The EMBL Alumni Association is thrilled with a generous gift of €20,000 from Roland Specker in support of the John Kendrew Young Scientist Award – an Award that singles out and rewards former EMBL pre- and postdoc for their achievements in science and science communication.

A stellar entrepreneur, and owner of Intermedex and the ISG Hotel and Guest Houses, Roland Specker has generously used his organisational talents and interests during his career to support a range of noteworthy arts and cultural projects. One of these gained him the Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in 2002, namely making possible the wrapping of the Reichstag by Christo.

It is nice and quite original that Mr. Specker now adds young scientists to his philanthropic interests, though this is not the first time that he supports the EMBL Alumni Association, which received a donation from him for the 2004 reunion.

Mr. Specker was drawn to support this Award because it keeps alive the name, ideals and values of EMBL’s first Director General, for whom he has fond working memories. He hopes that future hopeful awardees “will not be put off by what looks like insurmountable obstacles, rather they will, like John Kendrew, keep their objectives and their vision firmly in mind and work hard to achieve them”.

The Alumni Association would also like to thank the Endowment Foundation for a generous donation of €1000, supporting the return of awardees to EMBL to share their post-EMBL experience and advice.

Ellen Dearden