The Copernicus Award is a joint initiative of the Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej (FNP, Foundation for Polish Science) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation). The award is conferred every two years to two researchers, one in Germany and one in Poland, for outstanding achievements in Polish-German research cooperation in all fields of science and the humanities. The DFG and the FNP now invite nominations for the award, which will be presented for the eleventh time.

The purpose of the Copernicus Award is to recognise researchers active in Polish-German research cooperation who have reached exceptional achievements in their field as a result of that cooperation. In particular, researchers are expected to have rendered outstanding services to Polish-German research cooperation by bringing together complementary skills, expertise and resources in order to jointly address research problems. The results of such cooperation should be of significant relevance for the respective research community and have future potential to open up new perspectives in the respective research field and beyond.

The award is granted on the basis of an open competition that invites nominations from all fields of science and the humanities. The prize money of €200,000 is donated in equal shares by the DFG and the FNP, and the award is divided equally between the two recipients. The funds should be used to intensify Polish-German research cooperation.

Members of the Polish and German academic communities are invited to nominate candidates. Only researchers who have at least a doctoral degree and are currently working at universities and/or research institutions in Germany and Poland are eligible to nominate candidates. Self-nominations will also be considered. To be eligible, candidates must also have at least a doctoral degree, work at a public university and/or research institution in Germany or any entity belonging to the higher education and science system in Poland, and be engaged in ongoing research projects. Nominations of female researchers are encouraged.

Nominations must contain the following documents in English:

• Acknowledgement of the clearly defined, joint academic achievement of the two candidates
• Curricula vitae of each candidate in tabular form (max. two pages each)
• A list of up to ten publications based on verifiable joint research in support of the achievement
• One additional independent letter of reference for each couple of researchers when the nomination is submitted by a third party, two independent letters of reference for self-nominations 
  (acknowledgement and independent letter(s) of reference have to come from different persons).

The jury evaluates the merit of nominations based on the academic excellence of joint achievements and the success of the cooperation, both with special relevance to the respective research field. The jury consists of eight jury members – renowned researchers from the German and Polish academic communities. In order to cover all fields of science and the humanities represented by the candidates, up to two associate jury members may additionally be appointed.

The deadline for submitting nominations is 15 July 2025. Nominations must be submitted electronically using the DFG’s submission portal elan(externer Link).

Registration

If you are using the elan portal for the first time, please register before 1 July 2025. This applies also to nominations by third parties. For self-nominations, both cooperation partners must be registered in elan. Please also indicate your subject area and select the call “Copernicus Award 2026” during the registration.

Submission

To start the online form for the submission process, please select “Proposal Submission” from the navigation bar and go to “Nominations”. 

In order to complete the submission process, please send a scan of the signed compliance form (Quittungsdokument) in PDF format to Stephanie Lass (stephanie.lass@dfg.de(externer Link)).

The awardees will be announced in spring 2026, and the award ceremony will take place in Poland in June 2026.

Further Information 

Please find more information about the Copernicus Award on the DFG(interner Link) or FNP website(externer Link).

Submission portal for nominations elan(externer Link).

For technical assistance, please contact the elan hotline: Phone +49 228 885-2900, elan-helpdesk@dfg.de(externer Link)

Contact Persons at the DFG Head Office

Dr. Annina Lottermann, International Affairs, Europe, phone +49 228 885-2802, annina.lottermann@dfg.de(externer Link)

Stephanie Lass, International Affairs, Europe, phone + 49 228 885-2442, stephanie.lass@dfg.de(externer Link)

Contact Person at the FNP Office

Dr. Monika Biłas-Henne, phone + 48 604 129-087, bilas@fnp.org.pl(externer Link)
 

The DFG takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. Please note the DFG’s data protection notice, which can be downloaded at: www.dfg.de/privacy_policy(interner Link) 

Please forward this information to the persons nominated whose data you upload. Insofar as there is a legitimate interest (e.g. secrecy), the persons nominated by you must be informed not later than when the decision to nominate is being published.