MERAC Prizes

The MERAC Prizes are awarded by the European Astronomical Society
to recognize and support young European astronomers.

2024

The 2024 MERAC Prizes for the Best Doctoral Thesis are awarded in

Photo credit: William H. McClary (Vanderbilt University)
Photo credit:
William H. McClary
Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Lorenzo Gavassino (Vanderbilt University, United States of America)

for his thermodynamics-based formulation of relativistic viscous hydrodynamics for multi-messenger and gravitational astronomy.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Julia V. Seidel (European Southern Observatory)

for her work on climate and atmospheric circulation regimes of exoplanets from high-resolution spectroscopic observations.


New Technologies (Computational) to

Dr Johannes Heyl (University College London, United Kingdom)

for his work on machine learning-based techniques to understand astrochemical processes in the interstellar medium.


2023

The 2023 MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Prof. Manuel Arca Sedda (Gran Sasso Science Institute and University of Padova, Italy)

for pioneering research in the dynamics of binary compact objects as gravitational wave sources in galactic nuclei and dense star clusters.

Photo credit:
Copyright: Universität Heidelberg,
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Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Dominika Wylezalek (Heidelberg University, Germany)

for her pioneering work using state-of-the-art IFU instruments, in particular for her work demonstrating the impact of supermassive black holes on their host galaxies and the large-scale environment.


New Technologies (Computational) to

Dr Dylan Nelson (Heidelberg University, Germany)

for his leading role in computational astrophysics, in particular for the IllustrisTNG series of cosmological simulations and his work to enable their widespread use.


2022

The 2022 MERAC Prizes for the Best PhD Thesis are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Helmer Koppelman (The Netherlands)

for his multi-faceted approach to the field of galactic archaeology that transformed our understanding of the history and dynamics of the Milky Way.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Núria Miret Roig (University of Vienna, Austria)

for the discovery of many new free-floating planets, which illuminated the origin of these exotic nomad planets.


New Technologies (Instrumental) to

Dr Ewelina Obrzud (Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique, Switzerland)

for the development of novel laser frequency combs for the accurate calibration and extreme radial velocity-precision of astronomical spectrographs.


2021

The 2021 MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Antoine Strugarek (CEA Saclay, France)

for ground-breaking contributions in stellar astrophysics, including dynamo theory, predictions of solar flares and pioneering work on star-exoplanet interactions.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Cosimo Inserra (Cardiff University, United Kingdom)

for the investigation of the extremes of stellar explosions, providing a pioneering contribution to their understanding and their role in astronomy and astrophysics.


New Technologies (Computational) to

Prof. Judit Szulágyi (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)

for her fundamental contribution to the study of circumplanetary disks in planet formation, and the origin of the moons of giant planets.


2020

The 2020 MERAC Prizes for the Best PhD Thesis are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Aris Tritsis (Australian National University, Australia)

for fundamental contributions to the physics of the interstellar medium and the process of star formation.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Jorryt Matthee (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)

for spectacular results that have transformed the way we see and understand distant galaxies across time.


New Technologies (Instrumental) to

Dr Concepción Cárdenas Vázquez (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Germany)

for her leadership and creative work in instrumentation, from the conceptual design and the feasibility study to the final integration and verification, both in the laboratory and at the telescope, related to the instrument PANIC.


2019

The 2019 MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Nikku Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)

for pioneering contributions to exoplanetary science, particularly in advancing the frontiers of atmospheric characterisation of exoplanets.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Evan Keane (SKA Organisation, UK)

for investigations of the Transient Radio Sky and the discovery of the second Lorimer burst, now known as Fast Radio Bursts.


New Technologies (Multi-Messenger) to

Prof. Irene Tamborra (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

for pioneering contributions to understanding the role of neutrinos in astronomy and astrophysics.


2018

The 2018 MERAC Prizes for the Best Doctoral Thesis are awarded in

Photo credit:
Jean Mouette/IAP-CNRS-SU
Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Sandrine Codis (IAP, France)

for the study of the imprint of the large-scale structure of the Universe on galaxy formation and cosmology.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Renske Smit (University of Cambridge, UK)

for the observational characterisation of the physical properties of the galaxies that formed in the first billion years of cosmic time.


New Technologies to

Dr Martin Pertenais (DLR, Germany)

for a PhD thesis on cutting-edge concepts of compact polychromatic spectropolarimeters adapted to astrophysical space mission requirements in the UV domain.



