Scientists – Awards and Grants
Foto: UR / Julia Dragan Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prizes
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (external link, opens in a new window) is the highest and most prestigious German research award. Since 1985, up to ten prizes with a maximum of €2.5 million each have been awarded annually by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to outstanding scientists working at a research institution in Germany or at a German research institution abroad.
Rupert Huber (2019)
Rupert Huber (external link, opens in a new window)
Experimental Physics, Read more (external link, opens in a new window)
Press release, 14/03/2019 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only).
The Quantum World in Motion (external link, opens in a new window)
The Physicist Rupert Huber Strives for a New Level of Understanding of the Nanocosmos.
Reinhard Zimmermann (1996)
Legal History and Civil Law
Prizewinner was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
Karl Otto Stetter (1988)
Karl Otto Stetter (external link, opens in a new window)
Microbiology
Prizewinner was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
ERC Grants
With its funding lines Starting Grants (external link, opens in a new window), Consolidator Grants (external link, opens in a new window), Advanced Grants (external link, opens in a new window) and Synergy Grants (external link, opens in a new window), the European Research Council (ERC) (external link, opens in a new window) supports excellent frontier research projects.
ERC Starting Grants
Radu Curticapean¹
CountHom (external link, opens in a new window)
2022 (transferred to UR in 2023)
Neva Caliscan (external link, opens in a new window)¹
T-FRAME (external link, opens in a new window)
2020 (transferred to UR in 2024)
Markus Jeschek²
BiosenSAI (external link, opens in a new window)
2023
Press release, 03/09/2023
Claudius Zibrowius²
CAPCAM (external link, opens in a new window)
2023
Joshua Barham (external link, opens in a new window)²
HELIOS (external link, opens in a new window)
2022
Tomer Czaczkes ¹|²
COGNITIVE CONTROL (external link, opens in a new window)
2020
Press release, 03/09/2020 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Isabella Gierz-Pehla (external link, opens in a new window)
DANCE (external link, opens in a new window)
2019
Press release, 03/09/2019 (external link, opens in a new window)
Alexander Breder (external link, opens in a new window)¹|³
ELDORADO (external link, opens in a new window)
2018
Rupert Huber (external link, opens in a new window) ³
QUANTUMsubCYCLE (external link, opens in a new window)
2012
John Lupton (external link, opens in a new window) ³
MolMesON (external link, opens in a new window)
2012
Georg Woltersdorf ²|³
ECOMAGICS (external link, opens in a new window)
2011
Sylvia Maria Cremer-Sixt ²|³
SOCIALVACCINES (external link, opens in a new window)
2009
Gunter Meister ¹|³ (external link, opens in a new window)
SRNAs (external link, opens in a new window)
2009
¹ ERC grantee was not yet at UR at the time of application
² ERC grantee has left UR
³ project completed
ERC Consolidator Grants
Lena Wilfert (external link, opens in a new window)¹
Beepath (external link, opens in a new window)
2019 (transferiert an die UR 2025)
Hendrik Poeck (external link, opens in a new window)
MICROBOTS (external link, opens in a new window)
2023
Press release, 23/11/2023 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Alexey Chernikov ²|³
CoulENGINE (external link, opens in a new window)
2020
Press release, 11/12/2020 (external link, opens in a new window)(German version only)
Robert Wolf (external link, opens in a new window)
FunctionalP4 (external link, opens in a new window)
2017
Press release, 21/12/2017 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Olga García Mancheno ²|³
FRICatANions (external link, opens in a new window)
2016
Gunter Meister (external link, opens in a new window) ³
moreRNA (external link, opens in a new window)
2015
Axel Jacobi von Wangelin ²|³
FeREDcoupls (external link, opens in a new window)
2015
Ruth Gschwind (external link, opens in a new window) ³
IonPairsAtCatalysis (external link, opens in a new window)
2013
Remco Sprangers (external link, opens in a new window) ¹|³
mRNA-decay (external link, opens in a new window)
2013
¹ ERC grantee was not yet at UR at the time of application
² ERC grantee has left UR
³ project completed
ERC Advanced Grants
Veronica Egger (external link, opens in a new window)
COLUMNET (external link, opens in a new window)
Press release, 17/06/2025
Dieter Weiss (external link, opens in a new window) ³
ProMotion (external link, opens in a new window)
2017
Press release, 12/04/2018 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Burkhard König (external link, opens in a new window) ³
PHAROS (external link, opens in a new window)
2016
Manfred Scheer (external link, opens in a new window) ³
SELFPHOS (external link, opens in a new window)
2013
Christoph Klein (external link, opens in a new window) ³
ISIS (external link, opens in a new window)
2012
¹ ERC grantee was not yet at UR at the time of application
² ERC grantee has left UR
³ project completed
ERC Synergy Grants
Christine Ziegler (external link, opens in a new window)
HYDROSENSING (external link, opens in a new window)
2023
Press release, 26/10/2023
Ulrich Hoefer / Rupert Huber (external link, opens in a new window)
Orbital Cinema (external link, opens in a new window)
2022
Press release, 25/10/2022 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Jascha Repp (external link, opens in a new window)
MolDAM (external link, opens in a new window)
2020
Press release, 05/11/2020 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Jörg Wunderlich (external link, opens in a new window) ¹|³
SC2 (external link, opens in a new window)
2013
¹ ERC grantee was not yet at UR at the time of application
² ERC grantee has left UR
³ project completed
Distinguished Professorship
The Distinguished Professorship Program (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only) is part of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts' High-Tech Agenda Bavaria.
