Please find links to awards accepting nominations listed below – last update March 8, 2025
Langer Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence
In honor of Bob Langer’s pioneering spirit, each recipient of a Langer Prize will be awarded an unrestricted grant up to $100,000 as seed funding, which will enable them to pursue “blue-sky” ideas that may lead to significant innovations. Recipients will become part of a network of Langer Fellows, with access to, and support from, some of the industry’s foremost experts in innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Prize aims to support individuals in the early stages of their independent careers, provides an unrestricted grant to enable creative researchers and engineering entrepreneurs to tackle high-risk, high-impact challenges with the potential of achieving game-changing innovations. Recipients must use this fellowship to bridge research ideas to commercialization of a product or process that will create a transformative impact on society.
◷ Due date for nominations: March 17, 2025; email to [email protected]
Women’s Impact Award
Collaborative initiative by Falling Walls Foundation, Elsevier Foundation, and Volkswagen Foundation
The award honours outstanding women* in science who are driving transformative research aligned with Goal 5: Gender Equality of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
10 Finalists will be selected by a distinguished jury and publicly announced to gain global recognition. Out of these, 3 winners will be invited to the International Fall Gathering and Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, Germany. Among the winners, one exceptional researcher will be honoured as the Science Breakthrough of the Year in the Women’s Impact category and will present on the prestigious Breakthrough stage at the Falling Walls Science Summit on 9 November 2025.
*inclusive definition of women used; submissions from cis and trans women, genderqueer and non-binary people welcome
◷ Due date for nominations & aplications: April 30, 2025
Mario Markus Prize for Ludic Science
The GDCh award honores outstanding scientific work in the field of natural science that is “playful”; . The term “playful” is used here to designate discoveries that arose from research that was undertaken not with any specific application in mind but simply out of curiosity about the natural world. The prize, which has a value of € 10 000 plus travel expenses, will be awarded at a scientific conference.
◷ Due date for nominations: May 31, 2025
Martha Schwarzkopf Award for Women in Science
Henkel
The Martha Schwarzkopf Award recognizes female researchers in natural/material sciences, biotechnology, mechanical engineering, computer science, or medicine, with a focus on hair research, textile and wool fibers, and related materials interactions. The Emerging Talent Award is for female researchers with a completed master’s degree, currently pursuing a Ph.D. or early postdoctoral work (under 10 years in the field). The main prize consists of 10,000 euros, while the award-winner for emerging talent will receive 5,000 euros. The global winners will also receive a trip to the awards ceremony and accompanying scientific conference in early 2026.
◷ Due date for nominations: June 1, 2025 E-mail to [email protected]
Paracelsus Prize
The Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) award recognizes outstanding scientific research in the field of chemistry at an international level. Winners are chosen irrespective of nationality. SCS membership is not a requirement. The prize consists of CHF 20’000 and a medal in gold.
◷ Due date for nominations and applications: September 30, 2025
EurJIC-Wöhler Young Investigator Prize 2026
Sponsored by Chemistry Europe
The award of the Wöhler Vereinigung für Anorganische Chemie (Wöhler Association for Inorganic Chemistry), a division of the GDCh (German Chemical Society), and the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry (EurJIC) honors a young scientist of any nationality who has completed a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry for an excellent scientific publication in a field within inorganic chemistry. The selected paper, in which the candidate appears as correspondence author, should have been published within two years before the nomination. The nominee will be an independent researcher, but not yet in an established academic or industrial position.
Eligible for nomination are researchers in industry or academia with responsibility in an appropriate field. The prize is endowed with EUR 1500 and a lecture at the GDCh Conference on Inorganic Chemistry.
◷ Due date for nominations: March 30, 2026
E-mail to Nicole Bürger, GDCh: [email protected]
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