Goals

The purpose of the award is to give a distinction to the individuals most active in Polish-German scientific cooperation who have made exceptional research achievements as a result of that cooperation.

Addressees

Candidates are academics who have at least a doctoral degree, work at a public university and/or a research institution in Germany or any entity belonging to the higher education and science system in Poland.

Candidates shall be engaged in ongoing research projects.

Candidates 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 or also beyond.

Nominations of female researchers are encouraged.

Offer

The award is granted on the basis of an open competition that invites nominations from all fields of science and the humanities.

The value of the award is 200 000 euro (100 000 euro for each of two recipients). An award-winner from Poland receives:

• 20 000 euro as an individual prize,
• 80 000 euro as a subsidy part of the award.

Procedure

Candidates may be nominated by researchers holding a doctoral degree who are working at universities and/or research institutions in Germany and Poland. Self-nominations shall be considered.

Nominations shall be submitted in English according to instructions published on the DFG’s or FNP’s websites.

Award winners are selected by a Jury appointed jointly by DFG and FNP. The Jury consists of eight long-term jury members.

COPERNICUS 2026_Instruction_How to submit a nomination

 

CALL CLOSING DATE

The deadline for the submission of nominations is 15 July 2025. The next call for applications will be announced in mid-2027.

Upcoming calls for proposals

The award is granted once every two years.

Contact

• 
  

  Monika Biłas-Henne, PhD

  Programme Officer

  22 311 84 47; 604 129 087monika.bilas@fnp.org.pl

Additional info

The award is a joint venture of the Foundation for Polish Science and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

• The first competition took place in 2006, and the COPERNICUS award ceremony was held on 2 May 2006 in Max Liebermann Haus in Berlin.
• The second edition of the competition took place in 2008. The award ceremony was held on 14 May 2008 in the Old Orangerie (Łazienki Park in Warsaw).
• The third edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2010. The award was conferred on 10 May 2010 in Berlin, in the Leibniz Hall of Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• The fourth edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2012. The award was conferred on 17 September 2012 in Warsaw, in the Palace on the Isle in Royal Lazienki.
• The fifth edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2014. The award was conferred on 10 September 2014 in Berlin, in the Leibniz Hall of Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
• The sixth edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2016. The award was conferred on 7 June  2016 in Warsaw, in the Palace on the Isle in Royal Lazienki.
• The seventh edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2018. The award was conferred on 25 November 2018 at the Charité Museum of Medical History in Berlin.
• The eighth edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2020. Due to the epidemic situation, the award ceremony was postponed and organized jointly with the ninth edition ceremony in 2022.
• The ninth edition of the competition was adjudicated in 2022. The awards from the eighth and ninth competition were conferred jointly on 9 June 2022 in Warsaw, in the Palace on the Isle in Royal Lazienki.
• The tenth edition of the competition was decided in 2024. The awards ceremony of the tenth edition combined with the anniversary conference took place on October 24-25, 2024 in Berlin.

 

Laureates

• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2006 ]
• [ COPERNICUS Award Laureates 2008 ]
• [ COPERNICUS Award Laureates 2010 ]
• [ COPERNICUS Award Laureates 2012 ]
• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2014 ]
• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2016 ]
• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2018 ]
• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2020 ]
• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2022 ]
• [ Copernicus Award Laureates 2024 ]