Alexander von Humboldt Professorship

Alexander von Humboldt Professorship
Name	Alexander von Humboldt Professorship
Awarded by	Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Country	Germany
Established	2008
Reward	up to €5 million

Alexander von Humboldt Professorship The professorship is a prestigious German award intended to attract internationally renowned scientists and researchers to German universities, offering substantial funding to establish research programs and strengthen institutional capacity. It functions within the landscape of German research funding alongside programs by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the European Research Council, and the Max Planck Society. The prize supports cross-border mobility among figures associated with institutions such as Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University.

Overview

The professorship targets leading scholars from fields represented at major centers including the Leibniz Association, the Fraunhofer Society, the ETH Zurich, and the California Institute of Technology, aiming to bolster German universities like Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Heidelberg University, Technical University of Munich, Humboldt University of Berlin, and University of Bonn. Funding levels are comparable to awards from the Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, and national chairs such as the Royal Society Research Professorship. The program emphasizes long-term research planning, international collaboration with partners like CNRS, Imperial College London, Tsinghua University, and Peking University, and contributing to European initiatives such as Horizon Europe.

History and Establishment

Launched in 2008 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in partnership with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the professorship commemorates the legacy of Alexander von Humboldt and responds to global academic competition exemplified by initiatives like the China Scholarship Council and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Early award cycles attracted candidates from institutions such as Columbia University, Yale University, University of Chicago, University of Oxford, and École Normale Supérieure. Over time the program evolved alongside reforms to the German Hochschulsystem and policy frameworks influenced by actors including the European Research Area and the Bundesrat.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Eligible candidates are internationally leading researchers with outstanding records akin to laureates of the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal, Turing Award, Lasker Award, or Wolf Prize, and with substantial publications in venues such as Nature, Science, Cell Press, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Lancet. Host nominations must come from German universities including Free University of Berlin, RWTH Aachen University, University of Freiburg, University of Tübingen, and University of Cologne, and demonstrate plans to collaborate with entities like the German Cancer Research Center, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, and the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron. Selection panels include experts affiliated with the Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea, and leading academies such as the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Funding, Benefits, and Obligations

Awards provide up to €5 million for experimental sciences and up to €3.5 million for humanities and social sciences, enabling resources similar to grants from the European Research Council and institutional chairs like the Helmholtz Association professorships. Benefits cover professorial salaries, start-up packages, laboratory construction or renovation comparable to investments by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, equipment purchases from vendors used by CERN collaborators, doctoral and postdoctoral positions, and mobility funds for cooperation with Mayo Clinic, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Salk Institute, and industrial partners such as Siemens, Bayer, and BASF. Recipients commit to provide teaching and mentoring at their host university, establish research groups, and participate in outreach with organizations like the German Rectors' Conference and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Notable Recipients and Impact

Recipients have included scholars formerly affiliated with Princeton University, Columbia University, University of California, San Diego, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and international centers such as the Weizmann Institute of Science, Riken, and Australian National University. The professorship has enabled collaborations resulting in publications with co-authors from MIT, Caltech, ETH Zurich, University College London, Seoul National University, and National University of Singapore, and has supported translational projects involving Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, and Novo Nordisk. Impact metrics mirror increases in citations tracked by services like Web of Science, Scopus, and collaboration indices linked to networks such as the Global Young Academy and the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Administration and Host Institutions

Administered by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in coordination with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the program requires host nominations from accredited German universities including University of Hamburg, University of Leipzig, University of Münster, Technical University of Berlin, and University of Stuttgart. Oversight involves external reviewers from bodies such as the European Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, and advisory committees containing members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Category:Academic awards