Each of the nine IAU Divisions selects a winner and honourable mentions from among candidates whose theses represent the most remarkable and impactful work within their respective fields over the past year. This year, the Divisions have awarded nine PhD Prizes, one PhD Prize at Large and 12 Honourable Mentions. In recognition of their achievements, the awardees will be invited to present their work during the Division Days at the IAU XXXIII General Assembly, which will be held from 10 - 19 August 2027 in Rome, Italy.

Maximilian Häberle, an ESO Fellow in Garching, was awarded the IAU Division A (Fundamental Astronomy) PhD Prize for his doctoral thesis "A New Kinematic View of the Globular Cluster Omega Centauri". The citation from the IAU reads:

Dr. Maximilian Häberle is named the IAU PhD Prize winner for Division A for creating the largest and highest precision astrometric catalog for any star cluster to date, with 100 million individual astrometric measurements that were then condensed into more than a million high-precision proper motion measurements. This led to discoveries of fast moving stars in the centre of Omega Centauri and consequently the confirmation of the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole, a rare class of objects and an important missing link in the evolution of supermassive black holes.

Maximilian’s thesis was also recently honored with the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max-Planck-Society.

Bibiana Prinoth, an ESO Fellow in Garching, was awarded the IAU Division F (Planetary Systems and Astrobiology) PhD Prize for her doctoral thesis “High-Resolution Transmission Spectroscopy of Gas Giant Atmospheres”. The citation from the IAU reads:

In her thesis, Dr. Bibiana Prinoth has made a strong and well-documented contribution to the characterisation of ultra-hot exoplanetary atmospheres. In particular, the first robust detection of TiO, published as a first-author in Nature Astronomy with very high citation impact. Her work demonstrates outstanding scientific quality and international recognition. While similar observational approaches have recently become more common in the field, the overall impact of this PhD work remains exceptional.

Bibiana’s thesis was also recently honored with the Oscar II stipend of the Science Faculty of Lund University.

Please join us in congratulating Bibiana and Maximilian for their impressive achievements!

For more about the 2025 IAU PhD Prizes, including the other winners, see the announcement from the IAU.