Presentation: 1st Humboldtⁿ Award for Sustainability

Under the patronage of Wuppertal entrepreneur Dr Jörg Mittelsten Scheid, the Humboldtⁿ Award for Sustainability was presented for the first time to three promising best practice projects, including the lecture series "Digital Medicine goes Planetary Health" at Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H). Eight nominations from universities in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Wuppertal Institute were shortlisted. The high-calibre jury of sustainability experts selected the winning teams at its meeting on 16 October 2023.

The members of the jury stand for the broad expertise that represents not only scientific but also international and practical perspectives: Prof Dr Shen Xiaomeng, Vice Rector at the United Nations University in Europe, Prof Dr Kathrin Greiff as Head of the Institute for Anthropogenic Material Cycles at RWTH Aachen University, Peter Scharfenberg, Climate Protection and Energy Management Specialist at the Düsseldorf Chamber of Crafts and, as Chairman of the jury, Prof Dr Lambert T. Koch, former Rector of the University of Wuppertal and former Chairman of the State Rectors' Conference of the University of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Humboldtⁿ honours diverse ideas

The donated prize money of 20,000 euros will be divided equally between the three selected projects in order to recognise their respective importance. The following thematic priorities emerged from the submissions: teaching, real-world laboratories and technology transfer. The chairman of the jury, Lambert T. Koch, was delighted with the diversity of the submissions: "The Humboldtⁿ Initiative sees itself as a driving force for innovative approaches in the context of the sustainability transition; these can come from the areas of research, teaching, transfer, administration or infrastructure. I think it's great that this breadth is reflected in the range of project submissions in the very first round of the competition."

The digital lecture series "Digital Medicine goes Planetary Health", led by research associate Julia Nitsche at Witten/Herdecke University, won in the "Teaching" category. She explains: "With the lecture series, we want to show perspectives for the future on how teaching and training programmes on health and climate can be designed and implemented in order to shape the future world of work. The synergies between digitalisation and planetary health are crucial here. The project is a cooperation between Witten/Herdecke University, Ruhr University Bochum and Health for Future."

The "Liveable streets, places and neighbourhoods" (LesSON) project, led by Dr Steven März at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, won in the "Real-world laboratories" category. He explains: "LesSON takes into account the triad of climate adaptation, traffic turnaround and quality of stay in order to develop sustainable urban (street) spaces. Central to this is a collaborative participation and planning process, for example through real-life experiments such as those in Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, in order to get people involved. Through municipal coaching and other instruments such as a web tool, the experience gained is to be made available to other NRW municipalities so that other streets can also be redesigned and remodelled according to the LesSON idea."

The "Timber Construction GIS" project won in the "Technology Transfer" category. Its head, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Annette Hafner from Ruhr University Bochum: "The "Municipal Information System for Timber Construction" - Holzbau-GIS for short - is a web-based communication tool tailored to decision-makers that helps municipalities to determine the additional greenhouse gas savings potential that can result from the increased implementation of timber construction."

Making successful sustainability initiatives visible

In the festive setting of the glass pavilion at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the award winners presented their projects to the State Rectors' Conference and representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Science, which sponsors Humboldtⁿ as an initiative of the universities. Founder Dr Jörg Mittelsten Scheid then presented the certificates and emphasised that sponsorship in the complex field of sustainability is of fundamental importance, which he wanted to support with his commitment. The work was honoured with video presentations by the jury members. As Chair of the Humboldtⁿs Advisory Board, Professor Dr Birgitta Wolff is already looking forward to the next call for entries for the award in two yearsⁿ time: "The total of 100,000 euros that Dr Mittelsten Scheid has donated to the Humboldtⁿs sustainability initiative for the award will help to make innovative and successful sustainability projects from our North Rhine-Westphalian universities and the Wuppertal Institute more visible. In this way, good ideas from science can be further disseminated. That is also the task of the universities."

The other projects nominated for the Humboldtⁿ Award were

• "Circular Cities: Practice-oriented certificate programme for waste prevention managers in municipalities" by Alix Weigel M.A., Dr Andrea Petmecky and Prof. Dr Annette Elisabeth Töller from the distance studies university in Hagen
• "studium oecologicum" by Prof. Dr Claudia Gärtner, Dr Georg Hubmann, Kirsten Lindner-Schwentick, Prof. Dr Stephan Lütz and Dr Henning Moldenhauer from TU Dortmund University
• "Thermal pre-treatment as a basis for the recovery of lithium from lithium-ion batteries" by Christin Stallmeister, PhD student at RWTH Aachen University
• "Digital platform for the production-related design of sustainable lightweight composite materials based on wood fibres (DiPl-HFC)" by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Jaan-Willem Simon of the University of Wuppertal
• "Living Lab NRW" by Dr.-Ing. Katharina Simon, M.Sc. Arch. of the University of Wuppertal