Joachim Herz Award for Early Career Researchers

Are you working on an interdisciplinary research and transfer project into how we can use water smarter?

Water is an indispensable resource. It is essential for ecological systems, human health, as well as agricultural and industrial production. However, climate change, overuse, and persistent pollutants threaten the availability of clean water and at the same time turn it into into a potential threat. Addressing these challenges requires innovative approaches that are grounded in excellent scientific research, while also demanding individual risk-taking, societal capacity for action, and entrepreneurial initiative.

Call for Applications

The Joachim Herz Award supports individuals whose economics-related projects transcend disciplinary boundaries and creatively integrate approaches from other fields in order to develop pioneering solutions into how we can use water smarter. In addition to a distinct connection to the topic of water, the submission should outline – based on the underlying research project – a transfer initiative that advances implementation in business, society, and/or policymaking.

The call is open to research projects that apply economic thinking to the sustainable and innovative management of water, while explicitly integrating insights from other disciplines and translating research into practical solutions. Relevant projects may, for example, examine how economic incentives and efficiency mechanisms can be designed to reduce water consumption, such as through efficiency standards or pricing schemes for water-intensive industries. Other projects might focus on water as a public good, exploring innovative governance arrangements, including participatory governance models or multi-stakeholder approaches that improve coordination and accountability across actors.

Further research areas include digital and urban innovations that enhance water resilience, such as integrated urban planning concepts like sponge cities that combine technological, ecological, and economic perspectives. Research may also address the financing and governance of nature-based solutions for water management, for instance by developing and evaluating innovative instruments such as water funds or nature credit systems. In addition, projects can focus on innovations that improve water quality and safety, including economic and regulatory approaches to managing persistent pollutants such as PFAS or microplastics. Finally, the call welcomes research on innovation and entrepreneurship in the water sector, for example studies on the emergence, scaling, and impact of start-ups and new business models in the water economy.

Funding

The Joachim Herz Award is endowed with €500,000. The funding must be used exclusively for the research project described in the application. Eligible expenses include, among others, personnel, material, and infrastructure costs, as well as travel expenses and pre-competitive transfer activities. Institutional administrative overhead costs are excluded. The funding will be transferred to the institution at which the award recipient is employed at the time the award is granted.

Selection Process & Award Ceremony

• Applications are submitted by individual applicants (collaboration partners from academia and practice are welcome).
• The jury preselects a shortlist of three nominees.
• The shortlisted candidates present their projects in a pitch at the Joachim Herz Foundation in Hamburg.
• This is followed by a confidential selection meeting of the jury.
• The public award ceremony will take place on September 3, 2026, in Hamburg.
• Prize money: €500,000, project-related for a period of three years.

Timeline

• Online-Info-Session: February 4, 2026, 1:30 p.m. (For registration follow mentioned link)
• Nomination of shortlist: May 2026
• Jury selection meeting including presentation of shortlisted candidates: June 10, 2026

Contact

Please direct all inquiries to jhpreis@joachim-herz-stiftung.de.