Julie Casteigt
Julie Casteigt (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Faculty of Catholic Theology
Press release 01/09/2025 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Foto: UR/Julia Dragan 
Reinhart Koselleck Projects
The Reinhart Koselleck Program (external link, opens in a new window) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft supports outstanding scientists in carrying out exceptionally innovative or higher-risk projects with a maximum of €1.25 million for five years.
Luca Gattinoni
Luca Gattinoni (external link, opens in a new window)
Reprogramming CD8+ T cell metabolism and fate by MSC mitochondrial transfer (external link, opens in a new window)
Subject Area: Immunology
2022 to 2027
Press release, 12/19/2022 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Klaus Richter
Klaus Richter (external link, opens in a new window)
Many-Body Quantum Processes at the Edge of Chaos: From Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics towards Quantum Gravity (external link, opens in a new window)
Subject Area: Statistical Physics, Soft Matter, Biological Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics
2021 to 2026
Press release, 06/04/2021 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Burkhard König
Burkhard König (external link, opens in a new window)
Carbanions for synthesis by photoinduced sequential multi-electron transfer (external link, opens in a new window)
Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Solids and Surfaces, Material Characterisation
2018 to 2024
Press release, 30/05/2017 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Sofja Kovalevskaja Awards
The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award (external link, opens in a new window), endowed with a maximum of €1.65 € million and awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, is one Germany’s most valuable prizes for outstanding early career researchers from abroad.
Joshua Barham (2019)
Joshua Barham (external link, opens in a new window)
Press release, 16/08/2019 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Low Volume, High Value
Awardee was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
David Egger (2016)
This material makes green energies more efficient (external link, opens in a new window)
Awardee was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
Pavel Buividovich (2012)
Pavel Buividovich
Awardee was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize has been awarded to excellent early career researchers by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft since 1977.
Richard Höfer (2025)
Tomer Czaczkes (2024)
Timothy Nunan (2020)
Benjamin Kohlmann
Benjamin Kohlmann (external link, opens in a new window)
English Literature
Prizewinner was not yet member of UR when the prize was awarded.
Alexey Chernikov (2018)
Condensed Matter Physics
Press release, 28/03/2018 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Prizewinner was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
Fabian Theis (2006)
Biophysics/Mathematics/Informatics
Prizewinner was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
Gerd Kempermann (1999)
Neurosciences
Prizewinner was member of UR when the award was received but has since left.
Emmy Noether Junior Research Group
Independent junior research groups currently funded by the Emmy Noether Programme (external link, opens in a new window) of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft:
Jan Wilhelm
Jan Wilhelm (external link, opens in a new window)
since 2022
Breaking the Waves. Jan Wilhelm leads the junior research group “Computational Electronic Structure Theory” at UR’s Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Sebastian Frank
Sebastian Frank (external link, opens in a new window)
since 2022
A lifespan perspective of visual learning and plasticity (external link, opens in a new window)
Press release, 24/01/202 (external link, opens in a new window)3 (German version only)
“Zu alt zum Lernen? Hirnforschung mit dem Psychologen Sebastian Frank” (external link, opens in a new window) (German only)
Lukas Lewark
since 2019 (at ETH Zürich since 08/2023)
Quantum invariants, knot concordance and unknotting (external link, opens in a new window)
Focus on the Humanities (completed)
Fellow currently funded by the Freigeist Fellowship Program (external link, opens in a new window) of Volkswagen Foundation:
Tatiana Klepikova
Tatiana Klepikova
Tatiana Klepikova (external link, opens in a new window)
Light On! Queer Literatures and Cultures under Socialism
2022 to 2027 - Freigeist Fellowship (external link, opens in a new window)
Presse release, 12/05/2022 (external link, opens in a new window) (German version only)
Pride and Prejudice. Tatiana Klepikova is UR’s Freigeist Fellow, doing research on queer literatures and cultures
Timothy Nunan
Timothy Nunan
2016 to 2022 - Freigeist-Fellowship (external link, opens in a new window)
Prizewinner was not yet member of UR when the prize was awarded.
Sabine Koller
Sabine Koller (external link, opens in a new window)
Funded by the previous Dilthey Fellowship Program (external link, opens in a new window) of Volkswagen Foundation:
Eastern European Jewry in Literature and Painting: Marc Chagall
2006 to 2012
