Junior member honored with young talent award

Marica Hundertmark, junior member of the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program, has received the German Society for Traffic Medicine (DGVM) Young Scientist Award for the sub-project of her doctoral thesis Differentiating the intake of medicinal cannabis flowers and recreational use (Faculty 09: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Department of Forensic Toxicology, supervisor: Prof. Dr. rer. Nat. Irene Krämer). This was the sixth time that the 10,000 euro prize has been awarded in Freiburg. The competition is aimed at young scientists from a specialist field represented in the DGVM, including traffic medicine, traffic toxicology, traffic psychology, traffic traumatology, traffic accident analysis and traffic safety. Following the announcement and application, the prize winners were selected by a jury from the DGVM board. The selection criteria are originality of the research approach, practical significance of the results for traffic medicine and the number and quality of previous publications. Marica Hundertmark will speak about her award-winning work at a symposium in 2025. We congratulate her warmly!

Mustafa Obaid gains a doctorate

Mustafa Obaid, junior member of the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program, submitted his dissertation entitled “City and Identity in Modern Iraq: Baghdad’s Role in Identity and Nation Building” and defended it on 09.04.2024 – the work was rated “summa cum laude” overall. We congratulate him warmly!

Jennifer Konrad gains a doctorate

Jennifer Konrad, former junior member of the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program, submitted her dissertation entitled “Architecture as visual disturbance: on the relationship between building form and perception in deconstructivism” and defended it on 18.07.2023 – the work was rated “summa cum laude” overall. We congratulate her warmly!

Former junior member honored with Kelag prize

Tamara Štajner, former junior member of the GAFP, was very successful in the competition for this year’s Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt (June 26 to 30, 2024) and received one of the other awards of the competition – the Kelag Prize – with her story “Luft nach unten”. The prize is donated by Kärntner-Elektrizitäts Aktiengesellschaft, which has been a sponsoring partner of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize since 2002. The Ingeborg Bachmann Prize has been awarded annually since 1977 during the multi-day Days of German-Language Literature. The doctoral student from the Mainz University of Music (Department of Music Theory, supervisor: Dr. phil. habil. Birger Petersen) impressed the audience and the jury with her abysmal narrative, subtle and sometimes musical allusions, in which formative impressions of the Yugoslavian war are conveyed. The jury awarded her the Kelag Prize, endowed with ten thousand euros. You can find more information about the prize here and about Tamara Štajner’s performance here. We congratulate her warmly!

Network meeting

Our GAFP network meeting took place on 21.06.2024, bringing together junior and senior members from different years. Despite the changeable weather, our members made their way to the largest monument in the city of Mainz, the Citadel, with our tour guide, the head of the old town, Brian Huck, and experienced Roman times, the Middle Ages and modern times above and below ground (casemates) on the compact site with a unique view of the city. Afterwards, a glass of wine, Spundekäs cheese, bread and pretzels provided the opportunity to meet and chat in the Michel wine house.

Former junior members receive awards
At this year’s DIES ACADEMICUS, two former junior members of the GAFP were honored for their outstanding achievements and contributions to science:
Dr. Jasmin Reichert-Schlax received the prize of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz – Faculty 03 Law and Economics for her doctoral thesis entitled “Types of academic success in economics and social sciences: An analysis of personal factors influencing academic success over the course of a Bachelor’s degree”.
Dr. Franziska Reiffen received the prize of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz – Department 07 History and Cultural Studies for her doctoral thesis entitled “The social life of the mall: Working and dwelling in urban Argentina”.
Further information on the award winners and their projects can be found here. Congratulations to our former junior members!

Former junior member honored with poetry prize

Tamara Štajner, former junior member of the GAFP, took first place in the Merano 2024 Poetry Prize. The violist and doctoral student at the Mainz University of Music (Department of Music Theory, supervised by Dr. phil. habil. Birger Petersen) impressed the audience and the jury with her poetic and musical performance, which earned her the eight thousand euro prize. Out of 256 entries, 35 were shortlisted and nine finalists were invited. The Poetry Prize is a literary prize that is awarded every two years. In addition to the prize for first place, which is sponsored by the South Tyrolean provincial government, the Sparkasse Foundation Prize (4,000 euros) and the RAI Media Prize (2,500 euros) will also be awarded. You can find more information about the prize here and about Tamara Štajner’s performance here. We congratulate her on this great success!

New members admitted to the GAFP

The ceremonial admission of the new members took place on 22.04.2024. On the one hand, the junior members of the class of 2022 as well as Prof. Dr. Philipp Harms, Prof. Dr. Christian Dormann and Prof. Dr. Doris Prechel were bid farewell from the GAFP after 10 years of senior membership. We would like to thank them most sincerely for their many years of commitment, wish them all every success in their future careers and hope to continue meeting and exchanging ideas at upcoming events. We also welcomed the following twelve new junior members: Xenia Bolschakow (Psychology), Julia Brechtel (Pharmacy), Alina Geiger (Management), Inge Heinemann (German and Latin), Marica Hundertmark (Toxicology), Carolin Jesussek (English and German), Janika Kunzmann (African Studies), Deanna Pellerano (Musicology and Music Librarianship), Franziska Rauh (Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies), Matthias Schmitz (Chemistry), Eduard Visintini (History) and Isabell Zipperle (Media Management) as well as the three new senior members Univ.-Prof. Dr. Birgit Stark (Journalism), Univ.-Prof. Dr. Immanuel Ott (HfM) and Univ.-Prof. Elisabeth Scholl (HfM). We welcome the new junior members as well as the new senior members and look forward to an exciting exchange and intensive discussions at the upcoming events. Musical contributions from the duo Benedikt Fröhlich and Finn O’Donnell-Hönow from the Mainz University of Music framed the festivities.

Obituary

We mourn the loss of our senior member Univ.-Prof. Dr. Arne Nagels, who passed away on April 09, 2024. As an excellent scientist, Mr. Nagels was admitted to the GAFP on 14.11.2018. In addition to his work in the Department of Philosophy and Philology, at the Department of English and Lingustics, he has since supported the selected, outstanding talents in science and art of our program and was available to our junior members as a doctoral supervisor and contact person. We will always remember his warm personality and his passion for science.

We welcome our new junior spokeswoman

Since April 1, 2024, Ms. Carolin Jesussek has been the new junior speaker of the Gutenberg Academy Fellows Program, alongside Ms. Saskia Plura. She takes over from Ms. Veronika Phung, who was previously the junior spokeswoman for the GAFP and has fulfilled this role with great responsibility and commitment. We would like to thank her very much!