The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize is a prize that celebrates the long history of women in philosophy. The prize is named in honour of the philosopher Elisabeth of Bohemia and is awarded to an internationally recognized philosopher for outstanding services to research on women in the history of philosophy. The Elisabeth von Bohemia Prize is the first prize awarded to acknowledge the history of women philosophers.

The prize is donated by Ulrike Detmers, professor for economy at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, and awarded in cooperation with Ruth Hagengruber, Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.

We started to award the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize in 2018. Back then it was given to Prof. Dr. Lisa Shapiro for outstanding achievements in recognition of the work on the regional closely connected Princess.

In 2019 Prof. Dr. Mary Ellen Waithe received the prize. She is the author of the ground-breaking book series “A History of Women Philosophers”, published from 1987 to 1995, from ancient to contemporary women philosophers.

For 2021 the award committee has decided that the prize should be divided in two parts to match the theme of the IAPh 2021 “Defining the Future, Rethinking the Past”. One part went symbolically to the foremothers of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPH), first founded in 1976. The occasion was commemorated with a keynote on the early days of the IAPh by Herta Nagl-Dozekal and a workshop by Gabriele Gutzmann, one of the founding members of the IAPh. The second part is awarded to Mitieli Seixas da Silva, Professor of Philosophy, and member of the research group “Rede Brasileira de Mulheres Filósofas”.

In 2022 the prize went to Professor Sarah Hutton, from the University of York. She is well known to all of us, especially here in Paderborn, as she has often visited us for Conferences and talks, including in 2014 as a Visiting Professor at the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.

Her research focuses on Renaissance and Seventeenth-century literature and intellectual history, including the history of science and history of philosophy. She is also a specialist in the History of Women Philosophers and one of the leading international experts on early modern women’s writing. She has published, among other book, a monograph on Anne Conway: Anne Conway. A Woman Philosopher, Cambridge University Press, 2004; and a revised edition of The Conway Letters, originally edited by Marjorie Nicolson. She also published many articles on Anne Conway, Margaret Cavendish, Mary Astell and Émilie du Châtelet.

You can find more information here: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/elisabeth-of-bohemia-prize/