Backing Exceptional People
At NOMIS, research is never separate from the person pursuing it. The right question needs the right mind: someone with the courage to challenge assumptions, the discipline to work through uncertainty and the imagination to connect ideas that may not usually meet. Scientific excellence is the starting point. Beyond excellence, we look for originality, independence, openness to new ideas, a pioneering spirit, a collaborative capacity and the ability to inspire others. We support researchers not only for what they have already achieved, but also for what they still have the courage to explore. NOMIS backs exceptional people whose questions have the potential to transform entire fields.
Our community of pioneering researchers
Awardees
Driven by curiosity: NOMIS Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Awardees are pioneering researchers whose bold questions and groundbreaking discoveries open new fields and transform our understanding of the world.
Grantees
Exceptional investigators: NOMIS grantees are dedicated researchers who challenge the status quo with their novel approaches and perspectives, bridging academic disciplines.
Professors
Innovative leaders: NOMIS professors are leading scientists recognized for their excellence in research and teaching. They pursue fundamental interdisciplinary questions about nature, the mind and society.
Fellows
Emerging researchers: NOMIS Fellows are early-career researchers who use novel approaches and fresh perspectives to connect the ordinary with the unexpected.
Explorers
Cross-disciplinary collaborators: NOMIS & Science Young Explorers are bold, early-career scientists working at the intersection of the life and social sciences.
Search for people
About Hans Gersbach Hans Gersbach is a professor at ETH Zurich and codirector of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He is leading the project Trustworthy AI Voting Assistants and Supported Democracy. Gersbach studied at the University of Basel in Switzerland, where he received degrees in mathematics, actuarial science and economics, […]
Professor
KOF Swiss Economic Institute
Andrew Gonzalez is a 2026 NOMIS Awardee, professor and Liber Ero Chair in Biodiversity Conservation at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, as well as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is leading the project A Mesoscale Theory of the Biosphere.
Professor and Liber Ero Chair in Biodiversity Conservation
McGill University
About Tobias Kippenberg Tobias Kippenberg is a 2026 NOMIS Awardee and a full professor of physics and electrical engineering in the Institute of Physics and Electrical Engineering at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is leading the project The Quest for Ultralow Dissipation: From Self-Organized Light to Collective Quantum Drums. Kippenberg studied physics and electrical engineering […]
Full professor of physics and electrical engineering
EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne)
About Ulrike Malmendier Ulrike Malmendier is the Cora Jane Flood Professor of Finance at the Haas School of Business, and a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, US. She is leading the project Stress and Economics — Exploring the Alleviating Role of Predictability and Controllability. Malmendier earned an MA in economics in […]
Cora Jane Flood Professor of Finance and professor of economics
University of California, Berkeley
About Danish Umar Danish Umar is a NOMIS–Salk Fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he conducts research in the laboratory of Deepshika Ramanan. Born and raised in Nawada, Bihar, India, Umar completed his undergraduate studies at Jamia Millia Islamia in 2012 and earned his master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology […]
NOMIS Fellow
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
About Sarah Joiret Sarah Joiret is a NOMIS–ETH Fellow at the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). She will conduct her research under the mentorship of Caroline Dorn beginning in September 2026. Joiret is a planetary scientist from Liège, Belgium. She is particularly interested in the dynamical evolution of planetary […]
NOMIS Fellow
ETH Zurich
About Emilie Skoog Emilie Skoog is a NOMIS–ETH Fellow at the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). She is conducting her research under the mentorship of Marie Schölmerich. Emilie Skoog is a microbial and viral ecologist interested in how microorganisms and their viruses interact with environmental chemistry and what these […]
NOMIS Fellow
ETH Zurich
Born in Germany, Güttler received an MA in modern and contemporary history from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, in 2005. He earned his doctorate in 2012/14 from Humboldt-Universität in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Güttler received his habilitation from ETH Zurich, Switzerland in 2022. He has held appointments at the University of Erfurt’s Gotha Research Centre (2012–2013) and fellowships at the Huntington Library (2012) and Harvard University (2014 Marie Curie Fellow). He served as a senior postdoctoral researcher in science studies at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, (2014–2022) and a research fellow at the IFK Vienna (2019/20). Güttler has been an assistant professor of the history of science at the University of Vienna since 2022.
Assistant professor
University of Vienna
Alena Williams is a NOMIS–eikones Fellow at eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image at the University of Basel (Switzerland) and university professor of Theory and Mediation of Contemporary Art at the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (Austria).
NOMIS Fellow
eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image
University of Basel
Janina Wellmann is a NOMIS-eikones Fellow at eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image at the University of Basel (Switzerland) and a fellow at the NYU Remarque Institute and Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University, US.
NOMIS Fellow
eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image
University of Basel
Paul Morrow is a NOMIS–eikones Fellow at eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image at the University of Basel (Switzerland) and a visiting research fellow in the School of Philosophy and Humanities Institute at University College Dublin (Ireland).
NOMIS Fellow
eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image
University of Basel
About Stefan Thurner Stefan Thurner is a professor of the science of complex systems at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria; co-founder and president of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna; and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, US. He is co-leading the project Mapping the Evolution of AI: A Data-Driven Exploration […]
Professor
Complexity Science Hub Vienna
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