Dear Sir or Madam,

With the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, 
the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is offering promising young researchers 
from all over the world attractive career prospects in Germany. Junior research 
talents of all disciplines from abroad are given the opportunity to establish 
working groups of their own at German research institutions. The Alexander von 
Humboldt Foundation is delighted to be able to contribute to the further 
internationalisation of Germany as a research location with this distinguished 
award for top level academics. 

The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award recognises outstanding talent and creative research
approaches with exceptional conditions: With an award amount of up to 1.65 million
EUR each winner receives valuable starting capital to spend five years pursuing 
an innovative research project at a research institute of his or her choice - 
untroubled by administrative constraints. In addition, the establishment of their
own junior research team enables the award winners to lay an important foundation 
for a promising academic career at a very early stage. Eight awards are expected 
to be granted. The programme is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and 
Research.

Outstandingly qualified junior academics of all disciplines from abroad who 
completed their doctorate less than six years ago are eligible to apply for the 
Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. It is also possible to submit applications immediately 
after finishing one's doctoral studies. The programme is also open to German 
researchers provided that they have been working abroad for more than five years.
Applications must be submitted by 1 September 2011. 

We should be grateful if you could support us in looking for suitable international
research talents by disseminating this announcement at your institution. Attached 
you will find a brief description of the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award that you are 
free to forward or display at your institution. Also, we should very much appreciate
if you could request further colleagues to draw the attention of suitably talented 
junior researchers to this academic award. 

Details of the application procedure for the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award can be found 
on our website at: www.humboldt-foundation.de/skp_en. For individual questions, 
you are also welcome to contact info@avh.de. 


Thank you very much in advance for your support. 

Sincerely yours

Dr. Enno Aufderheide 
Secretary General, 
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation