Prizes and Awards

Richard Traunmüller elected to the Board of the Academy of Sociology

Prof. Dr. Richard Traunmüller was elected to the Board of the Academy of Sociology for a two-year term by the General Assembly. He plans to use his board membership to contribute his experience to promoting young researchers, building research networks and enhancing science communication. As a democracy researcher at the University of Mannheim, Traunmüller’s main research interests include conflicts and structural developments in democratic societies.

Three Early-Stage Researchers Accepted into the Elite Program of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung

Dr. Daniela Kuschel, Dr. Alex Spike Gibbs and Dr. Martin Schnuerch were accepted into the prestigious elite program. They receive funding for a period of 36 months. Kuschel, researcher in the field of Literary and Media Studies, analyzes how paralysis is addressed and represented in French literature and French media. In his project, Gibbs, researcher in the field of Economic History, uses late medieval court documents for a social network analysis. He aims to gain insights into the social status of individuals and their interaction with each other, and to find out more about the causes of inequality in past and contemporary communities. The psychologist Schnuerch analyzes in his research project the so-called truth effect: The truth effect describes the phenomenon that people believe information that is repeated often, even if it has been proven that the information is wrong.

Mourning the Loss of Dr. Dorothee Dickenberger

The University of Mannheim and the School of Social Sciences mourn the loss of Dr. Dorothee Dickenberger, a sociologist and equal opportunity expert. She died on 3 March 2024 at the age of 78. Dickenberger studied Sociology in Hamburg, Munich and Mannheim. She completed her doctorate at the University of Mannheim in 1978 with a thesis on the theory of psychological reactance and worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Social Psychology until she retired in 2011. From 1989 to 2007, she also was the university's first women's representative and later its equal opportunity commissioner. For her work on equal opportunity at the University of Mannheim, Dickenberger received the University Medal in 1999. In 2011, she received the Federal Cross of Merit.

Hiram Kümper elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brombeeren-Stiftung

Historian Prof. Dr. Hiram Kümper, holder of the Carl-Theodor professorship at the University of Mannheim, has been elected as the new chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mannheim Brombeeren-Stiftung. In that capacity, he will play a key role in the future development of the Reiss-Engelhorn museums. The Brombeeren-Stiftung, which has an endowment of EUR 20 million, was established in 2013 at the initiative of Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto in memory of her late husband Peter Engelhorn.

Students Receive the City of Mannheim’s Sustainability Award

For the second time, the City of Mannheim has honored students for their final theses on sustainability. At the University of Mannheim, Jan Schweers, a master’s student, and Jennifer Hahn, an alumna, have received this year’s Sustainability Award. Schweers, a 24-year-old student, wrote his final thesis in the field of Economics. In his thesis, he dealt with the energy efficiency of buildings and the question of which factors influence energy-efficient renovation decisions. Hahn, a 29-year-old alumna, wrote her master's thesis in the field of Data Science. In her thesis, she analyzed the optimization of traffic signal control in Mannheim’s city center and showed that artificial intelligence can significantly contribute to solving urban challenges.