Helmholtz Software Award
ForecastedInternal — Helmholtz Association only
Helmholtz Software Award supports research software scientists, engineers, and teams with prizes for their scientific work, promoting software quality, sustainable development, collaboration, and reuse.
Funder: Helmholtz Association
Due Dates (Anticipated): April 2027 (Nomination) | May 2027 (Application)
Funding Amounts: One-off prizes: €5,000 (Best Scientific Software), €3,000 (Sustainability), €2,000 (Newcomer)
Summary: Recognizes Helmholtz research software developers and supports high-quality, sustainable software, community collaboration, and reuse.
Key Information: Applicants must be employed by or affiliated with Helmholtz and nominated by their center.
Description
The Helmholtz Software Award recognizes scientists, engineers, and teams whose research software contributes to modern science. It aims to give software development greater visibility and recognition, promote professional software quality, and support sustainable development and operation. The award also emphasizes collaboration among developers and making software available for reuse in other application areas.
The program is a cooperation between the Helmholtz Data Science Academy (HIDA), Helmholtz Federated IT Services (HIFIS), the Joint Lab Helmholtz Information – Research Software Engineering (HiRSE), and the Helmholtz Open Science Office. Three award categories recognize scientific contributions, sustainability and community participation, and young software with strong growth potential. Prize money supports the winners’ own scientific work.
