topic Academia

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH)

Click here for photos of the award ceremony of Alexander von Humboldt Professorships on 15 May 2012.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) supports science cooperation between outstanding researchers from Germany and abroad. It is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany. The Foundation's research fellowships and research awards allow highly qualified foreign scientists and scholars to come to Germany to work on research projects. The resulting partnerships with colleagues in Germany promote the development of networks. The Foundation therefore also supports periods of research abroad  for German scholars.

BMBF provides funding to the following programmes and cooperative projects:

• Feodor Lynen research fellowships: Periods of research abroad for German post-doctoral scholars and scientists The host has to be a researcher based abroad who already received funding from the Humboldt Foundation. 
• two Max Planck research awards for international cooperation
• new cooperation award for the internationalization of the humanities and social sciences in Germany: The Anneliese Maier research award is conferred every year upon up to five outstanding foreign scholars from all areas in the humanities and social sciences.
• There are two programmes which aim to attract both German and non-German world class researchers who had been working abroad to Germany:
  • the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award offers outstanding scientists an opportunity to establish their own working groups at a German research institution of their choice over a period of five years 2012 marked the sixth year that the award was conferred upon young researchers.
  • The Alexander von Humboldt Professorships have been awarded every year since 2008. The award is worth up to €5 million for scientists conducting experimental research and €3.5 million for those working in theoretical disciplines. The funding is provided over a period of five years. There have been 26 scientists and scholars appointed to a German university thus far, over half of whom come from Germany.
•  The AvH is the contact point for mobility schemes under the EU Research Framework Programme, and for Marie Curie Actions in particular.
• The AvH is the national contact point of EURAXESS Deutschland. Information and guidance service centre for internationally mobile researchers who come to Germany to pursue research or for those who would like to go abroad (assistance funding bank and other services)
  

Financing:

The Federal Government provides more than 95% of AvH funding. The sums disbursed by AvH (target/actual) in 2007-2012 (in million €):