Manuela Fritz wins the Bavarian Culture Prize

Post-doctoral researcher Manuela Fritz received the Bavarian Culture Prize from the Bayernwerk Group (a German corporate group) for her PhD thesis titled “Health challenges of the 21st century - Empirical essays on the health and economic burden of non-communicable diseases and climate change in Southeast Asia”. Fritz obtained her PhD degree in March this year, from both the University of Groningen and the University of Passau.

Apart from Manuela Fritz, post-doctoral researcher at UG’s Faculty of Economics and Business, 32 graduates from other German institutes were also honored for their academic efforts. In her award-winning thesis, Fritz analyzes how climate change in developing countries affects the health of people suffering from so-called non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) and investigates which measures can effectively contribute to the prevention of NCDs. She examines the challenges posed by chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases in developing countries on three levels: Firstly, she shows, for the context of Southeast Asia, which measures are currently being used to combat NCD risk factors. Secondly, she provides figures on the extent to which Indonesia's healthcare system will be burdened by climate change and the associated health problems for the chronically ill. And finally, she uses findings from a diabetes awareness campaign on Facebook to analyze which form of social media adverts could motivate those affected to take precautions.

"Chronic diseases are already one of the most common causes of death in Southeast Asia and cost the healthcare systems of the respective countries billions of euros, which are consequently not available for other pressing problems such as education, food security and infrastructure," says Professor Michael Grimm, who supervised the PhD at the University of Passau. "Cost-efficient solutions that are scalable are needed. It is also important to understand how climate change is altering the challenges posed by chronic diseases. Manuela Fritz's work provides important new insights into both aspects."

The Bavarian Culture Prize

Since 2005, Bayernwerk has awarded the Bavarian Culture Prize for outstanding achievements in the arts and sciences. Graduates and doctoral students from Bavarian universities and universities of applied sciences as well as artists in Bavaria are honored for their significant work. The Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts also awards a special prize. The Bavarian Culture Prize is intended to be a stage for the arts and sciences in Bavaria. The best graduates from Bavaria's 33 universities are honored in the science category. The winners in the science category receive 2,000 euros each, and the bronze statue "Gedankenblitz" (Flash of Thought) sculpted by sculptor Peter Mayer. The Bavarian universities nominate their best graduates and doctoral students for the prize.

"We live in a time of new tasks and challenges. To meet these challenges, we all need the courage to embrace change. Science provides us with decisive impulses for this change. With our award, we want to motivate all the prizewinners from the world of science to continue on their ambitious path," says Dr Egon Leo Westphal, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayernwerk.

More information:

Read Manuela Fritz’ complete PhD thesis online.

Questions? Please contact Manuela Fritz.