Current rules for nominations and selection

The ESRF Young Scientist of the Year Award is given every year by the Users Organisation for outstanding work done done by an ESRF user (ESRF staff included) at the ESRF facilities. The prize is presented during the annual ESRF User Meeting and the recipient is requested to give a talk at the plenary session.

  • The call for nominations is during the autumn of the year preceding the award (e.g. autumn 2017 for the 2018 award)
  • The nominee can be of any nationality, with 3-7 years of experience since completion of PhD (as stated on the PhD certificate) and less than 37 years old on January 1st of the year the award is granted
  • Exemptions to these eligibility criteria (e.g. pregnancy, sick leave, etc.) will follow the rules set for the ERC Starting grant call
  • The relevant research must have been carried out at the ESRF 
  • The award is intended for a single winner 
  • There will be no shared prize and dual nominations are not accepted

Further details will be given yearly with the call for award nominations.

Evaluation of the applications

Every year the User Organisation Committee is in charge of nominating a chairperson for the award. The chairperson is asked to form a committee whose members are selected according to impartiality criteria. The chairperson and committee members evaluate the applications and decide on the recipient of the Young Scientist Award. Upon request, the User Organisation Committee can assist the chair with the criteria for the award. The User Organisation Committee is not involved in the final decision.

Please note that no self-nominations are accepted.