The Department of Physics is actively involved in the scientific coordination of the "Basilis Xanthopoulos" Award which has been instituted and is awarded by Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH).

The "Basilis Xanthopoulos" International Award for research on Gravitational Physics was established by FORTH in memorial of the late Professor Basilis Xanthopoulos. It is given every three years during the conference of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation (GRG).

Candidates must be outstanding researchers in the aforementioned field and must be under 40 years old. Candidates for the "Basilis Xanthopoulos" Award are considered by nomination only. The nominations must be sent to the secretary of the local and international committees and should be accompanied by the Curriculum Vitae of the candidate. There is no application form and the letter of the nominee, in which the reasons of the nomination are stated, is considered to be enough. The amount of the prize is about $10,000.