Granting of the Zukunftskolleg Research Award 2022 at Mainau Island

Yuko Ulrich from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena is the first recipient of the new "Zukunftskolleg Research Award" of the University of Konstanz.

The Zukunftskolleg Research Award recognizes the scientific achievements of young researchers and supports them in further developing their personal profile.
The award ceremony took place on 15 July 2022 in the Kastaniengarten on Mainau Island.

The Rector of the University of Konstanz, Katharina Holzinger, opened the ceremony; the laudation was held by Giovanni Galizia. In keeping with Yuko Ulrich's research, the chestnut garden was decorated with colorful ants made by children from the University Kinderhaus.
 

The award winner
Yuko Ulrich researches the spread of diseases and disease resistance in social insects. The biologist completed her doctorate at ETH Zurich, where she studied evolutionary ecology in bumblebees under the supervision of Paul Schmid-Hempel. During her postdoc in Daniel Kronauer's group at Rockefeller University, New York, she helped establish the predatory ant as a model for studying social behavior. She then established an independent research group at the University of Lausanne, which moved to ETH Zurich and finally to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany.
 

The Award
The Zukunftskolleg Research Award honors young scientists who have achieved outstanding scientific achievements in their field. This includes networked thinking and research, convincing solution orientation, and approaches to how we will master the challenges of tomorrow. This year, the prize was awarded for outstanding research on the topic of "Evolution of behavior". Next year, the award will be given for a topic from a different field.

The award enables recipients to deepen existing research projects, explore new experimental avenues, develop new questions, and/or make further connections in their scientific networks.
Specifically, the Zukunftskolleg Research Award consists of a three-month research stay in Konstanz. The award winner receives research funding of 3,000 euros, reimbursement of travel expenses, and housing allowance.