LIR Awards 2025: Young researchers honored for outstanding achievements

“Theoria cum praxi” – this means “applying theory in practice.” This guiding principle of the Leibniz Association stands for the fact that research conducted at our institute contributes to the well-being and benefit of society. Since 2023, the LIR has been presenting the LIR Awards every two years to young researchers in the categories of Outreach, Best Paper (Basic and Applied Research), and Best Scientific Input. All award winners receive prize money of €2,500, which they can use for their research activities over the next two years.

This year's awards were presented at the LIR on December 15, 2025.

LIR Outreach Award

This year's Outreach Award goes to Lara Puhlmann (RG Kalisch) for her contribution “Macht uns Scheitern erfolgreicher?” in the Arte series “42 – Die Antwort auf fast alles.” The contribution conveys scientific content in a clear and accessible way, making research accessible to a broad audience.

LIR Best Paper Award

In the Basic Research category, Elena Andres (RG Kalisch) is honored for her publication in Nature Communications: “Replication study on the role of dopamine-dependent prefrontal reactivations in human extinction memory retrieval”. Her work investigates how neural processes in the brain help reduce fear responses through new experiences, providing important insights into human fear and learning behavior.

The Applied Research Award goes to Papoula Petri-Romão (AG Kalisch) for her study “Positive appraisal style predicts long-term stress resilience and mediates the effect of a pro-resilience intervention”. She shows that people cope better with stressful situations when they assess them realistically to slightly positively—a key protective factor for long-term mental health.

LIR Award for Best Scientific Input

Two researchers are being honored in this category this year:

First, Maximilian Lückel (RG Bergmann) for developing the “PlanTUS” software tool, which enables efficient, precise, and individualized planning of high-precision ultrasound brain stimulation.

Secondly, Larglinda Islami (RG Lutz) for her research on the long-term observation of calcium activity in neurons, which makes it possible to link neural activity directly to behavior.

The LIR would like to thank all award winners for their outstanding scientific achievements.