Travel Award
The Viruses Travel Award was launched in 2016 and is presented annually to encourage junior scientists to present their latest research at academic virology conferences. This award helps to raise the profile and visibility of these up-and-coming researchers. The application period is open from September 2025 to January 2026, and the winners will be announced by the end of March in 2026.
Prizes:
– CHF 800.
– An award certificate.
Number of Winners: Two
Viruses Travel Award
Application deadline: 31 January 2026
Winner announcement: 31 March 2026
Winner announcement: 31 March 2026
Eligibility and Requirements
– Candidates must be postdoctoral fellows, PhD students.– Candidates should have plans to attend an international conference in 2026 (oral presentation or poster).
List of Documents for Application
– Information on the conference that the applicant is planning to attend and the abstract that will be submitted.– Curriculum Vitae and a list of publications.
– Justification letter describing the focus of the applicant’s research (max. 800 words).
– Letter of support from the applicant’s mentor.
Past Winners
Year:
Winner
Jeromine Klingler
ICAHN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
Otavio Augusto Chaves
University of Coimbra, Portugal
Award Committee
Dr. Eric O. Freed
Chairperson
National Cancer Institute
Dr. Lorena A. Passarelli
Kansas State University
Dr. Luis Martinez-Sobrido
Texas Biomedical Research Institute
Prof. Jeanmarie Verchot
Texas A&M University
Prof. Enzo Tramontano
University of Cagliari
Winner
Bo Wang
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Selina Pasquero
University of Turin, Italy
Award Committee
Dr. Eric O. Freed
Chairperson
NCI
Dr. Véronique Ziegler-Graff
CNRS
Dr. Schuyler Van Engelenburg
Prof. Shannon C. Kenney
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Margaret Scull
University of Maryland, College Park
Prof. Jeanmarie Verchot
Texas A&M University - College Station, TX
Winner
Gary Wang
Columbia University Medical Center, USA
Evangelia-Georgia Kostaki
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Award Committee
Dr. Eric O. Freed
Chairperson
NCI
Winner
Joshua Hatterschide
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA
Winner
Gabrielle Vieyres
Twincore, Hannover, Germany
Nandan Gokhale
Duke University Medical Center, USA
Winner
Gabriel J. Starrett
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, MN, USA
Valerie Cortez
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, TN, USA
Winner
Janna Bigalke
post-doctoral researcher at Tufts University School of Medicine, USA
Charles Daniel Murin
PhD student at the Scripps Research Institute, the Kellogg School of Science and Technology, USA
