The 2013 MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career Researcher in Theoretical Astrophysics is awarded to Gabriella De Lucia for her work on the theoretical modeling of galaxy formation and evolution. The models she has developed have reshaped our understanding of the physical processes that drive galaxy evolution, and in particular, of how these depend on the environment in which galaxies reside.

The 2013 MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career Researcher in Observational Astrophysics is awarded to Elisabetta Caffau for the discovery of a very primitive low-mass star in our Galaxy whose chemical composition has changed our views on stellar formation in the early Galaxy and has spurred quite a number of innovative ideas about the formation of the first stars in the Early Universe.

Best Early Career Researcher in New Technology The 2013 MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career Researcher in New Technology is awarded to Justin Read for his high-impact research in computational astrophysics and cosmology by developing a new method, SPH-S, substantially improving the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics technique used, in particular, to model gas accretion in galaxy formation.