Prize announcement

Deadline for applications 2024-08-15

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Siegfried Czapski Publication Prize

The Jena Alliance "Life in Focus" promotes post-graduate qualification at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena by connecting the university profile lines LIFE and LIGHT with support of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. It connects and strengthens the doctoral programmes of the Jena School for Microbial Communication (JSMC), the Jena School of Molecular Medicine (JSMM), the Abbe School of Photonics (ASP) and the Max Planck School of Photonics (MPSP).

To recognise exceptional publications of doctoral researchers or postdocs, the Siegfried Czapski Publication Prize for early-career researchers will be awarded for the third time by the Jena Alliance. The Prize honours an exceptional interdisciplinary contribution at the interface of the university profile lines LIGHT and LIFE that has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal of international quality. The jury is composed of internationally renowned scientists in the life and optical sciences. The Prize is endowed with 2,000 EUR of personal and taxable prize money and supervisors can nominate publications by early-career researchers until August 15.

Who is eligible to apply?

Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers that are members of the Jena Alliance of Graduate Schools “Life in Focus”.
The work leading to the publication must have been performed whilst the candidates were members of the eligible institutes.

Criteria for the award

  • The publication must represent an exceptional advancement of interdisciplinary science at the interface of LIGHT and LIFE and be nominated for the prize by the supervisor. Only single publications and not a set of related papers can be nominated.
  • The nominee must be first author of the publication and must have made an exceptional contribution as detailed in the nomination letter of the supervisor. This could be in the form of original ideas in having conceived the study, developing a novel method for addressing hypotheses or overcoming considerable obstacles to answering the research question. It will be the responsibility of the nominating supervisor to provide the arguments for the importance of the contribution.
  • The work must be accepted for publication within the year prior to the deadline (07/01/23 - 07/31/24), and a full manuscript must be provided alongside the nomination letter.
  • The impact factor of the journal in which the work is published will not be a primary selection criterion for the prize. The prize will instead focus on the merit of the work and the exceptional contribution of the nominee, as outlined above.

For nomination are to be submitted by the supervisor:

  • Nomination letter
  • Full manuscript of the publication

The prize will be awarded subject to the acceptance of the manuscript for publication within the announcement period.

Programme contact:

Dr. Maria Langhammer
Koordinatorin der Jena Alliance "Life in Focus" – Ein Projekt der Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung
Tel: +49 3641 9-401360
maria.langhammer@uni-jena.de


Siegfried Czapski (1861-1907) was a German physicist. As a close companion of Ernst Abbe, he made a major contribution to the publication of fundamental works in physics. He was also one of the first representatives of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung.

Online application