The GAeF PhD award will honour young researchers for their excellent PhD theses.
GAeF PhD AWARD
The GAeF PhD Award is new since 2018 and granted to young scientists whose ideas have provided decisive stimulus in their area of aerosol research and who are recognized as outstanding among their peers in their field.
The distinction is based on an outstanding doctoral thesis that has been submitted no more than 2 years before the call for nominations. The GAeF PhD Award can be annually awarded to a maximum of two early career scientists. From 2024 onwards the award will be presented at the START conference.
Committee members: Anne Maisser, Bernadette Rosati, Christof Asbach, Birgit Wehner, Gerhard Steiner
* final deadline
31 October 2025
Regulations and Procedures
1. AWARD
(a) The GAeF PhD Award is intended to recognize internationally successful young scientists whose ideas have provided decisive stimulus in their area of aerosol research and who are recognized as outstanding among their peers in their field. The award consists of a certificate and a donation of 1.000 € per award.
(b) The distinction is based on an outstanding doctoral thesis that has been submitted no more than 2 years before the call for nominations. The GAeF PhD Award can be annually awarded to a maximum of two early career scientists. However, it will be only awarded if a nominee’s scientific achievements are beyond doubt and it will be only awarded to nominees who meet the high standards.
(c) The award will be conferred by the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung (GAeF) during the annual START Conference. The name(s) and achievements of the awardee(s) will be published in the Journal of Aerosol Science and on the GAeF homepage.
2. COMMITTEE
(a) The award committee is composed of at least five members of the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung (GAeF), representing the topical diversity of aerosol science. The actual number is decided by the board of GAeF. The members of the committee are elected by the GAeF board for a period of 3 years, with one possible prolongation. The award committee elects a chair person during an election that is led by the past chair person. In case of impediment the president of GAeF leads the election. The past chair person is a member of the GAeF PhD Award Committee ex officio.
(b) The names of the members of the award committee are listed on the GAeF web page.
3. NOMINATIONS
(a) The GAeF PhD Award Committee solicits nominations of candidates from scientists working in the field of aerosol science. Nominations need to comply with the regulations issued by the GAeF PhD Award Committee as posted on the home page of GAeF and by public announcement in the Journal of Aerosol Science and/or other scientific publications.
(b) Nominations should be sent to the chairman of the GAeF PhD Award Committee before 1 October of each year. Self-nominations are excluded.
(c) Nomination is made by a full letter of support including a curriculum vitae and a bibliography. The letter should include at least one specific reference to an outstanding work of the nominee
(d) The nominee does not need to be a member of GAeF or any other aerosol association.
(e) Nominations may be carried over to the following award year by a re-nomination letter.
4.SELECTION
(a) The committee will review all eligible nominations in closed session. Each member of the GAeF PhD Award Committee discloses possible conflicts of interest and collaborations with the proposed candidates. After a discussion of the candidates, the GAeF PhD Award Committee votes on the candidates. The voting procedures are decided by the GAeF PhD Award Committee. If the award committee discusses a candidate coming from the institution of one of the members of the committee, this member is neither allowed to speak about this candidate, nor to vote.
(b) The award committee has the discretionary power to not select an awardee in any given period.
(c) A copy of the minutes of the session is sent to the Secretary General of GAeF.
WINNERS OF THE GAeF PhD AWARD
2024
Una Trivanovic
ETH Zurich
Synthesis and dynamics of carbonaceous nanoparticles during enclosed spray combustion
MSc. Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Canada
PhD, Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Awards and honors
4 Poster Awards
2 Invited Lectures
2023 : Fellow & Speaker, Global Young Scientist Summit, Singapore
Award Committee: Anne Maisser, Bernadette Rosati, Christof Asbach, Birgit Wehner, Gerhard Steiner
2024
Maximilian Dollner
Universität Wien
Assessment of the global distribution of coarse-mode aerosol and clouds with large-scale in situ aircraft observation
MSc, Meteorology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
PhD, Physics, University of Vienna, Austria
Awards and honors
3 NASA Group Achievement Awards since 2019
Hans Thirring Prize – award for outstanding dissertation, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
Award Committee: Anne Maisser, Bernadette Rosati, Christof Asbach, Birgit Wehner, Gerhard Steiner
2023
DR. PADRYK MERKL
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Responsive Nanostructured Materials for Bioanalyte Detection and Triggered Antimicrobial Therapy
MSc. Chemical Physics, University ofEdinburgh, UK
PhD, Medical Science, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Award Committee: Birgit Wehner, Claudia Mohr, Christof Asbach, Gerhard Steiner, Anne Maisser
2023
DR. VAIOS MOSCHOS
ETH Zurich
Assessing the composition and sources of climate-relevant atmospheric aerosol species
Diploma, Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University ofThessaloniki, Greece
MSc, Mechanicaland ProcessEngineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
