At this year’s President’s Dinner on Friday, 22 November 2024, awards were presented for excellence in teaching, exceptional research achievements, and remarkable social engagement.
Professor Dr. Christian Fikar received the Bayreuth Teaching Award "Golden Raven" for his course “Analysis and Modelling of Complex Data.” The course engaged students from food and health sciences with large datasets, data analysis, and programming. Practical exercises, including a process plan model for food recalls, connected interdisciplinary modules within the degree programme.
The course's effective knowledge transfer was enhanced by interactive elements, individual work, and Professor Fikar’s exceptionally approachable and personal engagement with the participants.
Christian Fikar studied Supply Chain Management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, earning his PhD and habilitation at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. Since February 2021, he has held the professorship for Food Supply Chain Management at Faculty VII for Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition, and Health, at the Kulmbach campus. His research focuses on business-related issues in food value chains.
The Bayreuth Teaching Award for Digitally Enhanced Learning is granted for exceptional commitment to the design of teaching and learning processes using digital resources. This year, it was awarded to Dr. Veronika Künkel, a research associate at the Chair of Intercultural German Studies. The award recognises her course "Language – Culture – Communication: Introduction to Intercultural Linguistics," where Künkel employed the Virtual Exchange approach.
A distinctive and challenging feature of the course was the hybrid participation, every other week, of German studies students from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, along with their instructor. From a didactic-methodological perspective, the traditional in-person seminar was enhanced with blended learning components and e-tandems. Specifically, groups of two to three students from Bayreuth and Hangzhou met outside the seminar sessions to discuss textual foundations and reading methods, utilising various digital communication tools.
Veronika Elisabeth Künkel studied German as a Foreign Language, European Ethnology, and Sinology at LMU Munich. Since October 2015, she has been a research associate at the Chair of Intercultural German Studies at the University of Bayreuth, where she earned her doctorate in 2019.
Her doctoral thesis, "Cultural and Intercultural Linguistics: Theoretical Foundations of Communication, Intercultural Dimensions, and Perspectives for Foreign Language Didactics," earned her the 2023 Young Researchers’ Prize from the Society for Intercultural German Studies.
The 2024 DAAD Award was presented to Kaitlyn Medina for her outstanding achievements in the Master’s programme Intercultural Anglophone Studies (MAIAS) and her remarkable intercultural and social engagement.
Her master’s thesis, entitled “The Sheer Mass of Ever-Dying Life: Metamorphosis and Constructions of Space in Richard Powers’ The Overstory,” received the top grade of 1.0. Professor Dr Sylvia Mayer, who supervised and evaluated the thesis, described Medina as an exceptionally talented early-career researcher. She highlighted Medina’s deep passion for literature and her ability to expertly analyse and articulate complex literary, cultural, and theoretical issues with precision.
Medina’s thesis explored new research territory, forming the foundation for her doctoral project, “Metamorphosis and Constructions of Space in the American Novel,” which she began in early 2024.
During her studies, Medina also worked as a tutor for introductory courses in American literature and culture and as a lecturer at the University of Bayreuth’s Language Centre, where she taught academic writing.
Her intercultural and social engagement, which earned her the DAAD Prize, is evident in her support for international students at Bayreuth. In 2022 and 2023, she organised networking events to help international students better integrate into and connect with their new environment.
Even before her time in Bayreuth, Kaitlyn Medina demonstrated impressive dedication to social causes. In 2015, she co-founded the non-profit organisation Untold International – Unlock Imagination, Unlock Innovation, registered in Colorado and primarily active in Ghana. The organisation’s project in Asisiriwa focuses on improving access to educational resources, with the primary goal of increasing literacy rates in the region. From 2015 to 2022, Medina served as Chair of the organisation’s Board, overseeing the establishment of a literacy centre that includes a library, amphitheatre, and classrooms used for extracurricular courses and workshops for people of all ages.
The International Club Award recognises outstanding young researchers at the University of Bayreuth for their international social engagement and academic excellence. This year, the award was presented to Dr Nataliya Yadzhak. She is a researcher in the field of materials science at the Chair of Metallic Materials, where her work focuses on hydrogen embrittlement in metallic materials.
