Research awards

Award Type: Personal Award
Prize Money: 50.000 Euro
Granting Body: Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation
Other Benefits or Honors: The award involves a one-hour lecture at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Virology in Heidelberg (March 17.-20., 2026).
Research Field: Virology
Eligibility: Candidates should have obtained their PhD, MD or equivalent at least 15 years ago (at the nomination deadline). Candidates must be nominated by fellow scientists (no self-application). The prize is international. Nominations may be put forward by all members of the GfV, the Board of Directors, and the Scientific Advisory Council of the CHS.
Applications must be in English and submitted to the address given below.

Requirements: The following information is required to submit a nomination as email-attachment in one PDF (max. size 10 MB):
- Name and contact details of the scientist making the nomination
- Name and contact details of the candidate
- A brief one-page biography of the candidate including major awards received by the candidate
- A list of 10 most significant publications of the candidate
- Short research summary of the candidate describing scientific achievements of relevance to the award (two pages max)
- Two supporting reference letters by colleagues familiar with the candidate's work
- A complete CV of the candidate, including a full publication list (please do not submit reprints)

Application period: September 01 - November 01, 2025
Submit your application electronically to the following address:
geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

Contact Details
Name: GfV - Society of Virology e.V.
Homepage: https://www.g-f-v.org/
Email: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

The target group is therefore very different from that of the LoefflerFrosch Prize. The LoefflerFrosch Medal is awarded to virologist colleagues after their active career to honor their life's work.

The award will be presented at the spring conference of the GfV. The award winner is to give the Loeffler LectureFrosch at the spring conference. All members of the GfV may submit proposals for the award of the medal. Nominations, including a short justification, should be submitted electronically to the GfV office at the following e-mail address by November 1 of the current year: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

The prize money is € 5,000.
The prize is intended to be awarded to scientists who are members of Society of Virology , have not yet reached the age of 40 (childcare periods are taken into account in accordance with DFG regulations) and do not yet hold a lifetime professorship.
The evaluation should be based on one or more publications that have been published or accepted for publication within the last few years. An outstanding virological achievement should be honored.
University professors and department heads who are members of Society of Virology are eligible to nominate candidates. The work to be honored is selected at the fall meeting of the Executive Board and Advisory Board.

Applications, consisting of a CV, list of publications and a letter of motivation (max. 2 pages), should be submitted to the GfV office by November 1st of the current year at the following e-mail address: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

The medal is endowed with €5,000 and is awarded at the GfV Annual Conference by decision of the Executive Board and Advisory Board.

Gertrude and Werner Henle, who were born in Germany and emigrated to the USA in the 1930s to escape persecution by the Nazi regime, are among the most important virologists of the 20th century. In addition to their outstanding scientific successes, they were intensively involved in Funding young virologists, especially from Germany. After the Second World War, they opened their renowned laboratory at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to young German scientists, making a significant contribution to international networking and the reconstruction of German virology. This commitment made them not only scientific role models, but also important founders of new structures in the specialist community.

With the Gertrude and Werner Henle Medal of the GfV, we would like to honor the legacy of the Henles and recognize individuals who have further developed the field of virology through exceptional commitment. In particular, we would like to pay tribute to those who have made outstanding scientific and structural contributions to virology and Society of Virology . The Funding of young scientists is an important criterion here.

The prize is intended to recognize scientists who have previously worked particularly successfully as postdoctoral researchers. Each of the three specialist societies prepares a nomination with the names of three young scientists. The final decision is made by the Robert Koch Foundation. The award winners are thus, in their view, the best and most original researchers in their age group who have been able to publish their work in the leading interdisciplinary journals.

All members of the GfV are entitled to nominate candidates. The candidate proposal (by e-mail) with a short letter of recommendation, curriculum vitae and selected publications should be submitted electronically to the GfV office by March 31 of the current year: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

1st prize money

The prize money is € 2,500.

2. research work

The basis of the evaluation should be one or more publications that have been published or accepted for publication in the last two years. The aim is to award a prize for an outstanding scientific achievement that demonstrates significant new findings in the field of clinical virology and is related to public health issues.

3. participant

The prize can be awarded to individual scientists or a group of researchers.

4. application

Members of the DVV as well as university lecturers and heads of department who are members of the GfV are entitled to nominate candidates. The executive boards of DVV and GfV have formed a selection committee with two representatives each from DVV and GfV. The work to be awarded is selected by the selection committee in consultation with the presidents of the two specialist societies. The prize will be awarded at the annual conference of the German Association for the Control of Viral Diseases.

Criteria:
- Completion of the doctorate in the current year. At the time of application, the disputation should have been successfully completed.
- Peer-review publication of the results of the doctorate

Application deadline: November 1st of the current year
Applications must be submitted by the applicant him/herself with a CV, list of publications and a letter of recommendation in electronic form to the GfV office: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org

The prize is to be awarded to a medical and scientific doctoral candidate who is a member of Society of Virology and who has completed an outstanding thesis in the context of a scientific or medical doctorate on a virological topic at a research institution in the German-speaking world, which has already been published or accepted for printing. Applications can be submitted by November 1st of the current year at the latest . At the time of application, the disputation should be outstanding and the doctoral procedure should not yet have been formally completed. The prize was established by the Bernhard and Ingrid Fleckenstein Foundation and is intended to enable the prizewinners to look at interesting research institutions abroad for a postdoctoral position.

The following documents in German or English are requested for the application:

(1) Cover letter with a brief outline of the scientific concept of the doctoral project.

(2) Curriculum vitae of the applicant in tabular form

(3) List of publications of the candidate

(4) Copy of one or more selected key publication(s)

(5) Statement by a university teacher, preferably the supervisor of the doctoral thesis

Please send the documents as a single PDF file to the office of Society of Virology: geschaeftsstelle@g-f-v.org