Award ceremony
Special appreciation for passionate research: FABU honours young academics
The Friends and Alumni of the University of Wuppertal, or FABU for short, presented their young talent awards for the 45th time. As guests of APTIV, they celebrated the award winners in style // Photos Friederike von Heyden
As a guest of the Wuppertal technology company APTIV, many thanks went to the sponsors of the prizes: Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal donated four young talent prizes worth 8,000 euros for the first time, the Thomas and Gabriele Meyer Foundation donated the doctoral prizes and increased the total prize money by 12,500 euros compared to previous years to a total of 17,500 euros. A great appreciation for the graduates - the FABU chairwomen Felicia Ullrich and Dr Jens Schmidt, who wittily led the evening, agreed with all the speakers.
Podcast with the award winners
Already heard? Exciting and in-depth insights into their research topics are provided by the winners of the young talent and doctoral prizes in the BUW podcast "Ausgezeichnet". As guests of presenter Anne MacDonald, they not only report on the results, but also tell us what fascinates them about their topics, how their research topic has developed in everyday university life and what contribution they are making to the current challenges of our time. And along the way, they always reveal a little about themselves.
It's worth listening in: the episodes (starting Tuesday, 14 January, all further episodes will be released weekly) can be found on the Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music platforms. (The links lead directly to the streaming services).
Shaping the future together
A great deal of passion, but also sweat and tears - these are some of the ingredients that make up the successes of the award-winning graduates. This was also evident from the short presentations on their research topics that the award winners gave to around 150 guests in the fully booked APTIV premises on Tuesday evening.
The award winners also demonstrated courage by tackling complex issues, among other things, said APTIV Managing Director Matthias Laumann, citing another ingredient. "We all need this in order to shape the future together," he continued. The proximity between business and science is of great importance here. His company is a good example of this: the cooperation with the University of Wuppertal also contributes to what APTIV develops and produces. Joint research projects and the promotion of young talent as part of the Germany Scholarship programme are just two examples of this.
A figurehead
From bachelor's to doctoral theses, from marketing to particle physics to the noble von Berg family - in her welcoming address, Wuppertal's Lord Mayor Miriam Scherff referred to the impressive diversity of the award-winning topics: "There is a wide variety of work that shows how broadly positioned the university is. This award ceremony is not just for individual honours, it is also a flagship for the entire university." Scherff said that it was good news for the economy that there were such great young talent on site who were tackling the issues of the future with expertise and commitment.
University Rector Prof Dr Birgitta Wolff agreed with her: "This evening provides an insight into exciting issues and reveals findings, some of which could also lead to concrete innovations in business and society." She hopes that the prize money will help with the next steps. Looking at the careers of the award-winning doctoral students, she emphasised: "Science can also be addictive!"
Young talent awards
Axel Jütz, CEO of Stadtsparkasse, presented the four young talent awards for outstanding Bachelor's and Master's theses in the evening. Till Jakob Wieland (Industrial Engineering and Management Energy Management) was honoured with the first prize of 3,000 euros. The second prize - worth 2,000 euros - went to Anne-Marie Thomas (Economics). The two third prizes - each worth 1,500 euros - went to Florian Volkhausen (Political Science) and Emma Etscheid (Marketing).
Doctoral prizes
The first prize - endowed with 10,000 euros - went to Dr Vera Dinslage (Medieval History). Dr Johanna Kraus (Physics) was delighted with second place, which came with 5,000 euros. Third prize and prize money of 2,500 euros went to Dr Maximilian Buchmüller (Electrical Engineering). The prizes were presented by donor Thomas Meyer.
DAAD Prize
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) prize for outstanding achievements by foreign students at the University of Wuppertal was presented to Camille Piaumier by Prof Dr Peter Gust, Vice-Rector for Third Mission and International Affairs. The French student has been studying in Wuppertal since November 2020 and has impressed both with her excellent academic achievements and her active participation in a wide range of university and social initiatives.
Stella Baum Prize
As part of the official award ceremony, Prof Katja Pfeiffer, Vice Dean of the School of Art and Design, also presented the Stella Baum Art Prize to Svenja Biedenbach. The student impressed the jury with her work "(with)holding space". In it, she focusses on the topic of climate justice and, as she describes it, is dedicated to linking questions of power and space with the targeted creation of fear as an instrument of power. This resulted in photographs that she also exhibited last year as part of the "Do Worry Be Happy" exhibition at the Kunsthalle Barmen. The prize enables art students to present their work to a wider audience and is awarded by the university's rectorate with the support of FABU.
Impressions from the evening
APTIV Managing Director Matthias Laumann
Wuppertal's Lord Mayor Miriam Scherff
University Rector Prof Dr Birgitta Wolff
Young talent award winner Emma Etscheid (2nd from left) with the Chairman of the Management Board of Stadtsparkasse Axel Jütz (left) and the two FABU Chairmen Felicia Ullrich (2nd from right) and Dr Jens Schmidt (right)
Young talent award winner Florian Volkhausen
Young talent award winner Anne-Marie Thomas
Young talent award winner Till Jakob Wieland
Singer Natasha Kamphausen entertained the guests with three songs in the evening.
DAAD prizewinner Camille Piaumier (right) with University Vice-Rector Prof Dr Peter Gust
Stella Baum Award winner Svenja Biedenbach
Doctoral award winner Dr Maximilian Buchmüller
Doctoral award winner Dr Johanna Kraus
Doctoral prize winner Dr Vera Dinslage (2nd from left) with prize donor Thomas Meyer (left) and FABU chairpersons Felicia Ullrich (2nd from right) and Dr Jens Schmidt (right).
