The European Physical Society (EPS) is proud to announce its 2026 distinctions and awards, recognising outstanding contributions to physics across all career stages. The distinctions were announce at the EPS Council meeting held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 15–16 May 2026. Also announced during the meeting was the 2025 Alessandro Volta Prize.

EPS Honorary Member

The EPS Council elects individuals whose exceptional achievements in physics, in research, industry and/or education merit recognition as an EPS Honorary Member. The council meeting of 2026 awarded honorary membership to Luisa Cifarelli.

• Luisa Cifarelli

Luisa Cifarelli has been awarded Honorary Membership of the European Physical Society in recognition of her remarkable career spanning five decades of scientific achievement and exceptional service to the international physics community. Her contributions range from significant discoveries in hadron structure at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings to pioneering work on proton structure at DESY and CERN, and most recently a leadership role in the ALICE experiment at the LHC. She was the driving force behind the Extreme Energy Events project, which brings cosmic ray research into high schools across Italy. She has served the physics community with distinction as President of the Italian Physical Society (2008–2019) and of the EPS (2011–2013), and as a member of the APS Board of Directors. She was previously recognised with the EPS Gero Thomas Medal.

EPS Fellows

EPS Fellowship recognises exceptional contributions to physics in research, industry, education, or service to the European Physical Society (EPS). Limited to 5% of EPS members, Fellows are nominated by there peers and approved by the Council based on demonstrated impact in their field.

In 2026 the following were admitted as EPS Fellows.

• Vladimir Fomin

IFW Dresden, Dresden, Germany

“For his numerous contributions to condensed matter physics, pioneering the control of the third dimension in nanostructures, and for his outstanding commitment to EPS activities and support of the broader European physics community.”

• Zsolt Fülöp

Institute for Nuclear Research (Atomki), Debrecen, Hungary

“For pioneering contributions to nuclear astrophysics and sustained, influential service to the European and international physics community.”

EPS Early Career Prize

The EPS Early Career Prize regonises acheivements in theoretical or experimental physics and is awarded to “Early Career” scientists in the first 6 years after the award of their PhD. The 2026 Prize is awarded to:

• Jayadev Vijayan

University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

“For pioneering contributions to the development of new experimental platforms at the intersection of ultracold atom physics and levitated optomechanics to study many-body dynamics and macroscopic quantum phenomena.”