CIC-Young Scientist Award
The “CIC Award for Computational Chemistry” is awarded for outstanding Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations that address the scientific fields represented in the Division of Computers in Chemistry (CIC) and make a particular contribution to the further development of the CIC field. Nominees must have completed their work at a higher education institution in a German-speaking country or region. The assessment criteria include thematic relevance as well as scientific quality and presentation.
The awards are generally presented annually and comprise prize money of €350 (Master’s thesis) or €750 (doctoral dissertation), a free one-year GDCh and CIC membership upon request, and a certificate detailing the achievements of the awardees. From 2025 onwards, a maximum of two awardees will be honoured per call for proposals.
Next call for proposals: Autumn/Winter 2026
The GDCh Division of Computers in Chemistry (CIC) is holding the 2027 call for proposals for the “CIC Young Scientist Award for Computational Chemistry”. The award recognises outstanding Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations that address scientific fields represented within the Division and make a special contribution to the development of the CIC field. Nominees should have completed their work at a higher education institution in a German-speaking country. The assessment criteria include thematic relevance, scientific quality and presentation. The work must have been completed between 01.01.2026 and 30.03.2027. A maximum of two awardees will be selected per call for proposals. Repeat submissions are not permitted.
The jury consists of the members of the Board and the associated Board members. The Board decides whether to confer the award, by an absolute majority of all serving Board members, after reviewing the jury’s report. Supervisors of the nominated work are excluded from the assessment and decision-making process.
The prize money is 350 euros in the Master’s category and 750 euros in the doctoral dissertation category. In addition, awardees receive a certificate detailing their achievements and, if they wish, a free one-year GDCh and CIC membership. The awards will be presented at the 20th GCC in 2028.
Nominations may be submitted by the graduates’ supervisors. The Master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation should have received a grade of at least “very good”.
The following documents must be submitted to the Board of the Division CIC, n.buerger@gdch.de, by 30 March 2027:
Dr. Louis Bellmann, University of Hamburg, for his dissertation “Algorithmic methods for combinatorial chemical libraries”
Dr. Dennis F. Dinu, University of Innsbruck, for his dissertation “Rationalizing molecular vibration through matrix isolation infrared spectroscopy and vibrational configuration interaction computations”
Anne Germann, University of Düsseldorf, for her master’s thesis "Computational investigation of the mechanochemistry of 2-ladderene derivates“
Dr. Janosch Menke, University of Münster, for his dissertation "Improving Ligand-based Virtual Screening by Utilizing Neural Networks to Generate Domain-specific Molecular Representations“
Dr. Marwin Segler, University of Münster, for his dissertation "Computational Hypothesis Generation for Synthesis Planning, Molecular Design and Reaction Discovery"
Janine Isabel Hellmers, University of Kiel, for her master's thesis "Fragmentation Methods for Electronic Interaction Energies"
Sophia M. N. Hönig, University of Hamburg, for her master's thesis "Convex Optimization of Matched Molecular Series Networks and its Application to Machine Learning"
Due to the pandemic, no award ceremony took place in 2021.
Jan Blasius, University of Bonn, for his Master's thesis "Theoretical Modeling of Chiral Systems"
Dr. Christoph Bannwarth, Stanford University, for his dissertation "„Development and Application of Efficient Methods for the Computation of Electronic Spectra of Large Systems“
Dr. Jan Meisner, Stuttgart, for his dissertation “Theoretical Investigations of Atom Tunneling in the Interstellar Medium”
Jochen Sieg, Hamburg, for his master’s thesis “Evaluation of Benchmark Datasets for Virtual Screening with Machine Learning”
Lisa Warczinski, Bochum, for her master’s thesis “Heuristic estimation of the dynamic correlation energy: Research for the validation of a novel approach”
The GDCh Division of Computers in Chemistry (CIC) is issuing a call for proposals for the “CIC Young Scientist Award for Computational Chemistry” in 2027. The award is presented for outstanding Master's theses and doctoral dissertations that address scientific fields represented in the Division and constitute a particular contribution to the advancement of the CIC field. Nominees should have completed their work at a university in a German-speaking country. The assessment criteria include thematic relevance, scientific quality and presentation. The work must have been completed between 01.01.2026 and 30.03.2027. A maximum of two awardees will be selected per call for proposals. Repeat submissions are not permitted.
The jury consists of the members of the Board and the associated Board members. The Board decides whether to award the prize, by an absolute majority of all serving Board members, after taking note of the jury's report. Supervisors of the nominated work are excluded from the assessment and decision-making process.
The prizes are worth 350 euros in the Master's category and 750 euros in the doctoral dissertation category. In addition, the awardees receive a certificate detailing their achievements and, if they wish, a free one-year GDCh and CIC membership. The prizes will be presented at the 20th GCC 2028.
Proposals may be submitted by the graduates' supervisors. The Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation should have been awarded at least a “very good” grade.
The following documents must be submitted to the Board of the CIC Division, n.buerger@gdch.de, by 30 March 2027: