The
Ilya Prigogine Prize for Thermodynamics consists of a diploma, the honor to
deliver an invited talk at the next Joint European Thermodynamics Conference
(JETC), and a
€2000 prize funded by the JETC organizers. It is awarded every two
years to a promising researcher for his/her Ph.D. thesis or equivalent. The
thesis must have been defended during the two calendar years preceding the year of the JETC. All aspects
and branches of thermodynamics are considered, from applied and experimental to
the most theoretical. The laureate must accept to be invited to participate
in presence to the JETC with a registration waiver, but must arrange and pay for her/his travel and hotel expenses.
Application rules and the deadline
for application are given below.
The
prize is traditionally awarded during the JETC where the recipient will
deliver a talk (in presence) on the subject of the thesis.
The
next JETC will be held in 2025 in Belgrade from 26 to 30 May.
The
Ilya Prigogine Prize for Thermodynamics was initially established by ECAST, the
European Center for Advanced Studies in Thermodynamics, and was patronized by
the Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine himself while he was alive. Later on, the
prize has become part of the tradition of the Joint European Thermodynamics
Conference (JETC) series.
2001
- Emmanuel Bertrand
For
his PhD thesis work entitled Transition
de mouillage des alcanes sur l'eau: rôle des interactions entre interfaces done at Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France. |
 |
2003 - David Reguera
For
his PhD thesis work entitled Mesosocopic
nonequilibrium kinetics of nucleation processes done at Facultat de Fisica, Departamento de Fisica Fundamental, Universitad de Barcelona, Spain. |
 |
2005 - Benoît Scheid
For
his PhD thesis work entitled Evolution
and stability of falling liquid films with thermocapillary effects done at Departement de Physique des Fluides, Faculté des Sciences Appliquées, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. |
 |
2007 - Stefano Mazzoni
For his PhD thesis work entitled Pattern
formation in convective instabilities in a colloidal suspension done at the Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. |
 |
2009 - David Andrieux
For his PhD thesis work entitled Nonequilibrium
statistical thermodynamics at the nanoscale done at the Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. |
 |
2011 - Kirill Glavatskiy
For his PhD thesis work entitled Multicomponent
interfacial transport as described by the square gradient model done at the Chemistry Department, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. |
 |
2013
- Anders Lervik
For his PhD thesis work entitled Energy dissipation in biomolecular machines done at the Chemistry Department, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. |
 |
2015
- Ronan Killian McGovern
For his PhD thesis work entitled The economics of future membrane desalination processes and applications done at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. |
 |
2017
- Øivind Wilhelmsen
For his PhD thesis work entitled Equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics of planar and curved interfaces done at the Chemistry Department, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. |
 |
2019
- Nicole Yunger
Halpern
For her PhD thesis work entitled Quantum steampunk: Quantum information, thermodynamics, their intersection, and applications thereof across physics done at the Physics Department, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA. |
 |
2021
- Simon Stephan
For his PhD thesis work entitled Vapor-Liquid Interfaces: Molecular
Simulation, Density Gradient Theory, and Experiments done at the Laboratory of Engineering Thermodynamics, Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. |
 |
2023
- Bayan Karimi
For her PhD thesis work entitled Circuit Quantum Thermodynamics – from photonic heat transport to ultra-sensitive nanocalorimetry done at the Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland. |
 |
The 2025 winner will be announced during the JETC2025.
The applications will be examined by a selection committee of scientists expert in thermodynamics from different European countries. The composition of
Please remember: the Ph.D. thesis (or equivalent level doctoral thesis) must have been defended during the two calendar years preceding the year of the JETC, namely, the defense date must have taken place between Jan.1, 2023 and Dec.31, 2024.
Applicants
must provide by the deadline the following documents, to
be submitted as pdf files either by e-mail or by providing a simple direct
public download link if the pdf file is larger than 5MB (in this case, please
understand that a download link requiring a registration procedure in order for
the committee to download your file will not be accepted, therefore, your
application will not be valid; a valid and free way to email a direct public
download link to your pdf file is as follows: get yourself a Dropbox
account, once you registered, place the pdf file in the Public
folder inside your Dropbox folder, right-clik on the file and then choose
Dropbox > Copy Public Link, this copies to the clipboard a direct public
download link to your file, finally go to the email you are editing and select
Paste, the link gets pasted into your email, to download your file the email recipient
will simply click on this link, no registrations required for the recipient):
-
the full thesis manuscript
as a
separate
single pdf document; if the thesis is not in English, an extended (20
pages) summary in English AND a single
published paper in English based on it, chosen by the applicant for the purpose
of the selection
-
a curriculum vitae including a list of publications as
a separate pdf document
-
at least one journal publication (but no more than three) based on the thesis
work as
a separate
pdf document
-
a short abstract in English (no more than 2 pages) as
a separate
pdf
document
- a single pdf file containing
* a letter of application with full name and address, date of birth,
phone number, and e-mail
* a letter of recommendation§ written by the thesis advisor
and optionally, at the candidate's discretion,
*
the formal evaluation reports on the thesis, if any
*
additional
letters of recommendation§ written by formal or informal co-advisors, if any, explaining
their role in the thesis work
§ The submission option to preserve letter writers' privacy, is to ask your advisor(s) to send the letter of recommendation directly to Prof. Beretta
The
candidates will be informed of the results by April 21, 2025.
please in the object write exactly "Prigogine Prize
Application" (without the quotation marks) and make
sure you receive an email acknowledgment of receipt of your submission.
Ilya Prigogine was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977 "for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures".
Webpage at Ilya Prigogine Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems.
DOE R&D Accomplishments webpage on Ilya Prigogine.
A CV with Ilya Prigogine's list of honors and publications.