Collaborating EARLY-CAREER INVESTIGATOR AWARD

1. The application must be based on one or more peer reviewed publications (with a publication date not prior to 14 March 2022) and/or open source code (with a most recent release date not prior to 14 March 2022) that resulted from collaboration between two or more early-career investigators. The contribution of the applicants should be of comparable importance.

2. Applicants may be of any nationality working anywhere in the world.

3. The PhD certificates of the early career investigators must be dated not prior to 14 March 2020. Note that this extends the eligibility to 7 years after PhD, since all applicant team members must fulfil the condition. Those who have not yet completed a PhD can also apply.

4. The eligibility period set out in point (2) can be extended for certain, properly documented, circumstances (including parental leave), following Annex 1 below.

The following documents, merged as a single PDF file (max size 10 MB), must be uploaded (see link "CECI candidate file" below) by 15 July 9th September 2026 (23:59 CET):

• The name and contact details of the person submitting the application. 

• The name and contact details of all early-career investigators.

• A summary (including title and a text of maximum 150 words). In the case of self nomination, and if successful, this will be the abstract for the DPG Conference CECI Symposium.

• A description of up to two pages making the case for the importance of the scientific contribution and for the role of collaboration in the achievement. You may highlight not only scientific results, but also inclusive collaborative practices and mentoring.

• An extended CV for each applicant (highlighting the joint publication(s) and/or code developments, as well as related talks/posters), up to a maximum of four pages per applicant, reflecting the status as of the original deadline for applications of 15 July.

• Evidence of satisfying requirement (3) above (e.g., copies of PhD certificates).

• Supporting evidence for any requested extension of the eligibility period set out in requirements (1) and (3) above.

In addition, up to two confidential support letters should be submitted directly (not by the early-career investigators themselves) to the separate link labelled "CECI support letters" below. These letters must be received by 29 July 9th September 2026 (23:59 CET) and must include full contact details and position of the supporting person.

In case a senior scientist is co-author of the proposed work, one of the letters should be authored by them and should contain a view on the contribution and collaboration of the early-career investigators. One of the letters (can be the same) must certify that the early-career investigators meet requirement (3) above.

Letter writers are invited, where relevant, to contextualise the team’s achievements in light of any documented eligibility extensions (see Annex 1 below). Such extensions are fully accepted and should not be viewed as disadvantages.

The CECI award will have a shortlisting panel of Psi-k members appointed by the Board of Trustees. The panel will select up to five finalist teams who will be invited to present their work at a special award symposium at the DPG Spring Meeting in Regensburg, 14-18 March 2027. An award panel of Psi-k members appointed by the Board of Trustees will select the winning team following the symposium, when the winners and finalists will be awarded their prizes and certificates.

For general queries about eligibility etc., please contact the CECI Panel Chair Lucia Reining.

For technical questions regarding file upload etc, please contact the Psi-k Chair Arash Mostofi.

List of finalists (winners in bold):

2025   Gunnar Felix Lange & Bo Peng | Connor Box, Nils Hertl & Wojciech Stark | Arnold Kole, Riccardo Reho & Nils Wittemeier | Yorick Schmerwitz & Louis Thirion | Seán Kavanagh & Irea Mosquera-Lois

The eligibility periods set out in the call can be extended for certain, properly documented, circumstances [1], for which we broadly adopt the approach of the European Research Council Work Programme 2026:

• Maternity: 18 months extension for each child born before or after the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree. If an applicant can document a longer total maternity leave, the eligibility period will be extended by the docu-mented amount of actual leave(s) for all children taken before the call deadline.

• Paternity: extension by the documented time of paternity leave taken before the call deadline for each child born before or after the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree.

• Long-term illness [2] or national service: extension by the documented amount of leave taken by an applicant before the call deadline for each incident, which occurred after the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree.

• Disability [3]: Extension corresponding to the reduced amount of working time (including leave taken) and/or the degree of disability as documented by an applicant, before the call deadline, and which occurred after the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree.

• Clinical training: extension by the documented amount of clinical training received by an applicant after the reference date of the first eligible degree and be-fore the call deadline, up to a maximum of 4 years.

• Major disasters [4]: extension by the documented time of an applicant’s inability to work [5] before the call deadline due to a major disaster, which occurred after the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree.

• Seeking asylum: extension by the documented time of an applicant’s inability to work before the call deadline due to seeking asylum [6], which occurred after the date of the successful defence of their first PhD degree.  

• Violence: extension by the documented time of an applicant’s inability to work due to being a victim of violence [7].

[1] For applicants whose first eligible degree is their medical degree such incidents can be considered from the date of completion of their medical degree. [2] Over 90 days for the applicant or a close family member (child, spouse, parent or sibling). [3] Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)). [4] Major disasters include large-scale geological (e.g., earthquakes), meteorological (e.g., floods) or human-caused (e.g., armed conflicts) events that cause loss of life or property. [5] For a minimum of 90 days. [6] The possible period of extension runs from the start date of asylum/refugee application to the date of decision on the applicant’s refugee status and/or receipt of specific residence permit. [7] Any action with the intention to cause physical or psychological harm to another person.