Outstanding academic achievement, innovative research, social engagement and international experience were the focus of this year’s awards ceremony at OTH Regensburg. A total of twelve funding bodies and foundations awarded 66 prizes, scholarships and grants worth a total of 135,250 euros, thereby recognising the diversity of exceptional achievements at the university.
The awards highlight the close collaboration between the university, the business community, foundations and social stakeholders in the region. “This funding is far more than just financial support. It is a vote of confidence in the abilities, ideas and potential of our students and PhD candidates,” said President Prof. Dr Ralph Schneider, who hosted the event.
The following prizes and scholarships were awarded during the ceremony:
- A total of 60,000 euros – the largest total amount of the evening – was presented by the Otto Helmut and Alice Eckl Foundation. The study abroad scholarships, each worth 4,000 euros, went to: Stephan Angstl, Nidal Baran, Jana Bauer, Kezia Blieske, Paul Deichmann, Johanna Knapp, Sophie Kutz, Mai Phan Doan Thao, Elisabeth Marx, Nico Morloher, Helen Müller, Lene Nickel, Luisa Sachi, Tom Weigelt and Annalena Wittenzellner.
- The Christa Lindner Foundation awarded a total of twelve prizes for final-year dissertations, each worth 1,000 euros, to: Christoffer Faderl, Martina Huber, Raphael Jördens, Mathias Kain, Johanna Leipold, Johanna Nett, Leonard Peez, Julia Polito, Alexa Rieger, Nina Scheitinger, Christopherus Weiß and Pola Wittmann.
- The Foundation for the Promotion of OTH Regensburg awarded the doctoral prize, worth 2,000 euros, to Dr Philipp Lulla for his thesis entitled ‘Influence of the manufacturing process on the mechanical and biological properties of coronary stents’ in the Medical Technology programme at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
- The prize from the Soroptimist International Club Regensburg, worth 1,500 euros, went to Raphaela Märkl for her final dissertation ‘Quality Aware Memory Bank for Video Semantic Segmentation’ in the Master’s programme in Medical Informatics.
- The prizes from the Josef Stanglmeier Foundation, each worth 2,500 euros, were awarded to Emily Ehbauer, Azamat Musaev, Valentin Schramm and Miriam Schrott. The Innovation Prize for the development of a preventive health companion for children aged between six and eleven was awarded to the RocketMIND team, comprising Lena Hiltel, Celina Hölzl and Annalena Lüdeke.
- In recognition of outstanding academic achievement and intercultural commitment, the DAAD Prize, worth 1,000 euros, was awarded to Cosmin-Andrei Popan.
- This year’s award for inspirational figures, presented by the Friends of OTH Regensburg Association and the Catholic Youth Welfare Service of the Diocese of Regensburg e. V., each worth 500 euros, was awarded to Julia Bäcker and Viktoria Bin for their exceptional academic achievements whilst living with a disability orchronic illness, and to Magdalena Fackler and Sophia Wittmann for outstanding academic achievement whilst balancing family responsibilities.
- The prizes for student engagement from the Friends of OTH Regensburg Association, totalling 3,750 euros, were presented by Chairman Michael Thurner to the Social and Health Sciences Student Council (Faculty Prize, 1,000 euros) and to the individual prize-winners Tim Ecke, Aurelian Herrmann, Matthias Langer, Lukas Läpple, Patrick Lermer, Anja Pinzl, Dominik Pscheidl, Jan Schmidmeier and Vera Zink.
- For the first time , the Association of Friends of OTH Regensburg e.V. awarded the ‘Startklar OTH Regensburg’ scholarship using funds from the JUWOB Foundation. The scholarship is aimed at young people who are the first in their family to undertake a university degree. Veronika Bernhardt, Selina Kiermaier, Aylin Kurt, Sarkis Nasoyan and Marina Stelzl will each receive 300 euros per month for one year. In total, the JUWOB Foundation is thus providing 18,000 euros.
- This year, the Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Regensburg-Schwandorf eG sponsorship awards went to Rebecca Christ, Roberto Georgiev and David Reger (scholarships of 1,500 euros each). The prize for an outstanding final dissertation (2,000 euros) went to Lucas Venegas for his dissertation ‘Strategic OEM collaborations at Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen: value chain integration as the core of a specialised ingredient branding strategy in B2B’ in the European Business Administration programme.
For the first time this year, two prizes were awarded in the field of sustainability and climate justice. These guiding principles are firmly anchored in OTH Regensburg’s university development plan and shape research, teaching and knowledge transfer.
- The Sparda Bank Prizes for Sustainability and Society – comprising two individual prizes for outstanding final-year projects and two project prizes, each worth 2,500 euros – were awarded to Franz Bauer, Leon Dresl, Jasper Krüger, Benedikt Sommer, Prof. Dr Petra Liedl and Lisa Weikl.
- This year, for the first time, the Innovation and Sustainability Awards from AUMOVIO Germany GmbH recognised two outstanding Bachelor’s and Master’s theses that contribute to sustainable development through innovative technical approaches. The two prizes, each worth 2,500 euros, were awarded to Niklas Kraus and Leonhard Samberger.
Investing in the future
The numerous awards demonstrate just how important the support provided by foundations, companies and social institutions is for the development of young talent. Through their commitment, these sponsors not only enable individual educational pathways but also make a significant contribution to the region’s innovative strength and future viability.
The awards ceremony once again highlighted the close links between the university, the business community and society. OTH Regensburg would like to thank all the sponsoring organisations for their long-standing support, as well as the award winners for their outstanding achievements and commitment.
