This year’s award honors neuroradiologist Dr. Katharina Wenger-Alakmeh and four doctoral candidates.
Neuroradiologist and assistant professor Dr. med. Katharina Wenger-Alakmeh was awarded the €5,000 sponsorship award of the Scientific Society at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University during a ceremonial event held in July 2025. This award recognizes Frankfurt-based researchers from all disciplines who have completed their doctorates, work independently across disciplines, and have already demonstrated exceptional qualifications for further scientific endeavors. Katharina Wenger-Alakmeh specializes in developing innovative methods for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that enable the determination of metabolic profiles of tumors. These methods make it possible to classify brain tumors more precisely and more so, to detect the success of a therapy at an early stage. This significantly facilitates the timely selection of potential additional therapeutic approaches. Katharina Wenger-Alakmeh, a board-certified radiologist specializing in neuroradiology, currently leads the “Translational Neuroimaging” section of the Institute of Neuroradiology at the Cooperative Brain Imaging Center Frankfurt (CoBIC). The remarkable success of her already widely recognized work is largely due to close interdisciplinary collaboration with clinical colleagues in neuro-oncology, neurosurgery, radiotherapy, and neuropathology, as well as with physicists and chemists in Frankfurt and Darmstadt, alongside international partnerships with several American universities. Since 2021, she has been supported through the Mildred Scheel Junior Center in Frankfurt, an excellence program for the advancement of junior scholars funded by the German Cancer Aid, which provides clinician scientists with the flexibility to balance scientific and clinical activities while establishing their own research group in translational cancer research.
Additionally, four doctoral candidates from Goethe University’s Graduate Academy GRADE were appointed as Young Fellows for two years and honored with a degree certificate and a book voucher. Biologist Leonie Birne is pursuing her doctoral thesis at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the area of forensic DNA phenotyping and identification, focusing on the genetic identification of human remains. Lena Grieger, from the Institute of Physical Geography, is researching small-scale agroforestry, its biocultural diversity, and its potential as a climate change adaptation strategy in Togo and Benin. Madelaine Heck, from the Institute of Art Education, is exploring in her dissertation how methods of contemporary art can influence art education in environmental studies to strengthen the relationship between humans and nature. Finally, Florian Hubert, from the Institute of Political Science, following enrollment in two programs of study in political science and law, is investigating how current concepts of order within international organizations shape the actions of state alliances through autonomous “grammars of ordering.” The Young Fellows are invited to attend the society’s meetings, receive academic advice from its members, and participate in panel discussions with Scientific Society members on a self-determined overarching topic.
The patron of the Scientific Society’s sponsorship award is the President of Goethe University, Prof. Enrico Schleiff. In his welcome address, he emphasized the importance of supporting highly qualified early-career researchers in Frankfurt through the Scientific Society and congratulated all awardees on their outstanding achievements.
