The “Communicator Award – Science Award of the Donors' Association” is announced by the DFG. This personal award is worth €50,000 and is presented to researchers or teams from all fields of research who make their research work and specialist area accessible to a wider audience in a particularly innovative, diverse and effective way and engage in a dialogue between the research community and the public.
Nominations and self-nominations can be submitted for the award. The winner of the award is chosen by a jury of communication experts and science journalists chaired by a member of the Executive Committee of the DFG. When selecting the prizewinners, the jury acknowledges the creativity, conceptual framework, target group orientation of communication and the nominee's commitment to further developing science communication, amongst other things.
Applications for the 2027 Communicator Award will be accepted from August 3 to September 30, 2026. Applications must be submitted exclusively via the DFG's elan portal(externer Link). If you are using the DFG elan portal for the first time, you must complete the registration by September 23, 2026, to ensure that your application is submitted on time.
Professor Dr. Ute Schmid (University of Bamberg) receives the €50,000 prize for her outstanding science communication on the topic of artificial intelligence. She reaches a broad audience ranging from elementary school students to political decision-making bodies and small and medium-sized enterprises. In social and educational discourse, she focuses on the relationship between humans and technology – always with the aim of fostering participation and countering the digital divide in society. Read more(interner Link)
A Portrait of the Award Winner and Highlights from the Communicator Awards Ceremony
Die Communicator-Preisträgerin 2026: Ute Schmid
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Volker Meyer-Guckel (Secretary General of the Stifterverband), Prof. Dr. Katja Becker (President of the German Research Foundation), Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid (winner of the 2026 Communicator Prize and Professor of Cognitive Systems at the University of Bamberg), Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave (Chair of the Communicator Prize Jury and Vice President of the German Research Foundation)
Prof. Dr. Katja Becker (President of the DFG), Volker Meyer-Guckel (Secretary General of the Stifterverband), and Prof. Dr. Johannes Grave (Chair of the Communicator Prize jury and Vice President of the DFG) in conversation about academic freedom and the role that science communication can play in this context
The certificate for the 2026 Communicator Prize for outstanding science communication was jointly presented by the President of the DFG, Prof. Dr. Katja Becker, and the Secretary General of the Stifterverband, Volker Meyer-Guckel, to the prize winner, Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid (Professor of Cognitive Systems, University of Bamberg)
Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid (winner of the 2026 Communicator Prize and Professor of Cognitive Systems at the University of Bamberg) during her lecture on artificial intelligence and human experts
Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid (winner of the 2026 Communicator Prize and Professor of Cognitive Systems at the University of Bamberg) during her lecture on artificial intelligence and human experts
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