The Gesellschaft Harmonie's Partner Cities Prize

Jointly with the Gesellschaft Harmonie von 1789 e.V., the CEN awards an annual Partner Cities Prize worth €5,000. It is awarded for outstanding theses written at Universität Hamburg on water, oceans, and climate. Bachelor's, master's and doctoral theses are all eligible. The key factor is the link to Hamburg’s partner cities. Each of these nine cities lies on a river, sea, or lake and thus has a special connection to water—just like Hamburg. The Partner Cities Prize honors the responsibility that Hamburg and its partner cities assume for their local waters and the climate.

Apply now for the Partner Cities Prize 2017 (application deadline is May 28th 2017)

2017 winner

Beispieltext

2016 winner

Dr. Svenja Bierstedt was awarded the Partner Cities Prize 2016 for her excellent doctoral thesis on the variability of wind. She examined the impacts and consequences of extreme weather events, in particular storms. As a result, she demonstrated that migrating dunes can display the influences of strong winds. In addition, migrating dunes can be considered as proxy data, which can reconstruct the conditions of the weather of the past and therefore help to improve future climate predictions and climate models.

2015 winner

Valerie Menke was awarded the prize for her outstanding master's thesis in geology. Menke's research focused on a decisive climactic change that took place around ten thousand years ago and had a grave impact on the ecosystems in the Mediterranean. Using organic deposits found in three sediment cores of the floor of the Mediterranean, Menke was able to reconstruct the causes of climactic change. The prize for her thesis, which referred to Hamburg's partner city Marseille, was awarded by Prof. em. Jürgen Sündermann during the 25th Ocean Environment Symposium at the Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (federal authority for shipping and hydrography).

2014 winner

Two winners shared the 2014 prize: The oceanographer Dr. Moritz Mathis received the award for his doctoral thesis, in which he examined how sea level, temperature, and salinity of the North Sea are likely to change over the coming years. The work is relevant to Hamburg, but also for the partner cities of Dresden, Prague, and St. Petersburg, as the North Sea affects the central European climate. Co-recipient was Elina Wegner for her master's thesis at the Institute of Geography on a drinking-water supply system organized by citizens in Nicaragua. Her research has a strong connection to Hamburg's sister city of León in Nicaragua. The award was presented by Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt, former Second Mayor and Senator for Science and Research of the City of Hamburg.