Dirk Hellhammer AwardThe Dirk Hellhammer Award recognizes outstanding early-career contributions to psychoneuroendocrinology and honors exceptional scientific achievement by emerging investigators in the field. 
Renamed in 2021 in honor of psychoneuroendocrinology pioneer Dirk Hellhammer (1947–2018). About the AwardThe International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE) awarded the prestigious Curt Richter Award since 2000 to a distinguished line of young investigators in the field of psychoneuroendocrinology. The award was renamed in 2021 to honor our friend and colleague Dirk Hellhammer (1947–2018). Dirk was a pioneer of psychoneuroendocrinology, contributing some of the most important and enduring advances in the field, from the Trier Social Stress Test to the characterization of the cortisol awakening response. Dirk served as ISPNE President from 2002 to 2005 and received the ISPNE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. The award consists of an honorarium, a plaque, a travel grant of up to US $1,000 to attend the annual meeting, and exemption from Society membership dues for three years. The awardee presents their award lecture during the ISPNE Annual Meeting and receives the award in person. Applicants must be 45 years of age or younger by June 30, 2026. The submitted manuscript should report original, unpublished research in basic or clinical psychoneuroendocrinology or provide a novel integrative synthesis of the applicant’s prior work. Manuscripts should follow the preparation guidelines of Psychoneuroendocrinology. Following peer review, the manuscript will automatically be considered for publication in the journal. The Dirk Hellhammer Award is sponsored by Elsevier, which underwrites the honorarium and travel expenses for the awardee and provides complimentary access to ScienceDirect and Scopus. ISPNE gratefully acknowledges Elsevier’s continued support of the Dirk Hellhammer Award program. Applicants should submit:
2026 Applications Now OpenQueries regarding the award may be sent to [email protected] with “Dirk Hellhammer Award” in the subject line. The deadline for applications is May 15, 2026. Applicants will be notified on or about June 30, 2026 to facilitate travel planning for the Annual Meeting. 2025 Award Recipient
Shaozheng Qin, Ph.D.Beijing Normal University Dr. Shaozheng Qin has been awarded the 2025 Dirk Hellhammer Award from the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, which has recognized a distinguished line of young investigators since 2000. In 2021, the award was renamed to honor Dirk Hellhammer (1947–2018), a pioneer in psychoneuroendocrinology whose work ranged from the Trier Social Stress Test to the characterization of the cortisol awakening response. Research ContributionsDr. Qin states: “This award is a profound honor, recognizing two decades of my work, beginning during my doctoral training at the Donders Institute, at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroendocrinology. It validates the importance of bridging basic science with developmental and clinical applications.” The Dirk Hellhammer Award recognizes Dr. Qin for his work on how stress and hormonal dynamics reconfigure brain networks underlying human emotion and cognition across development. His interdisciplinary research demonstrates that the cortisol awakening response (CAR) acts as a neurocognitive primer, enhancing hippocampal-prefrontal efficiency for memory processing, balancing amygdala-prefrontal circuits for emotion, and orchestrating large-scale network reconfiguration for multitask demands. This work aims to establish CAR as a biomarker and target for interventions that restore neural balance, including chronotherapy and pharmacological modulation. Academic Background and Scientific VisionDr. Qin completed his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Donders Institute at Radboud University Nijmegen and subsequently completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University, where he later served as Instructor at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is currently Full Professor of Psychology at Beijing Normal University. Dr. Qin integrates neuroimaging, endocrine assays, and computational modeling to examine stress-sensitive neuroendocrine mechanisms, with a particular focus on cortisol awakening response effects on hippocampal-prefrontal-amygdala circuits. His forthcoming publication in Psychoneuroendocrinology, “Cortisol Awakening Response Primes Human Cognition and Emotion: A Unifying Psycho-Neuroendocrine-Developmental Model,” proposes a novel framework linking CAR’s biphasic cortisol surge to proactive optimization of neural efficiency and emotional regulation. The work demonstrates how CAR coordinates neuroendocrine signaling and large-scale network dynamics to prepare the brain for daily challenges, offering translational insights for stress-related disorders. Future Directions and ImpactOn the importance of receiving this award, Dr. Qin notes: “The ISPNE society represents an intellectual home — a community that shares my commitment to advancing stress research through interdisciplinary dialogue. Being part of ISPNE fuels my motivation to translate findings into tangible solutions, whether through neurocognitive biomarker development or hormone-aware therapies.” He further describes the award as “not just a milestone, but a catalyst to further explore how neuroendocrine insights can, on one hand, reveal stress vulnerability, and on the other hand empower resilience across the lifespan.” ISPNE shares this enthusiasm and welcomes the opportunity to see this outstanding scholar continue to build upon the holistic framework for stress-related adaptation that Dr. Qin has described as the psycho-neuroendocrine-developmental preparedness model. Previous Dirk Hellhammer Award WinnersThe award was known as the Curt Richter Award prior to 2021.
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