The shortlist for the "Best Research Environment 2026" competition has been announced! From over 170 entries, the jury selected 15 teams. On 27 June, five research environments will be drawn at random from this shortlist, each receiving €10,000 in prize money.

What makes a good research environment? Openness, creativity, appreciation, clear structures, innovative impetus and a collaborative spirit that fosters personal growth and scientific excellence. This is precisely what characterises the “Best Research Environment” award, which Die Junge Akademie is presenting for the second time this year in collaboration with the Volkswagen Foundation.

Here are the top 15

• Division of Applied Mechanics, TU Braunschweig
• Department of Public Mental Health, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH)
• Junker Lab: Quantitative Developmental Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association
• Mind-Body-Emotion Group, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
• Research Group "TWIST – Topological Whirls in Spintronics", Uni­ver­si­ty of Duis­burg-Es­sen
• Research Group cBRAIN, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital Munich
• Fuel Cell Team at ivb, TU Braunschweig, Niedersächsisches Forschungszentrum Fahrzeugtechnik (NFF)
• Division Society at OFFIS, OFFIS – Institute for Information Technology
• Research Group "Translational Radiobiology", Uniklinikum Erlangen
• Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, University of Oldenburg and Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)
• Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour, University of Erfurt
• Kompost Ensemble
• Junior Research Group TRABBI, Justus Liebig University Giessen
• Project „Empirical Gender Linguistics“, Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS)
• Division of Therapy Sciences, Universitätsklinikum Münster

One thing is already clear: Germany’s scientific community boasts many strong teams with exemplary working structures. The jury did not find it easy to draw up the shortlist.

The Jury:

• Chair: Prof. Dr. Hani Harb (Die Junge Akademie and TU Dresden)
• Prof. Dr. h.c. Jutta Allmendinger, (Wissenschaftliche Kommission Niedersachsen (WKN))
• Prof. Dr. Christopher Degelmann (Die Junge Akademie and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
• Zarah Janda, (Shortlist "Best Research Environment 2024" and German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv))
• Dr. Sarah Klosterkamp (Die Junge Akademie and Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
• Dr. Gisela Kopp (Alumna Die Junge Akademie and Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour)
• Dr. Antje Tepperwien (Volkswagen Foundation)

Click here to see the 15 shortlisted teams.