The faculty awards faculty prizes once a year for the previous year. 

In the categories "Best Habilitation" and "Best Publication", nominations are made by the Habilitation Committee of the Faculty of Medicine on the basis of proposals from the clinics and institutes and the previous year's habilitations. 

The "Best Doctorate" is selected by the Doctoral Committee from the doctorates of the previous year - both in the field of medical work (Dr. med.) and natural sciences (PhD) - which were completed with "summe cum laude". Prize money of 1,000 euros is awarded in each category.

The dean invites you to submit a publication in electronic form to the dean's office by January 30, 2026, which you believe to be one of the best publications from the Faculty of Medicine in 2025. Only original works (including meta-analyses) in high-ranking journals in the respective field with a young employee as the first author are eligible for this award.
Please note that, after consultation with the Habilitation Committee, the publication date according to PubMed is decisive. The publication will be submitted to the Habilitation Committee, which will then submit a corresponding proposal for the 2025 Faculty Award to the Department Council and the Dean's Office.
If you are interested, please send us the documents in a data file exclusively by email to thorsten.hensleruk-koeln.de by January 30, 2026, at the latest.

With kind regards,
Your Vice Dean's Office for Science & Transfer

The Dean invites you to nominate a candidate for the best habilitation of 2025 by January 30, 2026. Possible criteria that may justify the nomination for the Faculty of Medicine's award for the best habilitation include, for example

• Creativity and originality of approach
• Above-average scientific achievements compared to predecessors in the same discipline
• Number and quality of published works, especially works in journals with a high impact factor in the candidate's field of work
• Citation frequency of important works
• Demonstrable independent and autonomous execution of scientific work with the development of a unique research profile
• Scientific age of the candidate
• Independently acquired third-party funding
• Special achievements in teaching.

Please note that the prize for the best habilitation supervision is awarded for work from the previous year (2025). In accordance with the habilitation regulations, the decisive date is the date of the positive decision in a departmental council meeting. The nominations will be submitted to the habilitation committee, which will then submit a corresponding proposal for the 2025 faculty award to the departmental council and the dean's office.

If you are interested, please send us the documents in a data file exclusively by email to thorsten.hensler@uk-koeln.de by January 30, 2026 at the latest.

Kind regards,
Your Vice Dean's Office for Science & Transfer