Submit an application if you are a successful top-rank junior researcher from abroad, only completed your doctorate with distinction in the last six years, and have published work in prestigious international journals or publishing houses. The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award allows you to spend five years building up a working group and working on a high-profile, innovative research project of your own choice at a research institution of your own choice in Germany.
Award winners will be selected solely on the basis of their academic qualifications. There are no quotas for individual disciplines or countries. The most important assessment criteria are:
- academic publications in internationally reviewed journals and / or publishing houses
- statements on the candidate’s academic profile and potential in the form of expert reviews, requested by the candidate, from different institutions and, where possible, from different countries
- the academic quality and feasibility of the research project proposed by the candidate Applications are assessed by independent peer reviewers appointed by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. An independent Alexander von Humboldt Foundation selection committee, composed of academics from all disciplines, selects up to eight award winners and determines the award amount. The award is conferred by the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation under the patronage of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.