Bodossaki Foundation announces the launch of the process for the Bodossaki Excellence Award for 2024, an award first established in 2002 to pay tribute and draw the public’s attention to Greek scientists who, starting from our country, gained international recognition and acclaim in their fields of expertise.
The Bodossaki Excellence Award highlights the integrated research conducted by internationally acclaimed Greek scientists who have dedicated their lives to science and have made major contributions to the advancement of Science and Mathematics, Technological Sciences, Biomedical Sciences or Social Sciences. The seven eminent personalities of the international scientific community who have been presented with the Bodossaki Excellence Award so far in recognition of their exceptionally important work, are Professors George Chrousos (2011), Charalambos Moutsopoulos (2011), Evangelos Moudrianakis (2009), Demetrios Christodoulou (2006), Athanasios Fokas (2006), Kyriakos Nicolaou (2004) and Ioannis Iliopoulos (2002).
In the new era ushered with the announcement of the Bodossaki Excellence Award for the year 2024, the difficult task of selecting, among the candidates to be nominated, those who will be presented with the award for their contribution in the advancement of science, is undertaken by the ten-member Excellence Award Committee, whose members include eight foreign globally acclaimed scientists who have won the highest distinctions in their respective fields, among whom are Nobel Prize laureates, recipients of the Spinoza Prize and the ACM Turing Award, and prominent members of scientific academies. In particular, the eminent members of the Committee of Excellence are the following (in alphabetical order):
- Sir Richard Blundell, David Ricardo Professor of Political Economy, Department of Economics, UCL, CBE FBA
- Arup Chakraborty, Institute Professor; Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, & Chemistry, Core Faculty Member and Former Founding Director, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, MIT, Founding Steering Committee Member, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, & Harvard, Member NAE, NAS, NAM
- Daan Frenkel, Professor of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, ForMemRS, Member KNAW, AAAS, TWAS, NAS, Recipient of Spinoza Prize
- Shaffi Goldwasser, Director, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, and C. Lester Hogan Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley, RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, and Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, Recipient of ACM Turing Award
- Frank Grosveld, Professor Emeritus, Former Head of the Department of Cell Biology, Erasmus MC, FRS, Member KNAW, Recipient of Spinoza Prize
- Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli, Scientific Director of Toscana Life Sciences Foundation and Chief Scientist of Menarini Biomarkers Singapore, former Chair of Immunology and General Pathology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Founder and Scientific Director, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), A-STAR Singapore, Member GNAS Leopoldina, EMBO
- Daniela Rus, Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), MIT, Member NAE, AAAS
- Jean Tirole, Honorary Chairman, Foundation JJ Laffont-Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), and Scientific Director, TSE-Partnership, Recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The Excellence Award Committee also includes, as ex officio members, the President of Bodossaki Foundation’s Board of Trustees Ms Athina Dessypri, and the Board’s Vice President Theodoros Theodorou, Professor at the School of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens and Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE).
The two scientific fields in which the Bodossaki Excellence Award 2024 will be presented (one Award in each field) are the following:
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics: Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Geosciences, Mathematics, Theoretical Computer Sciences
- Biomedical Sciences
Nominations will be accepted for submission until 30 September 2023 (closing date).
The Bodossaki Excellence Award is presented to two scientists of Greek nationality or descent, every two years. In each one of the active fields, the Excellence Award is presented to one scientist only and carries a cash prize of one hundred thousand euros (€100,000).
The Announcement of the Bodossaki Excellence Award 2024 is available here. Additional information about the Award and about the past recipients is available here.
Bodossaki Foundation is consistently supporting Greek scientists, assisting them during their studies with the Foundation’s Scholarships Programme, rewarding their early achievements with the Bodossaki Distinguished Young Scientist Awards, presented to young scientists up to 40 years old, enhancing the promotion of science in our country with targeted donations, and supporting the patenting of research results with the Innovation Forward Programme. The Bodossaki Excellence Award complements the Foundation’s multifaceted support of the scientific community, paying tribute to the lifetime achievements of leading Greek scientists.
