Prizes for top research: Bielefeld's best doctoral theses honored!

Prizes for top research: Bielefeld's best doctoral theses honored!

On Monday, May 5th, the Bielefeld University Society (UGBi) will present awards for the best doctoral theses at Bielefeld University. The prizes will be awarded to the 14 best dissertations completed in 2024, and all theses received the highest grade of “summa cum laude”. This award is part of a long-standing tradition that has existed since 1983 and provides an incentive for excellent research, such as aktuell.uni-bielefeld.de reported.

The award ceremony will take place at a celebratory event that begins at 7:45 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Y building. Beforehand, there is the opportunity to take press photos with the award winners. These outstanding works cover a wide range of topics, ranging from psychological care for refugees to molecular interactions.

Prize winners

The list of awarded doctoral theses includes:

• Dr. Gerrit Bauch (Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften): „From words of approach to words of departure: Essays on noisy communication and partnership dissolution under uncertainty“. Thema: Positive Effekte von Unsicherheit auf Kommunikation und Unternehmenspartnerschaften.
• Dr.-Ing. Jonas Blattgerste (Technische Fakultät): „The Design Space of Augmented Reality Authoring Tools and its Exploration for the Procedural Training Context“. Thema: Didaktisches Potenzial von Augmented Reality.
• Dr. Tobias Dickbreder (Fakultät für Chemie): „Water on Calcite and K-Feldspar – Adsorption Structure and Desorption Kinetics“. Thema: Molekulare Wechselwirkungen von Wasser mit Mineraloberflächen.
• Dr. Lars Dumke (Fakultät für Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft): „Mental health care for refugees in Germany: Needs and barriers“. Thema: Psychologische Hilfe für Geflüchtete in Deutschland.
• Joana Ernst (Bielefeld School of Education): „Lebenswelten von Kindern und ihre Thematisierung im Unterricht der Grundschule“. Thema: Grundschulpädagogik.
• Dr. Johannes Claudio Felsch (Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft): „Der Zeitraum der Nichtleistung – Pflichtverletzung“. Thema: Reaktionsmöglichkeiten bei Pflichtverletzungen.
• Dr. Emanuela Gussetti (Fakultät für Mathematik): „The role of rough paths in the study of the stochastic Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation“. Thema: Stochastische Differentialgleichungen im Ferromagnetismus.
• Dr. Doreen Gutewort (Fakultät für Erziehungswissenschaft): „Historische Entwicklungen und das Lebenswerk Emmi Piklers“. Thema: Beziehungsorientierte Kleinstkinderziehung.
• Dr. Simon Hollnaicher (Fakultät für Geschichtswissenschaft, Philosophie und Theologie): „Assessing Feasibility with Value-laden Models“. Thema: Klimamodelle und deren ethische Implikationen.
• Dr. Marc Jacobsen (Fakultät für Soziologie): „Die Welt des Antisemitismus“. Thema: Entwicklung des Antisemitismus als globale Ideologie.
• Dr. Lara Lesch (Fakultät für Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft): „Women in sport leadership: A multi-level perspective“. Thema: Geschlechterverteilung in Sportvorständen.
• Dr. Henning Ortkraß (Fakultät für Physik): „Enhancing contrast, field of view and axial resolution of structured illumination microscopy“. Thema: Hochauflösendes Fluoreszenz-Lichtmikroskop.
• Dr. Mirko Ruks (Fakultät für Soziologie): „Genetic and Social Influences on Educational Attainment“. Thema: Einfluss genetischer und sozialer Faktoren auf Bildungserfolg.
• Hanna Marie Schilbert (Fakultät für Biologie): „Molecular and bioinformatic identification and analysis of genomic loci controlling seed protein quality in rapeseed“.

The selection of prize winners shows the diversity of research areas at Bielefeld University. Another aspect of these awards is the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration. The prizes are worth 1,000 euros each and are supported by regional companies and individuals.

Review of previous awards ceremonies

The topics of the award-winning work in recent years have included the interactions of atoms, self-learning algorithms and the acquisition of foreign language academic reading skills. This illustrates the high quality of the research and the relevance of the exam content in various disciplines, such as blogs.uni-bielefeld.de reported.

Since the founding of the UGBi, we have continually ensured that at least one prize is awarded per faculty and one for the Bielefeld School of Education in order to promote equal opportunities and diversity in research. What is particularly noteworthy is that all of the awarded works meet excellent scientific standards and contribute to the further development of science and education.

The importance of doctoral theses for the academic community and society remains undisputed. They not only reflect individual achievements, but also the quality of university education and research at Bielefeld University, which is underlined by the outstanding topics and their social relevance. As part of this commitment, the UGBi will honor the award winners and recognize their contributions to science, as has been seen in previous award ceremonies aktuell.uni-bielefeld.de refers.