Historian at Freie Universität Wins Most Important German Award for Early Career Researchers
Valeska Huber Was Awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
№ 054/2018 from Mar 27, 2018
The historian Valeska Huber from Freie Universität Berlin is being honored with the most important German prize for early career researchers, the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize. She is one of ten individuals to receive the award on May 29 in Berlin, as announced by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) after a meeting of the selection committee in Bonn on Tuesday. A total of 140 researchers from all disciplines had been proposed for this year’s competition. The prize is endowed with 20,000 euros.
A statement made by the selection committee noted that in her research on global history, Valeska Huber continuously crossed borders and challenged discussions, while her methods always adhered to the highest demands. Her published doctoral dissertation, entitled “Channelling Mobilities” investigated migration and globalization in the region of the Suez Canal between 1869 and 1914. According to the selection committee, this was already a groundbreaking study on the history of the Middle East and the history of migration, as Huber consistently linked local and global perspectives, something that is often needed in global history, but which is often neglected.
Valeska Huber, who is currently 38, attended universities in London and Cambridge, earned her doctorate in Konstanz, Germany, and did postdoctoral research in London and at Harvard University. Since 2017 she has been leading an Emmy Noether junior research group at Freie Universität, which is devoted to communication and information dissemination in globally networked regions in Africa and Asia.
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize has been awarded to early career researchers since 1977 in recognition of their outstanding achievements. The DFG and the BMBF consider it to be both an acknowledgment of achievements and an incentive for young researchers to pursue their academic careers. Since 1980 the prize has been named after the atomic physicist and former president of the DFG, Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, during whose tenure (1973–1979) it was first awarded. The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize is considered to be the most important award for early career researchers in Germany.