From galactic archaeology to neurons, EU-supported scientists secure prestigious 2026 awards
The 2020s have seen quite a number of EU-backed scientists awarded by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), and this year is no exception. Five researchers funded by the European Research Council (ERC) have received the Norwegian Kavli Prize(opens in new window) for their groundbreaking achievements in astrophysics and neuroscience. Added to that, another ERC grantee has earned the German EMBO Gold Medal(opens in new window) for his exceptional work in evolutionary cell biology.
Astrophysical and neuroscientific honours from Norway
The winners of the 2026 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics are Vasily Belokurov (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom), Amina Helmi (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Rodrigo Ibata (French National Centre for Scientific Research, France). The laureates received this honour “for uncovering the fossil evidence of past mergers proving that the Milky Way galaxy was built through hierarchical accretion.” Belokurov had received EU funding for his investigations into the structure of the Milky Way’s gravitational potential through the STREAMS (Measuring the Lumpiness of Dark Matter With Tidal Streams) project. Helmi’s explorations of the nature of gravity and the properties of dark matter were funded through the GREATDIGINTHESKY (Accelerating Galactic Archaeology) project. Funding through the GALACTICA (Dynamical imprints of the evolutionary history of the Milky Way) project supported Ibata in his efforts to trace the dynamical signatures left by the galaxy’s formation and evolution. Two ERC grantees – Christine Holt (University of Cambridge) and Erin Schuman (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany) – received the 2026 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience “for the discovery of local protein translation in neurons and establishing its importance for brain development and plasticity.” The award was shared with scientists Kelsey Martin and Oswald Steward from the United States. For her work on ribosomal proteins and how they contribute to the maintenance and degeneration of axons (the elongated parts of the neuron that transmit electrical impulses), Holt had received EU support through AXONSURVIVAL (Axon survival: the role of protein synthesis). Schuman has been awarded three ERC grants. For her past work examining how local protein production at synapses supports neuronal function and plasticity, she received support through Neuronal dynamics (Dynamics of local transcriptomes and proteomes in neurons) and NeuroRibo (Specialized Ribosomes for Neuronal Protein Synthesis). Her current project, DiverseSynapse (Revealing the Landscape of Synaptic Diversity by Cell type- and Synapse-specific Proteomics and Transcriptomics), investigates the molecular diversity of synaptic proteomes and transcriptomes and how they change during plasticity. “Congratulations to all the 2026 laureates! Their pioneering work illustrates the importance of long-term support for curiosity-driven science - in this case pushing the scientific frontier of the big, the small and the complex,” comments ERC President Maria Leptin in the ERC news item announcing the Kavli Prize. The winners in each field share a cash prize of USD 1 million (about EUR 864 000).
Golden recognition from Germany
The sixth ERC grantee to be honoured this year is Gautam Dey (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Germany). The researcher received the EMBO Gold Medal for his outstanding work on the evolutionary origins of nuclear organisation and cell division. Dey’s ongoing study of key cellular processes and how they evolved across eukaryotes is funded through the KaryodynEVO (Evolutionary principles of nuclear dynamics and remodelling) project. In addition to the medal, he and the second winner, Swiss scientist Omaya Dudin, also receive EUR 10 000. For more information, please see: STREAMS project GREATDIGINTHESKY project GALACTICA project AXONSURVIVAL project Neuronal dynamics project NeuroRibo project DiverseSynapse project KaryodynEVO project
