PROGRAMME SUMMARY
With the PEARL programme, the FNR offers Luxembourg research institutions attractive funding to enable them to draw established and internationally recognised researchers to Luxembourg.
Through the recruitment of outstanding scientists in strategically important areas, the FNR aims to accelerate the development and strengthening of Luxembourg’s national research priorities.
PEARL projects have a lifespan of five years with a financial contribution of between 3-4 MEUR by the FNR. The financial contribution can be used flexibly to implement the research programme at the host institution.
In the current Call, the FNR expects to be able to fund 1 – 2 PEARL positions.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
Proposals must be submitted jointly by the candidate and the host institution, but PEARL also allows for the submission of a proposal where the candidate is still to be recruited. This is intended for particularly strategic positions within a host institution and/or for co-funded PEARL Chairs.
All applications have to be submitted through the FNR online Grant Management System.
2024/25
Vincent Lenders, who will take up a position as Full Professor for cybersecurity at the University of Luxembourg’s SnT on 1 August 2025. With the PEARL funding, Dr Lenners will create the Systems and Network Security (SNS) research group that will initially focus on securing critical infrastructures against cyber threats.
Find out more about this project
2023
Florian Kaiser (leader Quantum Materials group at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), has been awarded the FNR PEARL Chair by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) for his project focused on enhancing the performance of quantum computers. The project, named AQuaTSiC, (Advanced Quantum Technologies with Silicon Carbide) is set to receive 4 MEUR in funding for the next five years.
Find out more about this project
2022/23
Jordi Cabot (leader Software Engineering RDI unit at LIST) is awarded an FNR PEARL Chair endowed with 3 MEUR to set up and coordinate the BESSER (BEtter Smart Software fastER) project in collaboration with SnT (the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust). The BESSER (BEtter Smart Software fastER) research project is aimed at empowering both developers and non-technical individuals to leverage AI advancements and low- code/no-code techniques to boost the development of complex software.
Find out more about this project
2022
Michael Heneka. The FNR has awarded an FNR PEARL Chair to the director of the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg for a research project focusing on Alzheimer’s disease. Endowed with 3.9 MEUR, this new project aims to bridge from fundamental research to clinical applications for diagnostics and therapy, contributing to improving care for dementia patients in Luxembourg and beyond.
Find out more about this project
2021/22
Kathryn Hadler. In the framework of her FNR PEARL Chair, Dr Hadler has joined ESRIC to lead the further development of the Centre, advancing scientific discovery and technology development in In situ Resources Utilisation (ISRU) and asserting ESRIC and Luxembourg’s position in space resources.
Find out more about this project
2020
Jochen Klucken. Prof. Dr Klucken will develop digital health concepts for Luxembourg through a joint research programme involving the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL).
Find out more about this project
2019
Sean Takats (Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Luxembourg). Awarded FNR PEARL Chair for project DHARPA (Digital History Advanced Research Projects Accelerator), which will assess the impact of technology on historical research, and it will experiment with how technology can reshape the methodological underpinnings of history as a scientific discipline.
Find out more about this project
2017
Gilbert Fridgen (Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at University of Luxembourg). Awarded Paypal-FNR PEARL Chair for project FINATRAX, under which Fridgen will set up the Digital Financial Services and Cross-Orgnaizational Digital Transformations Research Group. Jointly funded by Paypal and the FNR.
2016
Michel Mittelbronn (Laboratoire National de Santé; Luxembourg Institute of Health; LCSB at the University of Luxembourg). Awarded 2.6 MEUR by FNR to establish neuropathology unit, strenghtening Luxembourg’s research activities in neuro-oncology and neuropathology.
Find out more about this project
2015
Philippe Dubois (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Techology). Awarded 4 MEUR by FNR for project focusing on the design, synthesis, processing and application of novel composite polymeric materials derived from bio-based renewable building blocks.
Find out more about this project
2014
Paulo Verissimo (University of Luxembourg): Awarded 4.975 MEUR by FNR for project on infrastructure security and resilience, focussing on protecting critical networks (such as the electricity grid) from cyber-attacks.
Find out more about this project
2013
Rejko Krüger (LCSB, University of Luxembourg): Awarded 5 MEUR by FNR for project on improving Parkinson’s treatment. The projectlooks at different genetic make-ups of PD patients and identifies the underlying molecular disease pathways, which could be targeted with drugs.
Find out more about this project
Jens Kreisel (CRP Gabriel Lippmann): Awarded 5 MEUR by FNR for project looking at Ferroics – ‘iron-like’ materials with magnetic, elastic and electric properties. The project aims to couple these specific properties of these materials to generate new materials which could have novel properties for, e.g. industrial application.
Find out more about this project
2011/13
Louis Chauvel & Conchita d’Ambrosio (University of Luxembourg): Awarded 4.3 MEUR by FNR for project looking at social inequalities from different perspectives and how these inequalities affect health and social welfare.
Find out more about this project
2011
Lionel Briand (University of Luxembourg): Awarded 4.6 MEUR by FNR for project looking at the development and design of reliable and secure software systems by bringing automation and effectiveness to the testing and verification of such systems, which are inherently difficult to test.
Find out more about this project
2010
Bruno Domon (CRP Santé): Awarded 5 MEUR by FNR for project to develop technology to measure changes in the protein profile of patient samples with the aim to develop diagnostic tools for diseases such as cancer.
Find out more about this project
2009
Henderik Proper (CRP Henri Tudor): Awarded 3.370 MEUR by FNR for project using programming languages modelling business models of companies, particularly network enterprises. The overall aim is to better understand how changes to a company’s business model will affect its service architecture, making it easier to adapt to changes.