Personalia
Melanie Sauter Selected for the Margarete von Wrangell Program
Peace researcher Prof. Dr. Melanie Sauter was honored for her excellent research by being admitted to the junior professorship program funded by the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The grant enables her, among other things, to employ Dr. Kristina Petrova as a Postdoctoral Researcher and to systematically advance joint research projects on the interactions between climate policy, political institutions and social actors. The objective is to develop specific resilience strategies and approaches to humanitarian aid in politically insecure states.
Christoph Spengel Invited as Expert to North Rhine-Westphalia Landtag
Tax expert Professor Dr. Christoph Spengel was invited to a hearing on more effective measures to combat cum-cum transactions as an expert before the committee of legal affairs of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia in March 2025. In a public statement, he calls, among other things, for the provision of more resources to ensure criminal prosecution and for the expansion of training measures for investigators.
Ruth Schültken Receives Südwestmetall Award
Dr. Ruth Schültken has received the award of the employers’ association Südwestmetall for her outstanding doctoral dissertation titled “Intra- and interorganizational misalignment problems in supply management.” In her dissertation, she examined the discrepancies between companies intentions regarding sustainability and their actual purchasing behavior. The Südwestmetall Award is endowed with EUR 5,000 and has been awarded for more than 35 years to researchers that make a significant contribution to the industrial working world and its socio-political framework conditions.
Research Award for Sarah Danböck
Psychologist Dr. Sarah K. Danböck has been honored with the “Förschungsförderpreis 2025” by the Elfriede Dietrich Foundation for her research project on the systematic investigation of dissociative symptoms such as depersonalization and the evaluation of anti-dissociative techniques that originate from clinical practice. The prize is awarded annually at the conference of the German-speaking Society for Psychotraumatology (DeGPT) and is endowed with 6,000 euros.
Eckhard Janeba Appointed to European Fiscal Board
Prof. Dr. Eckhard Janeba, Professor for Public Finance and Economic Policy, became a member of the European Fiscal Board in April 2025. He joins the panel of experts that deals with the implementation of fiscal rules within the European Union and advises the European Commission on shaping a stable financial policy framework. Current challenges such as increased defense spending and European investment to strengthen competitiveness will play a major role in this context.
Two Mannheim Students Receive Sustainability Award
This year, two graduates were honored with the Sustainability Award of the City of Mannheim for their theses. Laura Schmitt examined the influence of migratory background, income, and urbanity in Germany on perceived noise pollution in her bachelor’s thesis in sociology. In his master’s thesis, Levis Lerner looked at different approaches to carbon accounting for emissions reporting at the University of Mannheim and used this to come up with specific recommendations for action for the decarbonization strategy. His findings were presented to the Vice President for Sustainability and Information Provision. The Sustainability Award is presented annually by the City of Mannheim for theses that contribute to achieve the sustainability development goals of the United Nations and, ideally, also to the sustainable development of the city of Mannheim. It is endowed with EUR 500.
Mourning the Loss of Ulrich Karl Roschitsch
The University of Mannheim and the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS) mourn the loss of Dr. Ulrich Karl Roschitsch. He passed away on July 7, 2025, at the age of 29, following a long and serious illness. Roschitsch earned both his bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in economics and his master’s degree in economics at the University of Mannheim. Since 2020, he had been pursuing his doctorate at GESS, conducting research in the fields of macroeconomics and public finance. Just three weeks before his death, Roschitsch successfully defended his dissertation and completed his doctorate.
Mourning the Loss of Jürgen Landwehr
The University of Mannheim and the Faculty of Humanities mourn the loss of Dr. Jürgen Landwehr. He passed away on 3 March 2025 at the age of 83. He received his doctorate from the University of Mannheim in 1975 for a thesis on text and fiction in literary studies and communication theory and worked at the Chair of Modern German Literary Studies I from 1969 to 2004, most recently as senior academic advisor. In addition to academic research in the fields of literary history, poetics and cultural theory, Landwehr played a leading role in the development of the modularized Bachelor's and Master's degree courses in German Studies. With great personal commitment he also established the cooperation between the University of Mannheim and Bronnbach Monastery in the Tauber Valley, for which he was awarded the University Medal in 2012.
Mourning the Loss of Michael Meckel
The University of Mannheim mourns the loss of Michael Meckel, who passed away on 14 January 2025 at the age of 52. As Chairman of the Management Board of the family-owned Trifels Verlag GmbH group and afterwards, he continued the close cooperation between the company-affiliated Ekkehard Foundation and the University of Mannheim in the third generation. Thanks to this support, numerous international projects could be realized. Meckel also showed great dedication and personal commitment during the coronavirus crisis and after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine by quickly and generously providing substantial funding for affected students and staff members. He was awarded the University Medal in 2023 for his commitment.
Texts: Editorial Team / August 2025