ISLQG
The Ashtekar Young Scientist Award of ISLQG—Sponsored by the Journal Universe
The International Society on Loop Quantum Gravity invites nominations for the newly established Ashtekar Young Scientist Award of ISLQG, sponsored by the journal Universe. The award was established to celebrate forty years of Loop Quantum Gravity and will be conferred every two years. The first winner(s) will be announced during the upcoming Loops’26 conference hosted by Zhejiang University of Technology from 24–29 May at Hangzhou, China.
The award will carry a certificate signed by the ISLQG President and a monetary award
initially set at 3000 USD for Loops’26. It is expected that the winners will accept the
prize in person but in exceptional cases it can be awarded in absentia.
All nominations should be sent to awards@islqg.org. The deadline is Sunday, 10 May 2026.
Eligible candidates for the present round are those who hold a faculty-level position at a recognized university or research institution, and who have received their PhD within 15 years of 31 December 2025. Periods of career interruptions, such as parenthood, childcare, health troubles or other circumstances deemed reasonable by the selection committee, can be excluded when counting the years of research experience after the PhD, to decide whether a person qualifies as an early career scientist or not.
The primary criteria are high quality research in Loop Quantum Gravity, followed by mentorship of students and postdocs and service contributions to the LQG community. Normally the award will be made to a single candidate but, in exceptional circumstances, it may be awarded jointly.
Self-nominations are not allowed. All nominations must be accompanied by a nomination letter, a CV of the candidate showing the year they received their PhD, at least two letters of support, and a statement signed by the nominator stating that the candidate meets the 'Young Scientist' requirement and that, to the best of their knowledge, there are no concerns that ISLQG should be aware of regarding the expectation that the nominee meets the commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity.
The governance of the award is regulated by its charter, which is available below.