Herbert Stiller Research Prize 2025 - Call for applications

The NGO Doctors Against Animal Experiments (DAAE; Ärzte gegen Tierversuche e.V.) announces a call for applications for this year’s Herbert Stiller Research Prize (HSP) to support animal-free research. The HSP is awarded for excellent innovative research focusing on the investigation and therapy of human diseases. Supported projects should significantly contribute to medical progress by employing animal-free, human-based approaches such as in vitro studies or clinical and epidemiological investigations into the causes of the diseases of civilization.

The HSP research grant, named after one of DAAE’s co-founders, Dr. Herbert Stiller (1923-1984), specialist in neurology, psychiatry and psychotherapy, was awarded a total of 7 times in the 1990s and 2000s. Earmarked sponsorship funds made a new grant possible in 2019. Since then, the HSP grant is issued in two-year intervals and will be awarded again in 2025.

Application criteria

Innovative and human-relevant projects in the medical or biomedical field can be submitted including human-based in vitro models, in silico analyses or clinical and epidemiological studies. Researchers located in Germany or other German-speaking countries are eligible to apply. Applications must meet the following criteria:

• The planned research work must not involve any animal experiments and all materials used within the project must be animal-free (e.g. no FCS or animal-derived antibodies).
• The project should address a new, innovative topic or pursue a new methodological approach, aiming to provide a significant contribution to medical progress and to the elimination of specific animal tests (reduction and refinements projects are not accepted).
• The projects should not be funded by other third parties at the time the application is submitted.
• Applicants should identify with DAAE’s principles and goals, this means the abolition of all animal experiments and testing on ethical and scientific grounds.
• Applicants who have received the Herbert Stiller Research Prize in the last 4 years cannot apply.
• The project duration should not exceed 2 years. An informal progress report has to be submitted after the first year, and a final report has to be delivered after the second year.
• By accepting the grant, the award winners declare themselves willing to present their project at a public event (either in person or online). A summary of the study will also be published on the website and social media channels of Doctors Against Animal Experiments.

Funding type and amount

The personal research grant amounts to 20,000 euros. The funding is provided by earmarked donations.

Funding purpose

The HSP research grant is awarded to scientists focused on animal-free research. In particular, we aim to motivate young scientists to use and develop modern non-animal technologies.

Funding is intended for original, human-relevant research projects that contribute significantly to promoting medical progress and permanently abolishing animal experiments in a certain area.

Winner selection

The awardee will be selected by the scientific department of Doctors Against Animal Experiments consisting of biological scientists and medical professionals.

Application deadline: 31st May 2025

Application documents

The application documents (in German or English) should contain a description of the research project, a tabular curriculum vitae with a publication list of the project leader / main applicant, and a list of all participating scientists including affiliations. The project description should include the following points:

1. Project title and Abstract (½ page)
2. Research objectives and relevance for human medicine (max. 1 page)
3. Project time plan, scientific background, all used research methods, information on the animal-free origin of relevant materials such as cell media components, antibodies and enzymes, preliminary work when available (max. 6 pages)
4. Explanation of the importance for animal welfare (max.1 page)
5. A reference list

Please send your application (pdf format) to filipova@herbert-stiller-preis.de  

Contact person

Dr. Dilyana Filipova
Email: filipova@herbert-stiller-preis.de  
Phone: +49 2203-90409-85