The 2026 Dominique Givord Award goes to Prof. Dr. Burkard Hillebrands
On May 1, 2026, the European Magnetism Association (EMA) announced in its newsletter that the 2026 Dominique Givord Award will be presented to Prof. Dr. Burkard Hillebrands of RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau. With this prestigious distinction, which is awarded only every three years, the EMA honors his outstanding contributions to magnetism research as well as his significant impact on the European magnetism community. The award is considered the highest European distinction in the field of magnetism.
In its announcement, the EMA highlights Hillebrands' scientific achievements in particular: through his advancement of Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy and the realization of magnon-based logic devices, he has firmly established magnonics as a key area of contemporary magnetism. The EMA further recognizes his "dedicated leadership and influential and deeply supportive presence" within the magnetism community, which has greatly strengthened magnetism research across Europe.
Prof. Dr. Burkard Hillebrands studied physics at the University of Cologne, where he received his diploma in 1982 and his doctorate in 1986. Following a postdoctoral stay at the Optical Sciences Center in Tucson, Arizona, he completed his habilitation at RWTH Aachen University in 1993. In 1994, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Karlsruhe before moving to TU Kaiserslautern (now RPTU) as a full professor in 1995, where he taught until 2025 and continues to work as a senior professor today. As a highly respected member of the scientific community, he has held several key leadership positions, including Scientific Director and member of the Executive Board of the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden from 2016 to 2017, and Vice President for Research, Technology, and Innovation of TU Kaiserslautern from 2006 to 2014. He is a founding member of the EMA and served as its President from 2019 to 2022. Even beyond his active teaching career, he continues to share his experience and remains engaged — in collaboration with external coaches, among others — in the mentoring of researchers in the postdoctoral, tenure-track and appointment phase.
The Dominique Givord Award for Advancing Magnetism in Europe has been presented every three years by the European Magnetism Association since 2020. It honors scientists who have made significant contributions to advancing magnetism research and the magnetism community in Europe. The award commemorates the French physicist Dominique Givord, who passed away in 2019 and was one of the co-founders of the EMA.
The award will be formally presented during the Joint European Magnetic Symposia (JEMS) 2027, which will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, from August 29 to September 3, 2027. There, Hillebrands will deliver a talk during the plenary session.