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Danai Papageorgiou

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"The Emmy Noether programme gives an incredible opportunity in the phase between postdoc and PI. It makes independent research possible. The programme is rare. Germany values academic freedom. There are many opportunities for connection. I find research fantastic but I also like the direct contact to the younger generation. I love teaching. That’s why I hope for a university career – ideally in Germany." July 2026

Danai Papageorgiou is a behavioural ecologist studying the social lives of animals. On 1 April 2026 she started as an Emmy Noether Group Leader at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Before she was a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship, including a five-month secondment at the University of Zurich’s Department of Evolutionary Anthropology. She did her PhD at both the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the University of Konstanz. She was born and raised in Greece. 

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Donna Whitney

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“A research stay in Germany allows for access to state-of-the-art facilities with excellent technical support and a chance to visit and interact with many interesting scientists in my field and in related fields. Germany is a very attractive research location. The recent decline in support for scientific research in the US has increased my interest in spending more time in a place that values scientific research, including infrastructure.”  December 2025

Donna Whitney is a professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota, USA. As part of the Humboldt Research Award, she is visiting Max Wilke at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Potsdam. 

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Max Wiesner

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"The Emmy Noether Programme is a tremendous opportunity for me to further develop my career with a relatively high degree of freedom. I chose Hamburg, not only because it is such a beautiful city, but rather because the scientific environment is exactly right." July 2026

Max Wiesner is investigating how fundamental phenomena of the universe — such as dark energy — can be better described on the basis of new insights into theories of quantum gravity. Before establishing his Emmy Noether Research Group in Hamburg he was a postdoc at Harvard University and did his Ph.D. in Madrid. 

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Luca Terenzi

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"This funding allows me to focus entirely on research for the next two years. My research field is a bit niche. However, it is well-represented in some European universities, especially in Germany.  In fact, I pursued my PhD in Germany and had a very positive experience here." December 2025

Mathematician Dr. Luca Terenzi chose to continue his academic path in Germany. He works in the theory of motives - a highly specialised field situated at the interface of algebraic geometry, number theory and representation theory and conducts his research at the University of Regensburg. 

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Nikolai Pirmin Jaschke

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"As a scientist you are quite dependent on others for a while: your supervisor’s funding, the topic they choose for you to work on, their support as well as the broader scientific environment you are embedded in.  When I moved to the United States for my postdoc, I could, for the first time, freely choose what I wanted to work on with pretty much unlimited resources. This ‘no-strings-attached’ environment together with the great support from my supervisor and the stimulating intellectual exchange with peers really allowed me to sharpen my scientific thinking and thrive. I quickly realized that this is type of environment required to do exceptional science. I therefore aimed at providing similar resources for scientists, who would work with me in the future. To do so, I needed funding and, of course, a position embedded into a larger eco system, which guaranteed complete independence. I considered The Emmy Noether Programme as an ideal fit to achieve these goals. Although getting funded by the program is challenging due to its high competitiveness, being an Emmy Noether Group Leader opens many doors and paves the way for a promising career as an independent scientist in Germany. I am very grateful for the support from the DFG." July 2026

Nikolai P. Jaschke completed medical school in Austria and is currently training in Endocrinology, which deals with diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the hormonal system. Consistent with his clinical interests, Nikolai’s lab broadly studies how brain and body talk to each other through soluble signals and how this communication controls physiology and behavior. One of the major goals of his lab is identifying strategies to prevent diseases before they develop with a focus on modifiable environmental factors such as nutrition, social interactions and xenobiotics. Nikolai leads an Emmy Noether Research Group in Hamburg after training in Innsbruck, Würzburg, Dresden, New York and New Haven. 

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Johannes Stein

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"This support enables me to pursue ambitious ideas, and deepen interdisciplinary  collaborations within Germany and across Europe. It also allows me to grow as a scientist and mentor, and to expand the imaging toolkit required to address the biological questions at the heart of our work." December 2025

"So far, I have been able to implement everything I set out to do. For example, I was able to acquire a microscope and set up our infrastructure. The team is growing and we are running our first experiments. The Global Minds Initiative Germany has definitely helped generate visibility." July 2026

The biophysicist Johannes Stein is leading an Emmy Noether Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. Previously, he worked at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (Boston, USA). He was a visiting scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn (USA), as well as at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) of the Max Delbrück Center. He completed his doctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried and at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich.

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Girlie Eunice Lopez

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"As an early-career researcher, the Global Minds Initiative Germany will help me strengthen my skills, gain independence, and collaborate with leading researchers, which I see as a key step toward establishing my own research direction in the future." December 2025

Chemist Girlie Eunice Lopez, who was a postdoctoral researcher at the Université de Lorraine in France, focuses her work on photocatalytic reactions, particularly the use of graphene quantum dots as catalysts for oxidation processes. She aims to deepen her expertise in catalysis, reaction optimisation and modelling – with applications in water remediation and sustainable energy systems. She chose Germany for its strong applied research landscape and access to state-of-the-art facilities, excellent technical support and a highly collaborative environment.

