For many junior researchers, taking the first steps in your career can be accompanied with unique challenges. Often, many early career academics struggle to be seen and recognised, leading to difficulties accessing funding, limited resources, and underdeveloped professional networks.

MDPI’s Young Investigator Award celebrates those who have demonstrated scientific excellence in the early stages of their career and have made substantial contributions to their field. By providing monetary prizes and raising their profile, MDPI hopes that this award serves as a source of encouragement for junior researchers and inspires the continuation of their success.

Here, we discuss the selection criteria and benefits of the Young Investigator Award and highlight some of its recent recipients.

Award selection criteria

The MDPI Young Investigator Award is only given to academics in the early stages of their career. The selection criteria includes:

• The candidate must have received their PhD no more than 10 years prior to nomination;
• They must have produced ground-breaking research and made a significant contribution to advancements in their subject area;
• Candidates must be nominated by senior scientists.

Nominations are made by senior scientists, allowing esteemed academics to exercise their expert judgment in selecting candidates. Within the nomination process, there are important documents which must be submitted. These include:

• A detailed curriculum vitae, including an updated publication list and a list of the researcher’s own research grants;
• A scanned copy of the nominees doctorate certificate;
• Signed nomination letters from two established senior scientists.

Upon their completion, all nominations are carefully considered by the relevant journal’s Awards Evaluation Committee.

You can find journal-specific information regarding selection criteria and eligibility on the MDPI Awards page, or on the respective journals’ homepages.

Prizes

MDPI hopes that its Young Investigator Award not only boosts the profile of junior scientists but inspires the continuation of their work through article processing charge (APC) discounts and monetary prizes.

Typically, recipients of the Young Investigator Award receive an official certificate, a cash prize, and a fully waived or discounted APC. Again, these may differ between journals.

Complete or partially discounted APCs give scholars the opportunity to publish within their respective MDPI journal, providing an outlet for their future work. Publishing with MDPI allows early career academics to enjoy the benefits of the Open Access publishing model. For early career researchers, increased research visibility and citations can prove particularly helpful.

Testimonials

MDPI is committed to boosting communication amongst scientists and raising the profile of early career academics. To aid this, MDPI frequently shares interviews with its recent award winners. Here, we have collated some testimonials from some of the most recent winning Young Investigators.

“Winning this award is both an indescribable honor and a profoundly humbling experience. In the quiet moments of scientific inquiry—those long hours spent at the bench, chasing the elusive elegance of molecular transformations—recognition is rarely the end in sight. Yet to have one’s work acknowledged in this way is deeply affirming. It feels as though the often-invisible labour of curiosity, perseverance, and at times even doubt, has been seen and celebrated.” – Dr. Karolina Beton-Masur, winner of the Biomedicines Young Investigator Award.

“For my career, this is a tremendous encouragement. It strengthens my commitment to pursuing impactful research that bridges academia and real-world problem-solving. It highlights the importance of translating findings into practical solutions, as reflected in our policy contributions.” – Dr. Wanxu Chen, winner of the Land Young Investigator Award.

“Without the help of my research team and the support of colleagues and friends, I would never have reached this point. My suggestion to the new generation of researchers is to do difficult things—the easiest ones are the most trivial. Difficult things are tough sometimes, but they deserve to be pursued.” – Dr. Roberto Pierdicca, Remote Sensing Young Investigator Award Winner.

MDPI’s commitment to supporting researchers

Awards allow MDPI to give back to its academic community, especially early career researchers. They increase the visibility of their work, encourage open communication between scientists, and highlight their outstanding achievements.

Alongside the Young Investigator Award, MDPI offers a series of other journal awards, such as the Outstanding Reviewer Award, Travel Award, Best Paper Award, and more.

Read our article covering everything you need to know about MDPI’s awards program; alternatively, you can visit the MDPI awards webpage for more information.