Early Career Scientist (former Young Scientist) Prizes recognize the contributions of early career physicists within the subfields of each Commission. Successful candidates will have up to 8 years of research experience following Ph.D. (excluding career interruptions). Each commission can give up to three awards over three years (these can be one per year or all three awarded together). The award consists of a certificate, medal and a monetary award. A presentation by the awardees will take place at an international conference sponsored through the commission.

The 31st IUPAP General Assembly approved a resolution to rename the Union’s Young Scientist Prizes as Early Career Scientist Prizes to reflect that they are not intended for “young” people in terms of chronological age but in terms of the stage of the career they are at. The IUPAP also approved that periods of career interruptions should be excluded when counting the years of research experience after the PhD to decide whether a person qualifies as an early career scientist or not.

IUPAP Interdisciplinary Early Career Scientist Award

Besides the prizes that are associated with each IUPAP’s commission, the Union has recently established the Interdisciplinary Early Career Scientist Award to recognize the contributions of Early Career Scientists who do interdisciplinary research that does not fit within a single subfield of physics as covered by one IUPAP Commission.

Details on the awarded prizes are available in the following pages: