"Freedom for Research":
the Gips-Schüle Foundation awards EUR 420,000 [16.05.22]
Three research teams from the University of Hohenheim all receive highly endowed honors / Awards give them the freedom to devote themselves to large-scale research projects
Keeping your back free for large-scale research projects: that's what the Gips-Schüle Foundation seeks to achieve with its "Freedom for Research" award. Since 2016, the award money of EUR 150,000 each year has enabled scientists at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart to devote themselves entirely to the development of new research projects. In 2021, the projects submitted impressed the jury to such a degree that the prize was awarded twice and topped up to include a special award of EUR 120,000, the "Gips-Schüle Special Award Business and Economic Sciences 2021". Dr. Stefan Hofmann, Chairman of the Foundation, was thus in a position to present three awards at the ceremony on 13 May 2022 in the Plieninger Zehntscheuer: to the livestock scientist Prof. Dr. Markus Rodehutscord, the plant physiologist Prof. Dr. Andreas Schaller together with the landscape ecologist Prof. Dr. Frank Schurr, and the special prize to the two economists Prof. Dr. Nadja Dwenger and Prof. Dr. Sibylle Lehmann-Hasemeyer. This year, as planned, the award ceremony was held for the last time.
In recent years, the "Gips-Schüle award - Freedom for Research" has proven itself to be particularly suited to promoting initiatives with a strong focus on research at the University of Hohenheim. "In this way, it has acted as the launch pad for strategically important collaborative activities," said President of the University of Hohenheim Prof. Dr. Stephan Dabbert at the award ceremony, referring to the acquisition of an ERC Synergy Grant by Prof. Dr. Waltraud Schulze, the 2018 award winner, which was made possible by the award.
"This year, the jury was spoilt for choice," the President continued. "This is because the two applications from Prof. Dr. Rodehutscord and from the team of Prof. Dr. Schaller and Prof. Dr. Schurr came from excellent scientists. Funding their projects is of major importance for the University as a whole, particularly with regard to our excellence strategy. That's why the University of Hohenheim made a double award possible in 2021 by topping up the award amount by EUR 150,000."
Award allows maximum freedom for research proposals
After five award ceremonies, the Gips-Schüle Foundation's "Freedom for Research" award has now been presented for the last time, as planned. "The know-how of researchers at Baden-Württemberg's universities is a huge treasure that needs to be exploited. With this program, we wanted to give particularly promising scientists maximum freedom in pursuing their research projects," said Dr. Stefan Hofmann, Chairman of the Gips-Schüle Foundation.
The special aspect of this award: "The EUR 150,000 associated with the award is deliberately not earmarked for a specific purpose," Dr. Hofmann emphasized. "Honorees should be free to decide how to use the money most wisely – for example, to cover substitute staff for their teaching duties to enable them to prepare for major research projects or to hire additional staff."
"By accepting the award, the winners also make a promise," explained Prof. Dr. Julia Fritz-Steuber, Vice President for Reserarch, Early Career Researchers and Transfer of the University of Hohenheim and member of the jury. "After all, the award comes with the expectation that this freedom will be used to submit an application for an outstanding research project – for example, an ERC grant, a DFG Collaborative Research Center or an excellence cluster."
Focus on nutrient transformation in agrobiological processes
Prof. Dr. Rodehutscord, Director, Department of Animal Nutrition, would like to launch several projects simultaneously. The research focus of his deparment is on the efficiency of nutrient transformation in animals and is closely intertwined with the work of the microbiology, genomics, and physiology departments.
His goal is to place this key area in a broader context and to attract and draw together other disciplines at the University for participation in a cluster proposal. Prof. Dr. Rodehutscord is of the opinion that there is great potential for bundling methodological strengths in innovative collaborations, especially in the agriculture and natural sciences faculties. In addition, he would like to use the award money to initiate a research training group with a Canadian university.
"Prof. Dr. Rodehutscord has already demonstrated in many projects how successfully he can initiate and coordinate large-scale interdisciplinary research consortia," the President emphasized. They include the Hohenheim Center for Livestock Microbiome Research (HoLMiR), which is scheduled to start operations in 2024. It will focus on the interactions between livestock and their microorganisms, particularly in the digestive tract. "The envisaged collaborations would be extremely suitable projects to inject scientific life into these strategically important buildings and laboratories after their completion," emphasized Prof. Dr. Dabbert.
Biodiversity: Interplay between plants and insects
Understanding how biodiversity takes shape and is maintained, but also how it disappears: this is the basic idea behind the planned research projects of Prof. Dr. Schaller, Director, Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, and Prof. Dr. Schurr, Director, Department of Landscape Ecology and Vegetation Science. They would like to use the award money to implement initial projects that will ultimately lead to an application for their own collaborative research center (SFB).
