In total, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters have announced eight new Kavli Prize Laureates. The two astrophysics winners are recognised 'for their ground-breaking work on the discovery and characterisation of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres.' They have pioneered methods to detect atomic species in planetary atmospheres and measure their thermal infrared emission. They thus set the stage for finding the molecular fingerprints of atmospheres around both giant and rocky planets.
Sara Seager is also part of an international team of three researchers who won an ERC Synergy Grant in 2023, worth €9.5 million. Their REVEAL project (REVEALing Signatures of Habitable Worlds Hidden by Stellar Activity) brings together experts from the fields of stellar activity and exoplanet research, to find planets that can support life. Within the team, the group led by Professor Seager searches for evidence of life-friendly atmospheres, using observational data from NASA’s James Webb Telescope.
ERC Synergy Grants bring together a group of Principal Investigators to combine their skills and resources to tackle ambitious research problems. One researcher in each Synergy Grant group can be hosted or engaged by an institution outside of the EU or associated country.
The Kavli Prize honours scientists for breakthroughs in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience – transforming our understanding of the big, the small, and the complex. Since its first edition in 2008, eight ERC grantees have won this award. Kavli Award winners will share $1 million (approximately €930 000) per category.
About the ERC
The European Research Council, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova.
