Doctoral prizes awarded by the Gesellschaft der Freunde der MHH e. V.
The Gesellschaft der Freunde der MHH e. V. has been promoting science, research and teaching at the MHH for more than 50 years with the help of over 500 members. The Society of Friends has been honoring outstanding doctorates at MHH since 1975. The prizewinners of recent decades include many well-known names, such as the virologist Prof. Dr. Sandra Ciesek, now Director of the Institute of Virology at Frankfurt University Hospital, and Dr. Anna Saborowski, the recipient of the Johann Georg Zimmermann Research Prize 2022. Four doctoral prizes are usually awarded each year (two in spring, two in autumn), each endowed with 2,500 euros.

Application requirements
Candidates who have achieved outstanding results in their doctorate can either be nominated by MHH professors or apply themselves. In both cases, a letter of recommendation from an MHH professor is required. Doctoral candidates from the PhD programs under the umbrella of the Hannover Biomedical Research School (HBRS) are generally excluded from the application process. A separate doctoral award will be announced there (contact person is Dr. Susanne Kruse in the HBRS coordination office).

Application procedure
Proposals and applications can only be submitted via the online application form. Required are:

• Contact details of the doctoral candidate and the person making the proposal (MHH university lecturer)
• the underlying dissertation or publication as a file
• a qualified letter of recommendation from the proposer (MHH university teacher)
• a tabular curriculum vitae of the doctoral candidate with current telephone number and picture

Application deadline
The application deadline for the current call for applications ends on 19.10.2025.

Awarding of the doctoral prizes
The next doctoral prizes will be awarded during the MHH doctoral ceremony on 28.11.2025.

Chronicle of the doctoral prizes
Former winners of the doctoral prizes from 1975 to 2024 can be found here as a PDF download.

Arnold Spiegel & Klaus Gärtner grant for laboratory animal specialists
The Arnold Spiegel & Klaus Gärtner grant awarded by the Gesellschaft der Freunde der MHH e. V. provides a one-off training grant of up to 3,000 euros. Funding is provided for young scientists who are at least one year into their training as a specialist in laboratory animal science (e.g. specialist veterinarian or specialist scientist for laboratory animal science, ECLAM Resident in Laboratory Animal Medicine) at a corresponding training institution.

Background to the funding
Prof. Dr. phil. Dr. med. Arnold Spiegel (1905 -1993) was a pioneer of laboratory animal science and contributed significantly to the replacement of episodic animal experiments. He was head of the Central Institute for Laboratory Animal Breeding in Hanover. In 1963, he also received the first lectureship for laboratory animal science in Germany at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover. Prof. Dr. med. vet. Klaus Gärtner (1927 - 2017) had a lasting impact on the field of laboratory animal science. He was one of the first to set up a central animal laboratory at a medical faculty, the Hannover Medical School. Applied animal welfare and the associated ethical discourse were always his concern.

Eligible measures
Funding is available, for example, for participation in an ESLAV/ECLAM Summer or Winter School, an ECLAM Resident Program, a Master's degree course in laboratory animal science or participation in special courses on laboratory animal science topics, organized or supported by GV-SOLAS, FELASA, ESLAV and ECLAM.

Call for applications
Here you can view the current call for applications as a PDF file.

Application requirements
Applicants should have completed a degree in veterinary medicine, Human medicine or natural sciences, have a doctorate or be studying for a doctorate and have completed at least one year of further training in laboratory animal science. The maximum age limit for funding is 40 years.

Application procedure
Applications can be submitted by e-mail to freundedermhh@mh-hannover.de until June 1, 2026. Incomplete applications or applications submitted too late cannot be considered. The following documents must be enclosed

• a qualified letter of recommendation
• a statement of reasons
• a curriculum vitae in tabular form
• a statement of costs (course fee, travel expenses, accommodation)

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Dr. H.J. Hedrich via e-mail: hedrich.hans@mh-hannover.de