PhD, AtmosphericChemistry, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Award Committee: Birgit Wehner, Claudia Mohr, Christof Asbach, Gerhard Steiner, Anne Maisser
2022
INES WEBER
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Application of aerosol technology to a new field, highly selective gas sensing with immediate and tangible applications in human health and air quality monitoring
2016-2018 MSc., ETH Zurich (Material Science), Switzerland
2019-2022 PhD, ETH Zurich (Mechanical and Process Engineering), Switzerland
Since 2022 Postdoc with independent funding (BRIDGE Proof of Concept), University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Awards
2022 Fellow of the Global Young Scientist Summit, Singapore
2021 Best poster award, European Aerosol Conference, Birmingham
2021 Third place student presentation award, International Meeting on Chemical Sensors, Chicago
Publications
6 first-author publications during her PhD (2019-2022)
Award Committee: Claudia Mohr, Gerhard Steiner, Otmar Schmid, Christof Asbach, Birgit Wehner
2022
DR. WEI XU
National University of Ireland, Galway
Development of a unique and novel approach to determine sea spray size distribution
2017-2021 PhD National University of Ireland, Galway
since 2021 Postdoc National University of Ireland, Galway
since 2021 Visiting Researcher Institute of Earth Environment, CAS
Award Committee: Claudia Mohr, Gerhard Steiner, Otmar Schmid, Christof Asbach, Birgit Wehner
2021
RUNLONG CAI
Tsinghua University, China
Contributions to measuring sub-3 nm aerosols and understanding new particle formation in polluted urban environments
BSc, Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, China
PhD, Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University and University of Helsinki (exchange student)
Career
Postdoctoral Researcher at Faculty of Science/INAR, University of Helsinki
Publications
13 First Author Publications, 23 in Total
Award Committee: Anne Maisser, Otmar Schmid, Birgit Wehner, Christof Asbach, Claudia Mohr
2021
JAN VAN DEN BROEK
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Innovative gas sensor solutions based on aerosol technology focusing on easy applicability, low price and portability
Bsc., and MSc. In Materials Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
PhD, Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Experience
Several Industrial Internships during his studies
Co-founder and CTO, AlivionAG, Switzerland
Awards and honours
2016 ZugerScience Award (2nd place) for outstanding master thesis of distinguished inventions, Zug, Switzerland
2021 Fellow of the Global Young Scientist Summit, Singapore
Award Committee: Anne Maisser, Otmar Schmid, Birgit Wehner, Christof Asbach, Claudia Mohr
2020
GEORGIOS KELESIDIS
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Morphology and optical properties of flame-made nanoparticles
2013 Diploma in Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Greece
2015 MSc in Process Engineering, ETH Zurich
awarded with IBM research price for MSc thesis in Computer Modeling and Simulations in Chemistry, Biology and Material Science
2019 PhD in Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich
awarded with the ETH Medal for outstanding PhD thesis
Best poster award at the EAC 2016 in Tours, France, and at the Material Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting in 2019, Boston, USA
Publications
9 published publications
6 invited lectures, 20 oral conference contributions and 33 poster presentations
Forbes 30 under 30 Europe List, Science and Healthcare, Class 2020
Award Committee: A. Maisser, C. Asbach, C. Mohr, O. Schmid, B. Wehner
2019
YANG WANG
Washington University in St. Louis
Sub 2 nm particle characterization in systems with aerosol formation
2012 B.S. in thermal engineering at Tsinghua University (China), Excellent Undergraduate Thesis Award of Tsinghua University (top 5%)
2017 Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis awarded with Ph.D. Dissertation Award (top 5%), Washington University in St. Louis
After PHD he went to Brookhaven National Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher
Publications
6 first-author publications during his Ph.D. (2012 – 2017), one in 2018
In total 23 publications during Ph.D.
Award Committee: Birgit Wehner, Anne Maisser, Claudia Mohr, Christoph Asbach, Otmar Schmid
2019
ANDREAS GÜNTNER
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Selective gas sensors from flames for breath analysis
2014 M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at ETH in 2014, ETH Medal for outstanding M.Sc.
2017 best poster award at EAC and other prizes
2017 Ph.D. at ETH Zürich, ETH Medal for outstanding PhD thesis
2019 Beiersdorf Excellence Award in Product Design and Engineering by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering
Lecturer and research team leader, Dept. of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich
Publications
4 first-author publications during PhD
+ 4 in 2018 and 2019 (in total 18 papers and 4 patents since 2013)
20 (13 invited) oral and 52 poster presentations since 2014
Award Committee: Birgit Wehner, Anne Maisser, Claudia Mohr, Christoph Asbach, Otmar Schmid
2018
DR. EIRINI GOUDELI
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Multiscale design of aerosol synthesis of nanomaterials
2016 PhD, Mechanical & Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
2012 Diploma in Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
ETH Medal for Outstanding PhD Thesis, ETH Zürich, in 2016.
Best Poster Award at Particle Technology Forum, AIChE Annual Meeting in 2015 and 2017.
Best Presentation Award, Fall Meeting, Materials Research Society in 2014.
Best Poster Award on Aerosol Fundamentals, European Aerosol Conference in 2013.
Publications
6 first-author publications during PhD + 7 publications in 2017 and 2018.
27 oral conference presentations.