Prof. Dr. Schaller's research area has to do with plant defense mechanisms against herbivorous insects: "To protect themselves from these insects, plants can develop bad-tasting substances, substances that affect the animal's metabolism or ones that are toxic. Over the course of evolution, insects have developed their own answers to this." Co-award winner Prof. Dr. Schurr further explained: "For us, it's not just changes in individual species that are exciting, but also changes in entire species communities and ecosystems. The more we understand these changes, the easier it will be to predict how plants and insects are likely to develop in the future. And what impact humans have on that."
The two researchers cooperate closely with other working groups at the University of Hohenheim, the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart and the jointly backed Competence Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy (KomBioTa).
"Gips-Schüle Special Award Business and Economic Sciences 2021"
The proposal by Prof. Dr. Dwenger of the Department of Public Finance and Prof. Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Ph.D., of the Department of Economic and Social History was also very compelling, the President said: "For this reason, the Gips-Schüle Foundation and the University of Hohenheim have decided to support the project with a special grant of EUR 120,000. Of this, the Foundation will cover EUR 70,000 and the University EUR 50,000."
The two winners of the "Gips-Schüle Special Award Business and Economic Sciences 2021" would like to use the award money to initiate the setting up of a new research group. It will look at the impact of diversity on business and society. "This impact goes far beyond what has been studied in research so far," Prof. Dr. Dwenger revealed.
"We are interested, for example, in what other effects requirements such as the female quota in supervisory boards or a fixed percentage of employees with a migration background in public administrations may have," said co-winner Prof. Dr. Lehmann-Hasemeyer, when explaining the research approach. "Under what conditions do these requirements produce a positive effect? Or are they possibly counterproductive because they displace other minorities who are not regulated by quotas?"
The research group constitutes the further evolution of the research network "Inequality and Economic Policy Analysis INEPA" and is expected to lead to a German Research Foundaton (DFG) project in the medium term.
BACKGROUND: Selection procedure "Freedom for research"
The program was developed by the Gips-Schüle Foundation in close cooperation with the University of Hohenheim. A two-stage process was used for selection. In the first stage, all doctoral researchers at the University could put forward suitable individuals for the award. After pre-selection by a jury, the nominees submitted a detailed application outlining the research idea they would like to advance with "Freedom for Research". The jury members are President of the University of Hohenheim Prof. Dr. Stephan Dabbert, Vice President for Research, Early Career Researchers and Transfer Prof. Dr. Julia Fritz-Steuber and former Minister of Science of Baden-Württemberg and member of the Supervisory Board of the Gips-Schüle Foundation Prof. Dr. Peter Frankenberg.
BACKGROUND: Gips-Schüle Foundation
The Gips-Schüle Foundation promotes research, young talent, and teaching in Baden-Württemberg. Its focus is on MINT subjects (mathematics, informatics, natural sciences and technology) and interdisciplinary projects. The Stuttgart Foundation works closely with universities and research institutions in Baden-Württemberg, and facilitates the carrying out of future-oriented research projects. It finances endowment professorships, awards scholarships, supports student ambassadors seeking to recruit high school graduates for MINT subjects, and projects for the initial training and continuing education of teachers. For more information, please visit: www.gips-schuele-stiftung.de
Honorees of the "Gips-Schüle Award - Freedom for Research" Prof. Dr. Andreas Schaller (l.) and Prof. Dr. Frank Schurr
Image source: University of Hohenheim / Astrid Untermann
Prof. Dr. Markus Rodehutscord (r.) receives the Gips-Schüle-Award from Prof. Dr. Peter Frankenberg
Image source: University of Hohenheim / Astrid Untermann
The honorees of the "Gips-Schüle Special Award Business Administration and Economics 2021", Prof. Dr. Nadja Dwenger and Prof. Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Ph.D.
Image source: University of Hohenheim / Astrid Untermann
Dr. Stefan Hofmann, Board of the Gips-Schüle Foundation
Image source: University of Hohenheim / Astrid Untermann
Text: Stuhlemmer
Contact for press:
Prof. Dr. Nadja Dwenger, University of Hohenheim, Dept. of Economics: Public Economics
T +49 (0)711 459 22990, E nadja.dwenger@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Sibylle Lehmann-Hasemeyer, University of Hohenheim, Dept. of Economic, Social and Agricultural History
T +49 (0)711 459-23518, E slehmann@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Markus Rodehutscord, University of Hohenheim, Dept. of Animal Nutrition
T +49 (0)711 459-22420, E markus.rodehutscord@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Andreas Schaller, University of Hohenheim, Dept. of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
T +49 (0)711 459-22197, E Andreas.Schaller@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Frank Schurr, University of Hohenheim, Dept. of Landscape Ecology and Vegetation Science
T +49 (0)711 459-22865, E frank.schurr@uni-hohenheim.de