Dr Nataliya Yadzhak earned her doctorate through a bi-national cotutelle programme at the University of Clermont-Auvergne in France. Throughout her academic career, she has received numerous prestigious scholarships, including a French government scholarship, Erasmus+, the DAAD scholarship, and the German Business Foundation scholarship.
She is currently a fellow of the European Union’s Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA4Ukraine) programme and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
As a doctoral student and later as a postdoctoral researcher, Dr Yadzhak has taught courses for Bachelor’s and Master’s students at the University of Bayreuth, the University of Clermont-Auvergne, and the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, where she also currently serves as a lecturer and academic mentor. In her mentoring role, she supports students in their studies and research activities, fosters their academic and professional development, and promotes the effective functioning of academic teams. In 2023, Dr Yadzhak received a national qualification to conduct university-level research and teaching in France from the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation.
In addition to her academic work, Dr Nataliya Yadzhak is actively involved in voluntary work as a member of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society (DUAG). She also serves as a volunteer translator at the Kunstmuseum Bayreuth, translating tours for the project “Citizens from Here, There, and Everywhere” between German and Ukrainian.
Lord Mayor Thomas Ebersberger once again presented the City of Bayreuth Prize during this year’s President’s Dinner. The award honoured Dr Ngozi Blessing Edeagu, Dr Sabine Netz, and Dr Marius Schöttle for their outstanding dissertations.
Dr Ngozi Blessing Edeagu received the award for her dissertation, which contributes to the historiography of Nigeria's decolonisation. The title of her work is “Coalition and Competition in the West African Pilot: The Elite Capture of Nigerian Decolonisation (1937–1960)”.
Her research was supervised by Prof. Dr Joël Glasman at the Chair of African History as part of the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS).
Dr Sabine Netz focused her dissertation on the role of age in determining the legal status and living conditions of refugees. Her thesis is titled “Citizenship as Ideal and Fiction: Age Categorisations and Material Living Conditions in the German Citizenship and Migration Regime”.
Her work was supervised by Prof. Dr Katharina Schramm at the Chair of Social and Cultural Anthropology within the Faculty of Cultural Studies.
Dr Marius Schöttle was awarded the City of Bayreuth Prize for his dissertation, whose findings open up new possibilities for fundamental research in nanophotonics and the development of colloidal materials.
His thesis, titled “Functional Photonic Gradients in Colloidal Assemblies”, was supervised by Prof. Dr Markus Retsch at the Chair of Physical Chemistry I within the Faculty of Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Sciences.
The University Association Bayreuth e.V. Science Award is presented annually to recognise outstanding academic achievements and to support early-career researchers at the University of Bayreuth. This year, Dr Tim Heubeck was honoured with the award.
In his cumulative dissertation, Dr Heubeck explored the field of digital transformation and innovation. His empirically grounded work focuses on the management level and identifies the organisational and managerial factors necessary to successfully adapt companies to digital change.
By integrating interdisciplinary approaches, Dr Heubeck offers fresh perspectives on the drivers and determinants of digital transformation, incorporating insights from psychology. His dissertation bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing actionable recommendations for companies.
Despite having recently completed his doctorate, Dr Heubeck has already published 13 research papers in esteemed academic journals, both as a sole and co-author. Sole authorship, now less common in the field of business administration, underscores Dr Heubeck’s ability and dedication to independently develop and disseminate research findings. Notably, his publications in the Journal of Business Ethics—the only business ethics journal included in the internationally renowned Financial Times 50 Journal Ranking—deserve special recognition.
Dr Heubeck’s active engagement in the academic discourse is further demonstrated by his roles as a member of the Editorial Board of Digital Business and the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Business Research and Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility. Additionally, he has served as an ad hoc reviewer for over 60 manuscripts submitted to international journals, reflecting his deep involvement in the academic community and his engagement with a broad range of topics.
Alongside his academic work, Dr Heubeck regularly advises companies on digitalisation strategies, business model transformation, and corporate acquisitions. His extensive expertise in digital transformation and innovation makes him a highly sought-after expert for practical collaborations.
In 2024, the University of Bayreuth presented the Award for the Advancement of Women in the category "Proportion of Female Professors at W2/W3 Levels" to the Faculty of Law, Business & Economics. The prize money of €10,000 in this category is available for the faculty's discretionary use.
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