News from the network

Dr Linda Walter and Dr Luana Martin-Russu have met during their PhD in political science at the Viadrina and quickly realised that they wanted to work together. After years of teamwork, the friends developed the Sustainability Experience Lab – their company, which they presented during the Start-up Week on 18 November 2025.

For her dissertation, organisational researcher Lilo Meier followed the development of a platform cooperative for courier drivers in Berlin. She wanted to find out how technologies shape the everyday working lives of courier drivers. An essay on this was honoured with the That's Interesting Award from the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS). Lilo Meier has been a research assistant at the Professorship of Human Resources, Labour and Management under Prof. Dr Jana Costas since 2021. She completed her Bachelor's degree in International Business Administration at Viadrina.

Krzysztof Pawelec is the winner of the DAAD Prize 2025. The Master's student obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree at Viadrina in 2023 and is completing his German-Polish Legal Studies this year. He is currently working as a Junior Legal Specialist in an international telecommunications company in Warsaw. The main reason for the jury's decision was his commitment to providing German-Polish legal advice to people in need in Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice.

On 19 October 2025, Prof. Dr Karl Schlögel received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. The Eastern European historian, who was a professor at Viadrina from 1994 to 2013, had "sharpened our view of Ukraine and honestly dealt with the blind spots of German perception", the jury explained its choice. His three former students, PD Dr Agnieszka Pufelska, Prof Dr Felix Ackermann and PD Dr Paulina Gulińska-Jurgiel, describe here their view of the work of and with Karl Schlögel and how he influenced their thinking.

Dr Rhena Stürmer has received two prizes for her doctoral thesis entitled "Jenseits des Bolschewismus. Life paths of Weimar left-wing communists between the systems of the 20th century". The thesis, supervised by Prof. Dr Werner Benecke, was honoured with the Claus-Dieter Krohn Prize for Exile Research and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brandenburg Sponsorship Award. Rhena Stürmer came to the Viadrina in 2011 for her Bachelor's degree in Cultural Studies. She then completed her Master's degree in Europäische Kulturgeschichte and began her PhD in 2018.

Volunteer work inspired by his studies: Saravanan Ganesan has received the Berlin Mitte Volunteer Award for his fight for the rights of migrant workers. With the organisation he founded, AFRIW e.V., he campaigns against poor working conditions for workers who have immigrated to Germany. For him, this award is an expression of the "power of education and determination". Ganesan came to Viadrina from India in 2005 for the Master of European Studies and then completed the second Master in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Master IHL) in 2019/2020.

Borders are not a marginal phenomenon: around 40 per cent of the area of the European Union is considered a border region and 30 per cent of the population live in this area. A recently published anthology, which was presented in a panel discussion, shows the extent and quality of cross-border services of general interest that are provided there. Two Viadrina graduates were among the panellists: co-editor Dr Peter Ulrich (University of Potsdam) and author Dr Marcin Krzymuski (Frankfurt-Słubice Cooperation Centre).

The effort was worth it: Johannes Bent has now been recognised for his work, which also involved "many obstacles and self-doubt". He has been awarded the Klaus Mehnert Prize by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde e.V. for his dissertation, which the Master's graduate in Europäische Kulturgeschichte wrote at Viadrina and the University of Tallinn. Using Ernst Troeltsch as an example, he analysed the transfer of ideas between German and East and East-Central European historical cultures during the massive period of upheaval after the First World War.

On 14 March 2025, Arite Stemmermann was awarded first prize by the East Brandenburg Junior Chamber of Commerce for her final thesis on the role of different generations in start-up companies. She impressed the jury and the audience with her presentation and won first place along with a trophy and prize money of 1,000 euros. A total of four Viadrina alumni presented their work as part of the "Night of Young Business". For the first time, the audience had a say in the annual award ceremony.

The Brazilian linguist Anderson Lucas Macedo has written an award-winning dissertation on language variation in Cape Town, South Africa, at Viadrina and his home university, the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro. For his work, which was supervised at Viadrina by Prof Dr Konstanze Jungbluth, he received the prize for the best dissertation of 2024 from his university.

Dr Christoph Maisch and Cäcilia Wosnitzka were honoured for their work this year as part of the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland's Academic Sponsorship Award. They had conducted research at Viadrina on critical theorists in Poland on the one hand and homosexual activism in the Eastern Bloc on the other. The Ambassador presented the awards in July 2024 at the Polish Embassy in Grunewald. In this interview, the prizewinners explain what exactly they researched and how their careers progressed.

On 11 December 2024, Ukrainian lawyer Anna Jürgens received the DAAD Prize, endowed with 1,000 euros, for her outstanding academic achievements and her voluntary work, including for refugees. Anna Jürgens studied "German Law for Foreign Lawyers" at Viadrina and is currently comparing Ukrainian and European private law for her dissertation.

In 2020, Oona Malmi began studying the bilingual bachelor's degree programme Cultural and Social Studies in the first year. During the months of the pandemic, she became increasingly interested in feminist TikTok activists. She has now written her final thesis on one of them, making her the very first graduate of the study course. She successfully defended her thesis at the end of November 2024.

The shop in the pedestrian zone of Große Scharrnstraße in Frankfurt (Oder) is a gallery, bar, meeting place and co-working space all in one and functions as a shop window into the diverse art and cultural landscape of the twin city. The founder of KUKURYKU and Viadrina graduate Philip Murawski was honoured with the 2024 Courage Award by the Oderland-Spree start-up partners' working group.

In an educational film from the Institute for Film and Image in Science and Education (FWU), Kuwi graduate Mateusz Weis-Banaszczyk and Prof. Dr Werner Benecke explore historical sites in Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice and explain what shaped the relationship between the two countries. The film "Germany and Poland until 1945: Struggling for the nation state" traces the political history of both countries in order to give pupils an understanding of German-Polish relations.

Prof Dr Jan Musekamp has presented his new book "Shifting Lines, Entangled Boderlands. Mobilities and Migration along the Prussian Eastern Railroad" at the Ulrich von Hutten bookshop in Frankfurt. In it, the former Viadrina student and researcher takes a look at the historical background of the former Eastern Railway and highlights the cross-border aspects in particular. The book presentation offered many interested people the opportunity to meet Jan Musekamp again in his long-time home town on his way from the USA to Warsaw.

Learning two foreign languages at university level, obtaining two bachelor's degrees, living, studying and working in two countries far from home - Mariia Sokolova has achieved all of this in the past four years. The 22-year-old is the first student ever to complete the Polish Studies study course at the Collegium Polonicum at both Adam Mickiewicz University and Viadrina. She successfully defended her final thesis on 17 June 2024.