Prizes for International Projects at the “Global Gallery”

In his welcom address, Professor Manfred Bayer, President ot TU Dortmund University, highlighted the importance of internationalization, not least also in view of recent events in Europe: “Different cultures and nationalities enrich our campus life, and teaching and research proft tremendously from international exchange. For us, mutual respect and supporting each other are a matter of course.” For exmaple, TU Dortmund University is currently offering various support measures for Ukrainian and Russian students and academics. 

The numerous guests were able to view a total of 29 international projects from research, studies and teaching at a poster presentation. “The selection is very wide-ranging and shows impressively how much TU Dortmund University is already doing in the area of internationalization,” said Dr. Barbara Schneider, Director of the International Office. During a “Gallery Walk”, visitors had the opportunity to find out about the initiatives, discuss with project participants and cast their two votes.

The three winning projects

“Shadows of Injustice” gathered the most votes: In Nairobi, 1.7 million people – roughly equivalent to the population of Hamburg – walk to work every day and in so doing put their lives at risk, as the road network is mainly conceived for car traffic, although only eight percent of Nairobi’s population own a car. The objective of the project by Dorcas Nthoki Nyamai from the Department of Spatial Planning is therefore to expand the infrastructure for pedestrians and make it safer.

Second place went to “Sucking up or soaking in? Climate resilient upgrading of informal settlements in Bangkok”: Students from the Department of Spatial Planning are studying informal settlements in Bangkok and how they can be better protected from flooding, as Thailand’s capital is at high risk of floods, and natural disasters particularly affect the low-income population in such settlements.

“Integreat – the digital integration platform” also received €1,500: The app enables immigrants to access important information quickly and easily that cities or counties make available on the platform in several languages. Nationwide, almost every sixth local authority already uses the app, which Professor Manuel Wiesche from the Department of Business and Economics and Philip Popien and Mizuki Temma from the Department of Computer Science developed together with partners.

Prizes for internationalization

For the first time, four prizes of €1,500 were awarded for internationalization: In the category “Teaching”, Professor Kevin Kröninger from the Department of Physics received a prize for the Master’s program “International Master of Particle Physics”, which TU Dortmund University offers in cooperation with the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Clermont Auvergne in France. For his paper “Trust and stock market volatility during the COVID-19 crisis”, Professor Peter Posch from the Department of Business and Economics received the internationalization prize in the “Research” category. Brigitte Trimpe from administration was acknowledged for her hard work in relation to third-party funding contracts, especially the negotiation of grant agreements with EU partners, and for making contracts available in English. Dr. Sascha Feldhorst from MotionMiners received the internationalization prize in the category “Transfer” for the international success and expansion of this TU start-up in the past years.

In the framework of the “Visiting Professor & Visiting Scholar Program” launched last autumn by Professor Tessa Flatten, Vice President International Affairs, two of the six visiting scholars received their certificates at the Global Gallery. The aim of the program is to strengthen internationality in teaching.