Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e.V.
Research Prizes 2025
The Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and the Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation were presented at the 27th BESSY@HZB User Meeting on December 3, 2025.
Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize
Dr. Enggar Pramanto Wibowo (center) at the Ernst Eckhard Koch Award ceremony in Berlin-Adlershof in December 2025 with Prof. Markus Bär from the Helmholtz Center Berlin, who had submitted the nomination, and the chair of the Friends Association, Prof. Franziska Emmerling. (Photo: HZB / Kevin Fuchs).
The prize was awarded to Dr. Enggar Pramanto Wibowo for his dissertation defended at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, entitled “Elucidating the Complex Oxidation Behavior of Phosphorus Impurities at the Pt|Aqueous H3PO3 Interface in HT-PEMFCs by a Combination of X-ray Spectroscopies.” The work, carried out primarily at the Helmholtz Center Berlin and at BESSY II, deals with phosphorus chemistry in high-temperature PEM fuel cells. In doing so, he combines the further development of sophisticated in-situ/operando synchrotron methods with important contributions to the durability of fuel cells in the hydrogen economy.
Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation
Prof. Danny D. Jonigk, Prof. Maximilian Ackermann, and Prof. Tim Salditt flanked by Prof. Christian Schroer from DESY (left), who gave the laudatory speech at the ceremony for the Inn0vation Award on Synchrotron Radiation in Berlin-Adlershof in December 2025, and the chair of the Friends Association, Prof. Franziska Emmerling. (Photo: HZB / Kevin Fuchs).
The prize went to Prof. Tim Salditt (Georg August University of Göttingen) and Professors Danny D. Jonigk and Maximilian Ackermann (both, University Hospital of RWTH Aachen) for the development and application of histological tomography, a novel, high-resolution 3D X-ray imaging technique for tissues, based on phase contrast. This method allows complex tissue architectures to be visualized non-destructively and in unprecedented detail. The team has made decisive advances in this method and transferred it to biomedical research in a unique way.
Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e.V.
The Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e. V. is dedicated to the promotion of science and research with synchrotron radiation and in particular of young scientists. It aims to be a link between the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the public and to foster co-operation between the HZB, its friends and sponsors and other institutions in Germany and abroad. The association's main activities include the annual awarding of the Ernst Eckhard Koch Dissertation Prize and the Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation.
In memory of the former scientific director of BESSY, Prof. Dr Ernst-Eckhard Koch, who died in September 1988, the association has awarded the Ernst-Eckhard Koch Prize annually since 1990 to honour outstanding doctoral theses in the field of synchrotron radiation. The doctoral theses should have been carried out at HZB or DESY in Hamburg, the main places where E.-E. Koch worked.
Since 2001, the association has also awarded the Europe-wide Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation, which is awarded for an outstanding achievement that contributes significantly to the further development of the technology, methodology or utilisation of synchrotron radiation.
Members of the association can be natural or legal persons. The minimum annual membership fee is determined by the General Assembly and amounts to € 10 for students and doctoral candidates, € 40 for other natural persons and generally € 150 for legal entities. Otherwise, the amount of the contribution is at the discretion of the members. Contributions and donations are tax privileged.
In its work, the association relies on membership fees and the acquisition of donations and sponsorship. Donations can also be sent to the association with an explicit purpose, e.g. ‘Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize’ (account no.: 414 44 40 at Deutsche Bank AG, Berlin branch, sort code 100 700 00, IBAN: DE48 1007 0000 0414 4440 00, BIC: DEUTDEBBXXX).
If you feel connected to Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and would like to support the association's activities, we would be pleased to offer you membership an.
The Board of Directors