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Erin Kavanagh

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“In addition to wanting to go abroad, the current landscape of federal and private funding in the US for academic research has dramatically shifted, and as a young professional I felt it best to broaden my experiences and contacts outside the US. When one of my collaborators and thesis committee members put me in contact with a colleague at the LMU Klinikum, it felt like the natural next step to apply for the Humboldt research fellowship. The Humboldt Fellowship has made me feel supported not only in my research but also my professional development, and I am looking forward to expanding my research experiences while developing leadership and mentorship skills.“ September 2026

Erin Kavanagh’s goal is to develop novel therapeutic delivery systems to treat genetic diseases, specifically those affecting the heart and lungs. She utilizes nanoparticles as an alternative delivery method in the hopes of targeting specific cell types that are responsible or most affected by the genetic disease state, with the hopes that in the future we can have a precision medicine that utilizes CRISPR-Cas9 derived technologies to correct genetic diseases at their root cause. She is a Humboldt Postdoctoral fellow at the Gene Centre of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where she works in Daniel Reichart’s research group, focusing on genetically caused forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart muscle disorder. During her PhD at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the USA, she focused on new approaches in gene therapy for the treatment of rare genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis. 

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Esma Ugur

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"This program empowers me to launch an independent research group dedicated to unlocking the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells. By investigating fundamental material degradation and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations across the globe, we are addressing a critical challenge for next-generation devices. This milestone allows me to push the boundaries of semiconductor physics while growing as a scientific leader and mentor." May 2026

Physicist and materials scientist Dr. Esma Ugur is currently an Emmy Noether Group Leader at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, focusing on the long-term operational stability of perovskite photovoltaics. She completed her doctoral studies in Material Science and Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, where she also conducted postdoctoral research on perovskite-based tandem solar cells at the KAUST Solar Center. Her independent research group brings a fundamental scientific approach to establishing structure–property–stability relationships that enable the rational design of stable perovskite materials for advanced next-generation photovoltaic technologies.

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Eman Elbelasy

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“I consider myself very fortunate to work in multinational research environments. There is a saying that “no man is an island,” and I believe this also applies to research, because we cannot develop new ideas by working in isolation or living in an echo chamber. It is therefore important to connect with people from different parts of the world and to bring together diverse perspectives to address global challenges. At the same time, independent research and thinking require academic freedom, and in Germany, I have experienced an environment where researchers can work independently without undue influence from external stakeholders.” September 2026

Eman Hamza Mohamed Ahmed Elbelasy is a dentist, lecturer, and researcher who specializes in modern dental science. With a Humboldt research fellowship, she conducts research at the University of Freiburg in Germany, where she investigates topics related to oral health and microbiology. Her research focuses particularly on the oral microbiome, dental materials, and the relationship between microorganisms and dental diseases.

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Adrià Bellvert

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"I chose Germany to advance my career because it offers the opportunity to collaborate with world-leading experts. In addition, fellowships such as those offered with the Global Minds Initiative Germany provide early-career scientists with valuable opportunities to lead independent projects, which is essential for my professional development. My goal here is to consolidate my career as an independent researcher and contribute new evidence on the group I study, strengthening its value as a model for understanding species evolution.“ December 2025

In his research group at Greifswald university Adrià Bellvert investigates the evolutionary processes that drive species diversification, using spiders as a model system. He completed his Ph.D. in biodiversity, specializing in evolutionary biology, at the University of Barcelona. After that he worked  as an postdoctoral researcher at the Water Research Institute (IRSA-CNR) in Verbania, Italy. 

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Sevgi Gökçe Kafalı

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“Germany is one of the leading countries in magnetic resonance imaging research, offering solid industry-university partnerships and technical infrastructure. It provides an open and supportive research environment that encourages independent thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration. This independence is essential for innovative and impactful scientific work, especially in a rapidly evolving field such as artificial intelligence in medicine. During my fellowship, I hope to strengthen my expertise in medical imagining while developing leadership and project management skills.” December 2025

Biomedical engineer Sevgi Gökçe Kafalı Tekat (Turkey) is coming from the University of California in Los Angeles, USA, to the Technical University of Munich on a Humboldt Research Fellowship. She is conducting research at the department of Daniel Rückert, Humboldt Professor for AI in Medicine and Healthcare.

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Karen Christman

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“I am a professor of bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego. My lab develops novel biomaterials for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, with the primary goal of developing new, minimally invasive therapies for cardiovascular diseases and women’s health. I am honored to receive funding through the Humboldt Research Award as part of the Global Minds Initiative Germany and through the Charité Foundation. We hope that our work will help translate new, cost-effective therapies based on biomaterials into new clinical trials for heart attack patients in the United States and Germany.” December 2025

Karen Christman is an expert in biomaterials and tissue engineering and conducts research at the University of California, San Diego, USA. Her visiting stays as part of the Humboldt Research Award are intended to specifically support the expansion of biomedical engineering at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin. Christman earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and the Berkeley Joint Bioengineering Graduate Group, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the fields of polymer chemistry and nanotechnology.

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Patricio Antici

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“I want to expand my knowledge within the field of laser-generated particle sources and meet other experts from my field. Germany has a very good infrastructure, considerable funding for highly qualified personnel, a large network of universities, many excellent scientists, and almost everyone speaks English. In addition, it is a nice place to live.”  December 2025

Patrizio Antici is a professor at the University of Quebec, Canada. The physicist is an expert in the field of laser ion acceleration. As part of the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, he will be working at LMU Munich on the interdisciplinary applications of proton and radiation pulses. 

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Johannes Hertrich

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"The Emmy Noether-Programme is actually attractive, because on the one hand it offers something reasonably stable, while on the other hand allowing quite a lot of freedom." July 2026

Johannes Hertrich will start his Emmy Noether Research Group named "Flow-based Generative Models and Optimal Transport for Sampling and Inverse Problems" in September 2026 in Göttingen. He was a postdoc on a Walter Benjamin Fellowship awarded by the DFG in Paris. Previously, he was a postdoc at the University College London. He completed his Ph.D. in 2023 at Technische Universität Berlin.