Professor Hannah Elfner, a PI in ELEMENTS, was awarded the “Scientist of the Year” prize of Goethe University Frankfurt for her excellent research on quark gluon plasma. The award is issued every two years together with the Alfons and Gertrud Kassel Foundation and entails a prize money of 25,000 Euros. This important acknowledgement of Professor Elfner’s outstanding work follows the renowned Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize for young researchers that she received in 2016. Currently, Professor Elfner carries out research and teaches at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) at Goethe University and the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research. Besides the academic achievements, the “Scientist of the Year” prize acknowledged Professor Elfner’s exceptional commitment to teaching and her support for young researchers. In this line, a share of the prize money is dedicated to promoting the academic careers of the next generation of scientists. More information on Professor Elfner’s work that combines theoretical and experimental physics, the prize as well as the Alfons and Gertrud Kassel Foundation is available here (in German).