Group picture taken at EWASS 2018 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. The laureates are surrounded by Georges Meylan (left) and George Lake (right). Credit: Marc Audard (EAS)

2017

The 2017 MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Prof. Selma E. de Mink

for her major contributions to our understanding of the role of binarity as one of the dominant physical parameters for massive stars.


Observational Astrophysics to

Prof. Kevin Schawinski

for his groundbreaking work on the galaxy/black hole connection and innovative use of citizen science in astrophysics.


New Technologies to

Dr Emmanuel Hugot

for his unique and pioneering work on innovative astronomical instrumentation, based on active systems, freeform optics and curved focal planes.



Group picture taken at EWASS 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic marking the 5-year jubilee of the MERAC Prizes. The laureates are surrounded by George Lake (far left), Jean-Marie Louzier (left), and Carl Stadelhofer (right) all from the FONDATION MERAC, together with the EAS President, Thierry Courvoisier (far right).

2016

The 2016 MERAC Prizes for the Best Doctoral Thesis are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr Maria Petropoulou

for her thesis on radiative instabilities and particle acceleration in high-energy plasmas with applications to relativistic jets of active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr Yingjie Peng

for his thesis on the simplicity of the evolving galaxy population and the origin of the Schechter form of the galaxy stellar mass function.


New Technologies to

Dr Oliver Pfuhl

for his thesis on an innovative design of two subsystems for the VLTI instrument GRAVITY: the fibre coupler and the guiding system.



Group picture taken at EWASS 2016 in Athens, Greece. The MERAC prize laureates are surrounded by Georges Meylan, chair of the prize committee (left) and George Lake representing the FONDATION MERAC (right).

2015

The 2015 MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr. Michela Mapelli

for her theoretical and computational contributions to the dynamics of star clusters and galaxies, the reionization epoch, the Galactic centre, and the formation of massive stellar black holes.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr. Saskia Hekker

for her ground-breaking contributions to the understanding of the internal structure of red-giant stars based on stellar oscillations measured by the CoRoT and Kepler satellites.


New Technologies to

Dr. Sylvestre Lacour

for his development of pupil masking and pupil remapping observing techniques, which provide a unique combination of high contrast and high angular resolution to study the immediate environment of stars.



Group picture of the three MERAC Prize laureates taken at EWASS 2015 in Tenerife, Spain.

2014

The 2014 MERAC Prizes for the Best Doctoral Thesis are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr. Claudia Del P. Lagos

for her thesis on the treatment of star formation and feedback in simulations of galaxy formation.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr. Amaury Triaud

for his thesis on the discovery and characterisation of many new exoplanetary systems.


New Technologies to

Dr. Boon Kok Tan

for his thesis on detector technologies for sub-millimetre wave astronomy.



Group picture taken at EWASS 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. The MERAC prize laureates are surrounded by Francesco Palla, chair of the prize committee (left), Thierry Courvoisier (EAS President) and George Lake representing the FONDATION MERAC (right).

2013

The 2013 MERAC Prizes for the Best Early Career Researcher are awarded in

Theoretical Astrophysics to

Dr. Gabriella De Lucia

for her work on the theoretical modeling of galaxy formation and evolution.


Observational Astrophysics to

Dr. Elisabetta Caffau

for the discovery of a very primitive low-mass star in our Galaxy.


New Technologies to

Prof. Justin Read

for his high-impact research in computational astrophysics and cosmology.



Group picture taken at EWASS 2013 in Turku, Finland. The MERAC prize laureates are surrounded by Francesco Palla, chair of the prize committee (left), and George Lake representing the FONDATION MERAC (right).

Information

FONDATION MERAC (Mobilising European Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology) is a non-profit foundation started in 2012 with headquarters in Switzerland to recognize and support young European astronomers. It is supervised by the Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA. There are yearly three MERAC Prizes awarded by the EAS.

The prizes of 25'000 € are for each of the three categories:

  • Theoretical Astrophysics,
  • Observational Astrophysics,
  • New Technologies (Instrumental/Computational/Multi-Messenger).

The prizes alternate by year for:

  • Best Early Career Researcher Prizes (on odd years),
  • Best Doctoral Thesis Prizes (on even years).

In addition, the awardees are eligible for further substantial support from the FONDATION MERAC. The FONDATION MERAC will inform the awardees after their selection on their eligibility and procedure to follow to receive the MERAC prize and to apply for further funds.

Nominations should arrive at the EAS Office by the end of October of the year preceding the awards. Nominations can only be made by EAS members and need to be endorsed by 2 additional persons, at least one of them being an EAS member.

Note that self-nominations are not allowed.

For more information, please read the official MERAC Prize rules or contact the Webmaster.