In the area of promoting science and education, the Krupp Foundation is concentrating on its own fellowship and funding programmes as well as on select model projects at universities and scientific institutions. The focus is on the promotion of young researchers. While the Alfried Krupp Prize aims to support particularly talented young scientists in their research projects, the fellowship programmes are designed for young academics: Students are to be provided with the opportunity to exchange ideas with other disciplines and cultures and to strengthen their academic and personal profile.
Another focus is the promotion of projects in the field of German-Jewish understanding and German-Israeli cooperation.
The Alfried Krupp Prize is expected to be offered again in autumn 2025.
Since 1986, the Foundation has been awarding the Alfried Krupp Prize (Alfried Krupp-Förderpreis) to young university professors in the natural sciences and engineering (including medicine) with outstanding academic qualifications and excellent research achievements already to their name. The prize is one of the most important awards for young scientists in Germany.
Candidates who hold a permanent or fixed-term professorship at a university in the Federal Republic of Germany (initial appointment to a W2 or W3 professorship) can be nominated for the prize. They should not be older than 38 years of age. The prize includes funding in the amount of EUR 1.1 million. The prize winners may use the funding unbureaucratically to create an optimal working environment independently of public funding: They may, for example, set up and improve laboratories and workstations, attend symposia or specialist congresses, as well as finance scientific staff and special research groups. A lump sum of EUR 150.000 from the funding will be made available to the university to cover indirect costs (overhead).
Nominations for the prize may only be submitted via the Krupp Foundation’s online application portal.
In collaboration with the American Academy in Berlin, the Foundation established the Berthold Beitz Scholarship in 2024. Initiated in honor of the former chairman of the Foundation, the scholarship enables one scholar per year to stay at the Academy’s Hans Arnhold Center in Berlin. The scholarship focuses on economic and political history, with the aim of contributing to international and German-Jewish understanding.
As part of the postdoctoral program run by the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Max Planck Society, the foundation supports research stays at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. The programme strengthens scientific cooperation and promotes interdisciplinary research: It offers researchers the opportunity to participate in groundbreaking projects, benefit from the expertise of two renowned institutions, and actively contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their respective fields.
The focus of funding in the new federal states of Germany is on the city of Greifswald and the University of Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Foundation was already involved here before the Berlin Wall fell.
In June 2000, the Krupp Foundation, together with the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the University of Greifswald, established the Alfried Krupp Kolleg Greifswald Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to promote science and research at the University of Greifswald, in particular by maintaining and operating the Alfried Krupp Institute for Advanced Study in Greifswald (Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald). The Krupp Foundation has contributed the kolleg buildings and equipment with a value of around EUR 16.4 million to the newly established foundation, while the state and university have each contributed assets totalling EUR 2 million.
The Alfried Krupp Institute for Advanced Study in Greifswald aims to promote key research areas at the University of Greifswald, bring together scientists from different disciplines to work together on key topics, conduct interdisciplinary research projects, foster international scientific relations with a focus on the Baltic Sea region and fund young scientists.
Endowed professorships are designed to strategically influence the development of research and academia. The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation uses this instrument in a targeted and proactive manner to promote forward-looking technical innovations at universities. For a limited period of time (usually five years), personnel and material costs for an endowed chair are covered until this position is continued by the university.
Computer scientist Prof. Dr. Georgia Chalvatzaki from TU Darmstadt has been awarded the Alfried Krupp Prize 2025. The prize, endowed with €1.1 million, is one of the most significant scientific …
The reappraisal project initiated by the Krupp Foundation in 2022 on the position of its founder Alfried Krupp to National Socialism continues: The second project phase, which is dedicated to …
On November 11, Prof. Dr. Zachary Shore, the first Berthold Beitz Fellow, gave a lecture in English at Villa Hügel. Under the title “Learning from Folly: Can History Help?”, Prof. …
As part of the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation hosted a round table on Friday, November 8, on the opportunities and …
