The MTZ®-Förderpreis

Promoting up-and-coming scientists: The University of Freiburg signs an agreement for the "MTZ-Förderpreis". The MTZ-Förderpreis for the promotion of young scientists at the University of Freiburg medical faculty is to be donated by Monika and Thomas Zimmermann (MTZstiftung) from Erkrath.

The prize will be awarded every year to a young scientist from the University of Freiburg who has delivered an outstanding scientific or doctoral thesis in the field of bioethics. The prize will be given at the official academic year opening ceremony. The agreement for the award was officially signed at a recent reception attended by Professor Dr. Wolfgang Jäger, Rector of the University of Freiburg, Monika and Thomas Zimmermann, donors of the Award, Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Hanjörg Just, award commissioner, and Professor Dr. Giovanni Maio, Director of the Institute of Ethics and History in Medicine.
Monika and Thomas Zimmermann have both suffered the loss of someone close to them from diseases caused by malfunctioning cells. They both lost a parent in childhood, forcing them to confront the fragility of human life at a tender age. This is why they would like to support young scientists in their search for the causes and relationships of diseases as they consider research to be vital for the treatment of potentially fatal diseases.

The couple chose to make the award to a scientist at the University of Freiburg medical faculty in the hope that it will promote bioethical research in the field of molecular medicine.

The MTZ-Förderpreis will be awarded every year to a young scientist from the University of Freiburg who has delivered an outstanding scientific or doctoral thesis in the field of bioethics and comes with prize money of between €2,500 and € 5,000.

Source: University of Freiburg - 13 March 2007

With the MTZ® Förderpreis 2007, a prize has been awarded in the field of applied bioethics for the first time in the 550 year history of the University of Freiburg.