Green Talents Competition 2010

On 2 November 2010 German Federal Minister of Education and Research Professor Annette Schavan honoured the winners of this year's "Green Talents" international sustainability award for their research. She received the 20 award winners at the 7th BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) Forum for Sustainability (FONA) in Berlin. "We are extremely pleased about the great response the 'Green Talents' competition once again received this year and about the participants' interest in Germany as a research location," said Minister Professor Annette Schavan during the Green Talents award ceremony at the 7th BMBF Forum for Sustainability (FONA) . "The purpose of this competition is to advance international cooperation so we can jointly contribute towards developing sustainable solutions to fighting the climate change and to protect the environment." Minister Schavan pointed out: "We create conditions that let us learn with and from one another. Most importantly, we do not want to make decisions over the heads of the young people themselves whose future is the issue here, but together with them."

The award of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the patronage of Minister Professor Annette Schavan is handed out for the second time in 2010. It is a distinction for outstanding scientific talents in the field of sustainability research. The decisive selection criterion is that a research paper may crucially contribute towards mastering global challenges such as the climate change, declining energy resources and massive environmental pollution. A total of 234 young scientists from 57 countries had applied to become one of the "Green Talents". A high-calibre jury of German experts selected a total of 20 award winners traveled through Germany from 1 to 11 November 2010 as part of a ten-day science forum.

Germany is one of the leading locations for sustainability research in the world and a strong partner for international cooperation arrangements in this field. During their stay in Germany, the "Green Talents" are going to visit important universities, research institutions and companies and will learn about trend-setting projects in various fields of technology. They met renowned German experts and established contacts with young German scientists. Moreover, after the week of the Forum the award winners are going to have the opportunity for an addition stay of up to three months within one year to do research in Germany in order to further intensify the international exchange in the field of sustainability research.

The programme of the "Green Talents Forum 2010":

1 November 2010
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam (Homepage)
OSRAM / Siemens AG, Berlin (Homepage OSRAM / Homepage Siemens AG)

2 November 2010
Award ceremony at the 7th BMBF Forum for Sustainability (FONA), Berlin (Homepage)

3 November 2010
German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ), Leipzig (Homepage)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig (Homepage)

4 November 2010
Clausthal University of Technology, Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Homepage)
Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg (Homepage)

5 November 2010
The Research Centre for Agriculture and the Environment (ZLU) at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Göttingen (Homepage)

6 to 9 November 2010
Individual appointments between the "Green Talents" and German sustainability experts

10 November 2010
Workshop on funding opportunities in Germany

11 November 2010
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Bremerhaven (Homepage)  

For further information about the tour of the "Green Talents" through Germany visit our section "International Forum".