Paderborn University celebrates traditional New Year's reception with 400 guests
A festive start to a new academic year - on Sunday, 19 January, Paderborn University celebrated its traditional New Year's reception with around 400 guests from academia, business and politics. Prof Dr Birgitt Riegraf, President of the University, welcomed those present in the Auditorium maximum. The outgoing President, who will succeed Prof. Dr Matthias Bauer in office in April, did not look back on the past year as usual, but instead used a more communicative format with university members to provide an outlook on digitalisation at Paderborn University. However, a presentation with data and figures was available via a QR code - in keeping with the topic.
In the panel discussion, Riegraf discussed the opportunities and challenges of digitalisation at Paderborn University with Prof. Dr. Gudrun Oevel, Head of the Centre for Information and Media Technology Services (ZIM), Prof. Dr. Sven Lindberg, Professor of Clinical Developmental Psychology, and Torsten He?, Chairman of the General Students' Committee (AStA). This needs to be constantly evaluated, emphasised Oevel. Lindberg agreed with her: "It is important for us as a university to orientate ourselves to the reality of students' lives." He? added that the campus should not be lost sight of. Riegraf also indicated that Paderborn University is open to new degree programmes that deal with artificial intelligence (AI), for example.
This year's keynote speech by Prof Dr Bettina Kohlrausch, Director of the Hans B?ckler Foundation's Institute of Economic and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Paderborn University, also focused on the topic of "The digital transformation of work as a challenge for democracy". Kohlrausch explained the effects of the digital transformation on material and democratic participation as well as the social recognition of work. There are differences, particularly in terms of income. "Those who have fewer resources at their disposal often perceive digitalisation more negatively," explained Kohlrausch. Interestingly, anti-democratic attitudes are strongest among people with negative experiences of digitalisation in the workplace. In order to exploit the integration potential of gainful employment, the promise of participation in digitalised work must therefore be spelled out anew, concluded the keynote speaker.
Numerous prizes awarded for outstanding academic achievements
Every year, Paderborn University also honours special achievements by academics and students at the festive New Year's reception. In addition to the awards presented by the Presidential Board, prizes were also awarded by the University Society and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The Paderborn University Research Prize, which is endowed with 150,000 euros and sponsors exceptional research projects, was awarded to Junior Professor Dr Maria de las Nieves López Salas and PD Dr Teresa de los Arcos, both from the Department of Chemistry. In their "CO2BATT" project, the scientists are developing so-called "transition metal CO2 batteries (TMBCs)", which will not only store renewable energy but also reduceCO2 emissions.
Scientists honoured for excellent doctoral dissertations
On behalf of the Presidential Board, Prof Dr Johannes Bl?mer, Vice President for Research and Young Academics at Paderborn University, presented four academics with awards for outstanding doctoral dissertations. These are endowed with prize money of 2,500 euros each. Chemist Dr. Vanessa Ne?linger received the prize for her work on "Investigations into the formation of deposits on the surfaces of metallic mixers during aqueous polymerisation". Materials physicist Dr Marvin Krenz was honoured for his research on "Electron dynamics in optically excited systems: Molecules, solids and interfaces". The doctoral dissertations of two scientists from the Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematics were also honoured. Dr Milad Alshomary conducted research on the topic of "Audience-Aware Argument Generation" in his thesis, while Dr Dominik Brennecken was awarded the prize for his doctoral dissertation entitled "Contributions to Dunkl Theory".
Special theses honoured
Five Paderborn University graduates were honoured with prize money of 1,000 euros. As Chairman of the University Society, Prof Dr Andreas 365足彩投注_365体育投注@be honoured Franziska Müller, Helen-Luise Kloss, Andreas Wortmeier, Jonas Lammers and Alexander Philipp Nowosad for their outstanding theses. The University Society's prize for international students with outstanding academic achievements and great social commitment went to Dany Kanjirathingal Shaju. The DAAD also awards an annual prize for international students at each university. This was presented to Haythem Bouhlel by Prof Dr Torsten Meier, Vice President for International Relations.
The New Year's Reception was hosted by Ulrich Lettermann from the Music subject area. The university orchestra, conducted by Steffen Schiel, delighted the audience with well-known film music pieces by Nino Rota and John Williams.
This text was translated automatically.
