Hakar Aliyas (24) impressed with his excellent professional achievements and strong social commitment
Jena. Hakar Aliyas is one of three winners of this year's Leibniz Trainee Award, which was presented by the Leibniz Association for outstanding professional achievements and social commitment. The award ceremony took place on December 3 during the festive setting of the Leibniz Association's annual conference in Berlin, with each prize worth €2,000.
“When I received the news that I had won the award, I was surprised because I knew that there were certainly many trainees who also deserved the award for their performance and commitment,” reports Mr. Aliyas.
Hakar Aliyas came to Germany with his family in 2016 as a Kurdish refugee from Syria via Iraq and attended the regular school in Bad Sulza, which he completed with very good results. Finally, between September and February 2025, Hakar completed his training as a biology lab technician at the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena.
“While I was standing on stage, I looked back on the time – a few years ago, when I could hardly speak a word of German, how everything started here in Germany and where I am now. That filled me with deep pride and great gratitude,” says Hakar. “I am delighted about the award and feel very honored to be one of the few who have received it.”
During his three-and-a-half years of vocational training, he gained extensive practical experience in the international research groups of Prof. Dr. Helen Morrison, Dr. Christoph Kaether, Prof. Dr. Christoph Englert, Dr. Björn von Eyss, and Dr. Katarzyna Winek. “Hakar was always highly motivated and eager to learn new things. He had the trust of the scientists, and his easy-going and warm manner made it a pleasure to work with him. We are proud of what he has achieved,” say his trainers Heike Dittmar, Tom Hünniger, Daniela Reichenbach, and Dagmar Kruspe.
Hakar Aliyas also completed an internship abroad in the Netherlands during his training, funded by the “Erasmus+” program. He spent three weeks at ERIBA Groningen (European Research Institute for the Biology of Aging) in the working group of Dr. Cornelis F. Calkhoven, a former research group leader at the FLI. “The internship was very beneficial for me, both professionally and socially,” explains Hakar.
“I was able to work independently with various methods on breast cancer cells, learn personal responsibility, was fully integrated into the team and received excellent support, spoke English the whole time and had a lot of fun.”
Following his internship abroad, Hakar joined Dr. Katarzyna Winek's research group “Microbiome in Stroke and Aging,” where, in view of his outstanding performance, he took on his own project to identify structural differences in muscle tissue after a stroke while still in training.
“All in all, I was very lucky with my training at the institute,” Hakar Aliyas states. During his 3.5 years of training, he was well prepared for the profession of biology lab technician and was able to gain a lot of practical experience.
Hakar Aliyas was also involved in various events for young talent at the institute, helped set up a youth and trainee representative committee (JAV) at the FLI, and gave lectures on internal knowledge transfer as part of his training. In his free time, Hakar volunteers in integration projects in Apolda, helping foreign children learn German, and works as an interpreter for migrants in their dealings with German authorities.
Hakar has since left the FLI and taken on a new professional challenge as a biology lab technician at a start-up in Berlin.
Here you can find more about the Leibniz Trainee Award.
