- Economist from TU Berlin wins German study prize
Economist Hannah Klauber from the Technical University of Berlin has won the first prize of the German Academic Award 2024. As announced by the Körber Foundation, this is endowed with a prize money of 25,000 euros. The Körber Foundation, according to its own statements, honors "excellent dissertations that have a particularly high social relevance" with the German Academic Award. Klauber's work won in the social sciences category.
In her economic science dissertation, Klauber investigated the connection between air quality and the health status of children. "Her work shows that even slight improvements in air quality in the first year of a child's life have a positive effect on respiratory health throughout preschool age," the foundation said.
The findings thus help to more accurately assess the benefits of better air quality and drive measures to improve air purity, such as environmental zones. According to the foundation, around 600,000 children worldwide die each year from the health effects of poor air quality.
Cancer Research and Sustainability in Vocational Education
In addition to Klauber, Stefan Nagel from Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz University Hannover and Lena Cords from the University of Zurich also won the first prize – Nagel in the humanities and cultural sciences category and Cords in the natural and engineering sciences category.
Vocational education researcher Nagel dealt with the anchoring and promotion of sustainability in vocational education and training. He investigated how a sustainable transformation in companies can be achieved through vocational training in industrial metal trades and what skills and knowledge professionals need for this.
Systems biologist Cords has explored starting points for new therapies against cancer. So far, in cancer therapy, only the tumor itself can be fought and the immune system can be activated to combat cancer, the foundation said. Cords has researched the connective tissue that surrounds the tumor and is considered promising for new cancer therapies.
- The findings from Hannah Klauber's economic science dissertation, which focused on the connection between air quality and the health status of children, could potentially save numerous young lives.
- The impact of Klauber's research extends beyond academic circles, as it sheds light on the importance of improving air quality for children's respiratory health, benefiting millions of children globally who are currently affected by poor air quality.
