Awards for Outstanding Doctoral Supervision

“Many doctoral supervisors in all faculties at our university are passionately committed to supporting their doctoral candidates. With today's award ceremony, we want to honor this special commitment and raise public awareness of it," said Dr. Mandy Boehnke, Vice President for International Affairs, Academic Qualification, and Diversity,

“Always with our well-being in mind”

In his speech honoring Professor Gesine Mollenhauer, winner of the award in the natural sciences and engineering, her former doctoral candidate Dr. Manuel Ruben said: “One of the qualities that makes Gesine Mollenhauer truly outstanding is her ability to adapt her supervisory style to the individual needs of her doctoral candidates. Instead of expecting us to follow a uniform approach, she tailors her support to each individual – always with our well-being in mind." Gesine Mollenhauer is a professor of organic sedimentology within the University of Bremen's Faculty of Geosciences. She has been researching and teaching at the University of Bremen since 2011 and is the scientific director of a laboratory for radiocarbon dating at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven.

“Exceptional supervision leaves its mark”

The prize in the humanities and social sciences went to Professor Klaus Schlichte, who has been a professor of international relations and global society within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bremen since 2010. He is also the spokesperson for the Institute of Intercultural and International Studies. Currently, he is conducting research on three topics: knowledge in German security policy, social dynamics in African societies, and armed conflicts. “Exceptional supervision cannot be measured in numbers,” stated his former doctoral candidate Dr. Ahmed Elsayed. “You can feel it in the growth of self-confidence, in the clarity gained, and in the personalities that are shaped as a result. Those who guide others with understanding and care leave their mark on people, not just in manuscripts.”