within the scope of the funding programmes of both organisations. In doing so, the focus should be on further advancing the joint promotion of young researchers.

Nominations will be accepted from 13 May through 15 October 2005. The first award ceremony will take place on 1 May 2006, the second anniversary of Polish accession to the European Union.

The Copernicus Award -- named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) -- is awarded on the basis of nominations. Researchers working at universities or research institutions in Germany or Poland, or at scientific institutions devoted to German-Polish cooperation, are eligible to submit nominations. Laureates will be selected by a jury consisting of three German and three Polish researchers. German representatives will be appointed by the DFG and the Polish representatives will be appointed by the FNP. Members of the jury will serve a three-year term of office. The award ceremony will be held alternately in Germany and Poland. The award programme is initially scheduled to run for ten years.

Contact person for the Copernicus Award at the DFG is Dr. Torsten Fischer, Programme Officer, International Affairs (phone: 49-0-2280885-2372, e-mail: torsten.fischer@dfg.de).

Further information is available at http://www.dfg.de/aktuelles_presse/preise/.

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