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STRUCTURES Professor Michela Mapelli Becomes Humboldt Scouting Sponsor for Early-Career Researchers
We are delighted to announce that Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has appointed STRUCTURES Professor Michela Mapelli, astrophysicist at the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH), as a Henriette Herz Scout.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Henriette Herz Scouting Programme invites international researchers to conduct research projects in Germany. As a scout, STRUCTURES Professor Michela Mapelli now has the opportunity to identify three excellent researchers in the early stages of their careers and recommend them directly for a Humboldt Fellowship. Humboldt Scouts are selected based on their outstanding research achievements and excellence in mentoring.
Michela Mapelli has led the “Demography of Black Hole Binaries in the Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy” (DEMOBLACK) group at the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH) since July 2023. Her main research focus is understanding the formation of astrophysical black holes.
“I am very excited to become a Humboldt Scout. My priority will be to bring to Heidelberg outstanding early-career scientists who show promise of becoming leaders in the fields of Computational Astrophysics and Gravitational-Wave Astronomy,” says Michela Mapelli. “I will focus on identifying excellent female young researchers as well as candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented minorities.”
The Henriette Herz Scouting Programme enables three international scientists to do research at the ZAH with a Humboldt Fellowship. Young talents as well as experienced researchers are eligible. The sponsorship period is 24 months for postdocs and 18 months for experienced researchers. Financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the programme has opened up a new way of accessing the Humboldt Research Fellowship. The new, active scouting procedure enables successful academics in Germany to directly approach highly sought-after candidates from abroad who have so far not applied to the Foundation and invite them to conduct joint research at their institutions. In a competitive peer-review process, the Humboldt Foundation annually selects up to 40 scouts who will then themselves identify junior researchers abroad and recommend them to the Foundation. Both in terms of subject and region, the programme thus recruits new collaborative partners for Germany. It also seeks to increase the percentage of women sponsored under the Humboldt Research Fellowship Programme.
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