To be eligible for an E-MRS Young Researcher Award at the E-MRS 2026 Spring Meeting, the applicant must be registered as a student undertaking a PhD research program on a topic within the scope of a symposium held during the E-MRS 2026 Spring Meeting. The applicant must be the main, or a coauthor, of a manuscript and must be responsible for the oral or poster presentation of the paper to be delivered at the conference. In addition, the appropriate registration fee for participation at the conference must be paid by, or on behalf of the applicant prior to the conference.

The award winners will be selected by the following two stage process:

• A short list of candidates will be selected on the basis of the application form and recommendation as decided by the symposium organizers.
• Upon review of applications, the selected Young Researcher Award finalists will present their research, based on their abstract as submitted and accepted for the E-MRS 2026 Spring Meeting.

Presentation of research may occur in either a virtual or in-person format to be determined by E-MRS at a later date. Selected finalists must be available to participate on the designated date in order to maintain eligibility to receive a Young Researcher Award.

Each award winner will receive 450 Euro and a personalized Award Certificate. All finalists must attend the Awards ceremony held on Thursday May 28 at 18:30 in room Cassin.

The applicant must submit the following items in order to be considered for the Young Researcher Award competition:

• The completed application form
• One copy of the abstract submitted to the conference
• Description of work associated with the abstract to be considered
• Letter of support submitted by the candidate’s PhD Supervisor.

Applications must be submitted by April 15, 2026 at the latest.

Note: Any canvassing on behalf on a candidate by any person will automatically disqualify the candidate.

Please mark the symposium (only one symposium) corresponding to your manuscript submission 

The application as a candidate for a Young Researcher Award at the 2026 E-MRS Spring Meeting has to be accompanied by a letter of Support. The letter should be written by the Supervisor of the student’s doctoral programme.

Describe briefly the work you wish to submit for a Young Researcher Award. Include a short statement of background for your work, a description of its aim and scope, any unique features of your approach, your specific contributions, and any significant results.

Please provide a signed, dated, and named letter of support commenting on the performance of the above-named student in the conduct of his/her research project and his/her promise for future substantial achievement in materials research.

In your letter, please include both qualitative comments and numerical evaluations (on a scale from 0 to 5, with 5 being the most favourable) for the following three categories:

• Quality and thoroughness of research conducted by the applicant
• Originality of the applicant’s contribution
• Independence of the applicant’s research from the advisor’s guidance

Your comments should particularly emphasize the applicant’s original contribution to the research project and, where possible, include a comparison with other students at a similar academic level.