Vision and development of the academy
The Hector Fellow Academy celebrates its tenth anniversary. It was founded in December 2013 as a Scientific Academy for outstanding top scientists in the natural sciences, engineering, psychology and medicine.
The Academy was established with the aim of facilitating interdisciplinary cutting-edge research between researchers who have been awarded the Hector Science Award. It was the continuation of an idea that Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Hector and his wife Josephine Hector (founding couple of the Hector Foundations) have been pursuing with the award since 2008. The Hector Science Award recognizes outstanding professors in research and teaching in Germany.
Since then, the Hector Fellow Academy has grown continuously. Currently, the Hector Fellow Academy has over 100 active members. These include 30 Hector Fellows, 14 Hector Research Career Development Awardees and 57 early career researchers. In addition, over 30 alumni have already joined the HFA alumni network.
Creating added value for research
Through networking within the Academy, it promotes completely new research approaches and innovative projects between Hector Fellows, which develop solutions to important issues facing our society beyond the boundaries of disciplines and universities. In the research fields of physics, chemistry, biology and medicine, several joint interdisciplinary projects have already been successfully implemented by members of the HFA in recent years.
At the same time, the Academy's funding formats have been continuously expanded in order to support promising young scientists at different career stages in their research careers. In addition to funding doctoral projects of excellent early career researchers in the working groups of the Hector Fellows, the creation of the Hector Research Career Development Award was also an important and consistent further development of the Academy. Since 2020, outstanding junior research group leaders have been supported by the HFA with the aim of strengthening their independent research. The award is intended to pave the way to a professorship.
“From our original idea of honoring outstanding researchers for their special contribution with the Hector Science Award, something wonderful has emerged: A vibrant network of top scientists who not only pass on their knowledge to the next generation in the Hector Fellow Academy, but also face the challenges of our time together. With its diverse formats, the Academy not only focuses on the holistic promotion of young talent, but also contributes to the transfer of knowledge to society. We have been following the development of the Hector Fellow Academy for 10 years with great pleasure and are sure that the future holds many more success stories.”
Josephine und Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Hector
Knowledge transfer to society
The Hector Fellow Academy aims to make the research topics of its members accessible to a broad public. This is achieved through annual science evenings at different locations of the Hector Fellows. The HFA sees itself as a platform for dialog between research and the public and offers citizens the opportunity to discuss with experts in their field. In an extensive series of video portraits, the research areas of the Hector Fellows are also explained in simple terms and placed in an overall socio-political context.
“The award and support from the Hector Foundation is not only a great honor and support for my research. The membership in the Hector Fellow Academy is also extraordinarily inspiring, as the Foundation's meetings and public symposia facilitate an exchange with excellent colleagues from other disciplines.”
Prof. Dr. Katrin Amunts
“The Hector Fellow Academy offers a unique framework for interdisciplinary exchange and getting to know completely new scientific fields at the highest level. The promotion of young scientists is a particularly important aspect that helps to carry this knowledge into the future and develop it further.”
Prof. Dr. Immanuel Bloch
“10 years of the Hector Fellow Academy means a decade of promoting, challenging and celebrating deep, surprising and innovative scientific knowledge. The Hector Fellows come from such different disciplines that there is always something new to learn. For me, the promotion of young researchers with their very own ideas for projects with us Fellows is a particular highlight of the Academy.”
Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius
“The HFA facilitates the realization of the potential of exceptional thinkers and researchers through mutual inspiration. It thus transcends the boundaries of contemporary knowledge and establishes a novel dimension of research and education that is inextricably linked with the pursuit of sustainable ethical reflection.”
Prof. Dr. Thomas Elbert
“It is a pleasure and an honor to be part of the Hector Fellow Academy. With its focus on excellence and interdisciplinarity, the HFA has been very successful in enabling new, innovative research projects that would otherwise not have been possible. A special highlight are the HFA’s valuable and very successful career support measures for outstanding young researchers. The enormous interest in the HFA’s outreach events underlines the high quality of the Academy’s very effective science communication with the general public.”
Prof. Dr. Eva Grebel
“The Hector Fellow Academy combines cutting-edge research with the promotion of early career scientists in an outstanding way. The unbureaucratic support of exciting scientific ideas and the interdisciplinary networking of researchers at different career levels are particularly noteworthy.”
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Nikolaus Pfanner
“Lively, interdisciplinary and inspiring - the Hector Fellow Academy is a great gift for our research landscape.”
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf
Outlook
Our vision is to be a world-leading institution for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research that fosters groundbreaking scientific discoveries and inspires a new generation of scientists. We strive to develop innovative solutions to the pressing challenges of our time through close collaboration and networking among our members.
With the sustained support of the Hector Foundation II, we are creating a dynamic platform that supports excellent research and outstanding young scientists. Through interdisciplinary approaches and the promotion of creative thinking, our goal is and remains to achieve significant scientific advances that have a positive impact on society and the global community.
The Hector Fellow Academy is a beacon of scientific excellence and an important bridge between science and the public. Through our work, we strive to shape an inspiring and innovative research landscape that creates, shares and sustains knowledge.
