This year’s Frankfurt Prize for Environment and Sustainability, endowed with a total of €5,000, has been awarded to five Goethe University Frankfurt early career researchers, who submitted impressive theses from a wide range of disciplines. The prizewinners’ sophisticated research work addresses relevant and urgent topics, thus contributing to new, interdisciplinary and innovative solutions. In addition to their outstanding quality, all theses are greatly important to research into sustainability.
The main prize this year is being shared by two scientists and honors their scientific work in the field of sustainability research. The recipients are Dr. Pia Eibes from the Faculty of Geosciences and Geography and her dissertation entitled “Habitat island biogeography of quartz islands: taxonomic, functional and spatial characteristics of an unusual edaphic island system in South Africa”, as well as Dr. Elisabeth Schemmer from the Faculty of Law with her dissertation on “Climate risks in banking supervisory law”.
This year’s advancement prize (Förderpreis) goes to three scientists for their exceptional Master’s theses: “Impact of crude oil on early sensory organ development in zebrafish” by Bianca Dechent from the Faculty of Biological Sciences, “Investigation of exposure to ultrafine particles in the Rhine-Main area with a special focus on airport and road traffic emissions” by Lena Große Schute from the Faculty of Geosciences and Geography, and “Pollution and Beyond: A Discussion of Social Scientific Engagements with Chemical Bodies and Power Relations” by Annika Troitzsch, also from the Faculty of Geosciences and Geography.
The prizes were provided by Goethe University Frankfurt’s GRADE Center Sustain and presented at the academic ceremony of the Faculty of Geosciences and Geography. The laudatios were given by Prof. Antje Schlottmann and Prof. Joachim Curtius (both from the Faculty of Geosciences and Geography).