The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (German: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation set-up by the government of the Federal Republic and funded by the German Foreign Office, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and others for the promotion of international co-operation between German institutes of higher education and leading academics from around the world.
The foundation sponsors a number of competitive fellowships, ranging from postdoctoral to senior visiting professors, primarily for foreign academics from the areas of humanities, sciences and engineering.[1] Funds are given to finance long-term research visits to Germany usually for a period of 6–24 months. The foundation also awards a number of large prizes for life-time accomplishment and for "top flight" young researchers, such as the Humboldt Prize and Sofia Kovalevskaya Award. Awards from the foundation are considered to be among the most prestigious and generous awards in the world.