Accessibility statement

Frontiers Planet Prize

Posted on 27 September 2022

We are calling for entries to a new international competition which is offering three prizes of one million Swiss Francs each for disruptive solutions to the climate crisis.

The Frontiers Research Foundation has launched the Frontiers Planet Prize to spark a race for breakthroughs in sustainability science that will accelerate solutions to restore and maintain a healthy planet.

Kiran Trehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement, said: “We are inviting our most promising sustainability scientists to compete for the Frontiers Planet Prize.

“The scientific community has the knowledge and expertise to help navigate and secure humanity’s future. York’s scientists will be playing a key role in this, sharing their knowledge and ideas in the pursuit of real-world solutions to ensure the Earth thrives.

“These awards are an important recognition of how as a university for public good, through our research, education and partnerships, we are making a measurable difference. Never has this been more important than now.”

Matthias Ruth, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, said: “Given the urgency of the climate change challenge for health, wellbeing and prosperity here in the UK and around the world, this prize could not come at a more opportune time. Our researchers are at the frontier of knowledge generation and bring that knowledge to bear on practices in all segments of society. The prize will recognise their outstanding work and further encourage the breakthroughs humanity so desperately needs.”

The competition will award prizes to research that has the greatest potential global impact on one or more of the nine planetary boundaries detailed by Professor Johan Rockström, Co-Chairman of the Earth Commission, and Owen Gaffney in their book and documentary on Breaking Boundaries.

The prize will recognise the best research published in established scientific journals, with robust peer-review and transparent publication procedures, in the past two years. The CHF 1 million prize will be given to the host institutions of each winning researcher to advance the scientist’s breakthrough research.

The University of York is acting as a National Nominating Body. We will gather the applications, select, and submit our top three candidates for consideration to the National Representative Body, which Professor Trehan will be part of.

The National Champions will be announced in February 2023 and the International Champions on Earth Day, Saturday 22 April 2023. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday 27 April in Montreux, Switzerland.

The closing date for putting forward your work is Monday 31 October.

To find out more and to receive an application form, please contact becky.christou@york.ac.uk.