Danubius Award

The Danubius Award was established in 2011 by the IDM and the BMWF (today: BMBWF) to honour people who have made a special contribution to the Danube region in their scientific work or in their work.

In order to do justice to the diversity of the Danube region, the broadest possible spectrum of scientific disciplines should be covered and the interdisciplinary character of the research emphasized. Accordingly, in the rotation principle, achievements in the humanities, cultural and social sciences are awarded in one year and in the life sciences in the following year. Contributions that serve intercultural understanding, the improvement of living conditions and thus the coexistence of people in the Danube region appear particularly worthy of an award.

The Danubius Award is intended to be a recognition of a profound scientific examination of the Danube region.
The prize is divided into two categories

A) The Danubius Mid-Career Award
This prize is awarded to researchers from 5 to a maximum of 15 years after their last formal scientific degree or equivalent scientific experience, whereby years of suspension of the scientific career (e.B: for family or health reasons or work outside the scientific field) are taken into account with appropriate proof.

B) The Danubius Award
This award is independent of formal age limits or the number of years since the last formal scientific degree or the respective status in the scientific world – and is awarded exclusively with reference to the overall scientific merits in and around the Danube region.

The Danubius Mid-Career Award is endowed with € 2,200,- , the Danubius Award with € 5,000; both prizes will be awarded annually from 2017 onwards, although a further division into several persons is not planned in principle. The winners are selected by an independent jury of experts. Applications for the Danubius Award are not planned. The Danubius Award is intended to contribute to the better visibility of the Danube region and to the increased perception of its multidisciplinary challenges and potentials; accompanied by the encouragement to deal with it on a scientific level.

C) Since 2014, special young talent awards, the “Danubius Young Scientist Awards” have also been awarded. 14 young scientists will be granted this award – one for each country that is part of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and the Ukraine).

The prize, which is open to all disciplines, highlights the scientific work and talent of young researchers and increases the visibility of the excellence of the research community in the Danube Region. In this way, the prizes also contribute to the fact that young scientists deal with the river and the region in a variety of ways. The young talent prizes are endowed with € 1.350, per award winner. The selection is made by an international jury of experts, whereby the candidates for the award are nominated by their respective scientific institutions.