The International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB) invites submissions for the 2025 Marjorie Grene Prize and the 2025 Werner Callebaut Prize.
Both prizes aim to advance the careers of early career scholars in the ISHPSSB community. The prizes are awarded to outstanding manuscripts developed following a talk or poster at one of the two most recent ISHPSSB meetings (CHSL 2021 or Toronto 2023) by presenters who were graduate students at the time of presentation and the leading author of the submitted paper. We detail the two distinct prize categories below.
2025 Marjorie Grene Prize
ISHPSSB named this prize in Marjorie Grene’s honor not only because of her contribution to the history and philosophy of biology, but because she helped create the spirit of interdisciplinarity so fundamental to ISHPSSB. Grene was a valued mentor to many members of the Society and a long-standing inspiration to all for the excellence of her work and her actions in bringing together diverse scholars of biology, even before the formation of the Society. The prize thus honors Grene’s legacy by supporting today’s early career scholars in the history, philosophy and/or social studies of biology.
The award consists of a certificate and an award of US$500, as well as a permanent record of the award on a plaque which circulates every two years to the current winner(s).
2025 Werner Callebaut Prize
The prize named in honor of Werner Callebaut celebrates Callebaut’s contribution to the philosophy of biology. His mentorship guided the intellectual and personal development of countless philosophers and scientists, contributing greatly to ensure that philosophical and scientific work evolve in constructive dialogue and reciprocal respect. Callebaut’s untimely death in 2014 inflicted a serious blow to the philosophy of biology community worldwide. His work reached creatively across fields relevant to a philosophical understanding of biology, comprising areas as far removed as economics, evolutionary biology, history, sociology and cognitive science, as well crossing national cultures, languages and traditions -most notably the ‘continental-analytic’ divide in philosophy. The Callebaut prize thus focuses on recognising early career scholars’ interdisciplinary, boundary-crossing work, which is at the core of the ISHSSPB community.
The award consists of a certificate and an award of US$1000, as well as a permanent record of the award on a plaque which circulates every two years to the current winners.
How to Submit your Paper
First authors are requested to submit a cover sheet introducing their submission, where they may specify whether they would like to be simultaneously considered for the Grene and the Callebaut prizes. Please note that a paper cannot win both prizes.
Submissions should be in the form of a paper prepared for submission, or already submitted, to a professional journal, specifying the journal in question. In the case of the Callebaut prize, a brief statement (max 500 words) describing the paper’s interdisciplinarity must also be provided.
An electronic copy (in Microsoft Word or PDF format), together with the required cover sheet (accessible here as Word or respectively PDF format) should be emailed as one document to the Chairs of the Grene and Callebaut Prize Committee, Sophia Efstathiou (
The winning papers will be announced at the 2025 ISHPSSB conference in Porto. The awards committee reserves the right to split the award, or to not give an award.
With thanks to the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI) for financial support for the Callebaut Prize.
Sophia Efstathiou and Yafeng Shan,
Co-chairs of the Marjorie Grene & Werner Callebaut Prizes Committee