2025 ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize awarded to President of the European Research Council (ERC) Maria Leptin
ALLEA is proud to announce that Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council (ERC) and chair of the ERC governing body, the Scientific Council, has been awarded the 2025 ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize in recognition of her outstanding contributions to European research leadership, and the advancement of frontier science across Europe.
“It is a great honour to receive this prize, and I would like to express my gratitude to ALLEA, an organisation I hold in the highest regard. The values celebrated by this award, such as scientific curiosity, European intellectual engagement, and academic freedom – embodied by Madame de Staël – are ones I deeply share, as does the European Research Council”, said Professor Leptin about her nomination.
Her research has advanced understanding of how individual cells give rise to complex multicellular organisms, including the processes and proteins that determine embryonic shape and form. She has gained recognition for her work on the fruit fly Drosophila, investigating complex cell shapes in the respiratory system and the formation of the tracheal network, and for studying pathogen resistance in zebrafish. Beyond her scientific achievements, Maria Leptin has held multiple leading roles in the European and international research community, including as the first woman Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and, since November 2021, as President of the European Research Council (ERC), combining her scientific expertise with extensive experience in research policy and management.
“The jury has unanimously decided to award Maria Leptin the 2025 ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize in recognition of her pioneering contributions to developmental biology and her outstanding leadership in European research. As Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and as President of the European Research Council, Professor Leptin has demonstrated exceptional dedication to advancing science and fostering collaboration within the European scientific community. Her work embodies the very values honoured by this Prize – promoting scientific excellence, supporting collaboration across borders, and strengthening the impact of research on society,” said Professor Paweł Rowiński, President of ALLEA and chair of the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize Jury.
About Maria Leptin
Maria Leptin has been the President of the European Research Council (ERC) since November 2021 and chairs the ERC governing body, the Scientific Council. She is a biologist best known for her work on the mechanisms that allow a developing body to take on its correct shape.
After her studies in mathematics and biology at the University of Bonn and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, Maria Leptin carried out her PhD research at the Basel Institute for Immunology, Switzerland. She then moved to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, after which she became a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany, and then professor at the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Germany. She spent extended research periods and sabbaticals at the University of California, San Francisco, USA, the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, and at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
Before her appointment as ERC President, Maria Leptin was the Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in Heidelberg, and a research group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
She is an elected member of EMBO, the Academia Europaea, the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste, the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and the European Academy of Sciences. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences. She holds the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EFPL), Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Nova University Lisbon and the University of Cambridge. She was awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Latin American Society for Developmental Biology, the De Sanctis Award for Europe and the De Sanctis Award for Research.
