28. March 2025

Lena Funcke of the University of Bonn Receives the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize Lena Funcke of the University of Bonn Receives the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize

The Prize comes with a purse of 200,000 euro for the Physics scholar. Recognition for the achievements of researchers in early phases of their careers

Clausius Assistant Professor Dr. Lena Funcke of the University of Bonn is one of ten researchers to receive a Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Endowed with a purse of 200,000 euros, the DFG characterizes the Prize as Germany’s most prestigious award for researchers in early stages of their careers. 

Clausius Assistant Professor Dr. Lena Funcke
Clausius Assistant Professor Dr. Lena Funcke - of the University of Bonn Transdisciplinary Research Center (TRA) “Matter” is the recipient of a Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, awarded by the DFG. © Photo: Gregor Hübl/Universität Bonn
Download all images in original size The impression in connection with the service is free, while the image specified author is mentioned.
Please fill out this field using the example format provided in the placeholder.
The phone number will be handled in accordance with GDPR.

The award winners receive 200,000 euro of prize money each to fund up to three years of further research work. A flat 22% program allowance is additionally granted for indirect project expenditure. One hundred eighty researchers from all disciplines were nominated for the award.

Particle physics holds several unsolved mysteries: Why do neutrinos have such extremely tiny mass? Why is there so much more matter in the universe than antimatter? Assistant Professor Dr. Lena Funcke of the University of Bonn conducts broad research into these and other questions that involve theoretical physics, computer science and mathematics, developing computing methods for exploring quantum field theories. The physicist’s work includes using machine learning to develop algorithms for quantum and “classical” computing and new models that go beyond the Standard Models of particle physics. The aim behind these efforts is to enable predictions regarding future experiments that will afford key insights into elementary processes of nature. Professor Funcke’s pioneering work has already opened doors for further research, such as by developing a model to explain the tiny mass of neutrinos.

University of Bonn Rector Michael Hoch commented: “I would like to express our warmest congratulations to Lena Funcke for earning this prestigious award. Her groundbreaking research at the nexus of theoretical physics, mathematics and computer science is of major importance in efforts to development models going beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, and represents a contribution toward the scientific community gaining a new understanding of fundamental processes of the universe. I am extremely pleased that the research work of this outstanding scientist is now being honored through awarding of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize.”

Professor Funcke’s career before and at the University of Bonn

After studying physics at the University of Münster and the University of Cambridge (UK), Lena Funcke completed her doctorate at age 23 at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and LMU Munich. She spent the next four years as a postdoc at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, publishing numerous papers in scientific journals. In the fall of 2022 Funcke was appointed Clausius Assistant Professor at the University of Bonn Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) “Matter”. The TRAs are where researchers work together across faculty boundaries on key academic, scientific, technological and societal issues relevant to our future. Funcke is also a member of the “Matter and Light for Quantum Computing” (ML4Q) Cluster of Excellence. Additionally, she is involved in the “Color Meets Flavor” Cluster of Excellence—a joint initiative of the universities of Bonn and Siegen and Technical University Dortmund to investigate new phenomena in strong and weak interactions, and has an outstanding Excellence Strategy funding application.

For further info about Lena Funcke please read the announcement of her appointment as Clausius Assistant Professor at the University of Bonn: https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/042-2023

The German Research Foundation has awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize annually since 1977 to outstanding researchers in an early stage of their scientific careers. The Prize funding is provided to enable her to further her research career. The Prize in part represents recognition for the recipient’s dissertation, but also for their having gone on to develop their own profile as a researcher, enriching the scholarly community through their research findings in a way that indicates that they will likely make key contributions in their field.

Jun. Prof. Dr. Lena Funcke
Clausius Professor, TRA Matter
Phone:  +49 228 732205
E-Mail: lfuncke@uni-bonn.de

Wird geladen