International jury selects 19 leaders for Helmholtz Young Investigators Groups

The Helmholtz Association is once again helping scientists to set up their own Young Investigators Groups. Sixty-six researchers from around the world submitted applications in the latest funding round, which is the eleventh that the Helmholtz has held so far. After a rigorous competition process, the jury of international experts selected 19 successful applicants. The annual funding of €250,000 over five years and the possibility of being taken on as a permanent member of staff will give a great boost to these talented young researchers as they embark on their scientific careers.

“We received a large number of excellent applications from world-renowned research institutes, such as the University of California (Berkeley) and Harvard. This goes to show that Germany is a very attractive destination for young researchers,” says Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association. “The reliable career opportunities that we offer young people allow us to attract the brightest minds. This kind of successful recruitment is a major asset for the German research system.” The programme is especially attractive to applicants from outside Germany and to Germans looking to return home. Nine of the selected candidates come from abroad, and two German scientists who have been conducting research abroad were attracted back to Germany by the Helmholtz funding. The number of female applicants is also growing. About a third of all Helmholtz Young Investigators Groups are now led by women, and women made up 42 percent of this year’s funding round.

A boost for scientific careers
By giving younger researchers the opportunity to set up their own research groups, the Helmholtz Association is offering them very good career prospects. President Mlynek points out that the course of a researcher’s career is set largely during the period between 30 and 40 years of age: “Our Young Investigators Programme is designed with this in mind. It offers young scientists outstanding opportunities to conduct independent research, make their own ideas a reality and benefit from the excellent working conditions and facilities at one of our Helmholtz Centres.” Mlynek also says that the programme strengthens the links between the Helmholtz Centres and their partner universities. The young researchers conduct research at a Helmholtz Centre and give lectures or seminars at the partner university, thus qualifying themselves for an academic career.

On track for the future
The 19 selected researchers outperformed the other applicants in a multi-stage competition that included evaluation by external experts and holding presentations before an interdisciplinary jury. Each Young Investigators Group is evaluated on its performance after three or four years. If the evaluation results are positive, the group leader is given a permanent tenure track position.
Half of the costs for the groups are covered by the Initiative and Networking Fund, which the Helmholtz Association set up to help initiate strategic plans rapidly and flexibly. These plans include addressing new topics, expanding networks in the research system, and developing measures for promoting young researchers. The other half of the funding comes from the Helmholtz Centres. The money enables the leaders of the Young Investigators Groups to pay their own salaries and usually to hire three or four staff and equip a laboratory.

Nineteen Young Investigators Groups and leaders, eleven centres
The 19 researchers selected in this funding round work at eleven different Helmholtz Centres, and between them they cover all six of the Helmholtz Association’s research fields: Energy; Earth and Environment; Health; Aeronautics, Space and Transport; Key Technologies; and Structure of Matter.

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
German Cancer Research Centre
German Aerospace Center
German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)
Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin-Buch

The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major challenges facing society, science and the economy with top scientific achievements in six research fields: Energy; Earth and Environment; Health; Key Technologies; Structure of Matter; and Aeronautics, Space and Transport. With almost 36,000 employees in 18 research centres and an annual budget of approximately €3.8 billion, the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organisation. Its work follows in the tradition of the great natural scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894).

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