Scientific prizes and awards / General

Academy Merian Prize

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Description

The Academy Merian Prize was established to draw attention to female researchers and to encourage more women in the Netherlands to pursue careers in science and scholarship. The prize is made possible by the SNS REAAL Fund.

Established in 2009, the Academy Merian Prize is awarded to a woman who will inspire others to embark on a career in science or scholarship. The biennial prize is conferred on an outstanding female researcher working alternately in the social sciences or humanities (2009) and in science (2011).

The prize is named after Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), a German naturalist and illustrator who spent much of her life living and working in the Netherlands. She studied plants and insects and her detailed sketches made an important contribution to entomology.

The Academy Merian Prize consists of a specially designed ornament and EUR 50,000, to be used to support research.

Recipients

2009: Naomi Ellemers