With this new award, which will be presented annually in the future, the LBG honours institute directors with a high level of commitment as leaders and in career development. The Leadership Award is a professional addition to the already numerous Research and Teaching Awards, with which the LBG once again takes on a pioneering role in Austria. We warmly congratulate the ex aequo winners of the first Boltzmann Leadership Award, Prof. Barbara Stelzl-Marx (institute director  LBI Research on Consequences of War and Prof. Markus Mitterhauser (institute director LBI Applied Diagnostics)!