Leonie Eberhardt, a graduate of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, receives the DKKV Promotional Award 2024 in the Bachelor’s category for her outstanding thesis entitled

‘Opportunities and challenges of the digitalisation of warning systems in disaster management’.

The thesis examines the role of modern warning systems in disaster management, with a particular focus on the digital transformation and its opportunities and challenges. In particular, the needs of vulnerable population groups are taken into account in order to promote an inclusive warning system. Two central questions guide the analysis: firstly, whether a combination of digital and traditional warning tools in the national warning system makes sense, and secondly, how the warning of vulnerable groups in the event of a disaster can be improved. The work highlights the opportunities and challenges of digitalisation and examines the synergies of a hybrid warning system.

You can view the entire paper here.

Paula Gnielinski, a graduate of the University of Potsdam, took first place in the Master’s category for her outstanding thesis entitled

‘Governance Capacity in Public Crisis Management Extreme Weather and its Challenges for the Administration’.

In her Master’s thesis, Paula Gnielinski examines how the governance capacity of local administration influenced crisis management during the flood disaster in western Germany in 2021. The thesis sheds light on how well administrations can respond to crises and what administrative skills are required to do so. The analysis is based on the concept of governance capacity, which is divided into four dimensions: analytical, regulation, delivery and coordination capacity. This model helps to identify key challenges in crisis management and to take into account the different phases of a crisis. 

Jana Wiedemann, graduate of the Berlin School of Economics and Law, receives the DKKV Sponsorship Award 2023 in the Bachelor’s category for her outstanding thesis entitled

“Crisis resilience of emergency food provision in Germany”.

In her thesis, Jana Wiedemann deals with the resilience of emergency food provision in Germany, which is becoming increasingly important in view of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. To this end, she conducts document analyses and expert interviews as part of a case study. In addition to the crisis management of the actors, current challenges, problems and solutions are also addressed. The results are categorised and evaluated on the basis of theoretical core capabilities of resilience. The Frauenhofer Institute’s resilience model serves as the basis for this.

You can view the entire paper hier.

Fabian Rackelmann, a graduate of the United Nations University and the University of Bonn, was awarded first place in the Master’s category for his outstanding thesis entitled

“Integration of forest health aspects in flood risk reduction Implementation, trade-offs, and synergies of distinct forest management objectives”.

While healthy forest ecosystems provide various services that reduce flood risk, they can also contribute to flooding by providing wood that may contribute to watercourse blockages and the associated backwater effects. In this context, deadwood as a key aspect of healthy forests is often at the centre of discourses in the post-flood period. The master thesis addresses this ambivalence by analysing the relationship between the two objectives of forest management, forest health and flood risk reduction. With the help of 19 investigative semi-structured expert interviews with 20 stakeholders from the fields of forestry, water management and nature conservation, possible challenges and approaches for an increased implementation of flood risk-sensitive forest management in these regions were analysed for the Rhineland-Palatinate part of the Ahr catchment area as an example.

Fabian Rackelmann’s peer-reviewed paper “Synergies and trade-offs in the management objectives forest health and flood risk reduction“ served as the basis for the master’s thesis

Graduate of the Akkon University of Applied Sciences Berlin, receives the DKKV Sponsorship Award 2022 in the Bachelor’s category for his outstanding thesis entitled

“Die Stabsarbeit der Einsatzleitung Starkregen – Selbst-und Fremdwahrnehmung und Implikationen für künftige Entwicklungen“

Sebastian Herbe dealt with the flood disaster in July 2021, which represented a maximum result for German civil protection. As part of the research project, 17 experts who were active in the heavy rain incident command as leaders in staff or at lower management levels were interviewed in order to identify reasons for a different self-perception and causes for the inadequate functioning of the management system. The aim of the research project was to explore the causes for a divergent self-perception and external perception of the staff work of the heavy rain incident command, to reveal problem areas and to derive implications for future developments of the established command systems from the knowledge gained.

Graduate of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, receives the DKKV Sponsorship Award 2022 in the Master’s category for his outstanding thesis entitled

“Methode zur Bewertung der Notfallplanung von Krankenhäusern im Bereich der Energieversorgung”

Chris Hetkämper’s work focussed on the question of how emergency planning for energy supply in hospitals can be evaluated. The work developed a method that provides hospital operators with an opportunity to evaluate and optimise their existing emergency planning in the area of energy supply. Technical and organisational aspects as well as vulnerability were taken into account as framework parameters in order to avoid a failure of the emergency power supply due to damage events.

Graduate of Kiel University of Applied Sciences, received the DKKV Sponsorship Award 2021 in the Bachelor’s category for his outstanding thesis entitled

“Entwicklung einer Aktivierenden Befragung im sozialraumorientierten Bevölkerungsschutz Ein Beitrag der Sozialen Arbeit zur Aktivierung einer Selbstschutz- und Selbsthilfekompetenz bei Bürger*Innen für eine stärkere gesellschaftliche Resilienz gegenüber Notlagen und Schadensereignissen”.

In his work, he dealt with the question of the extent to which an activating survey in social work can contribute to activating and promoting the self-protection and self-help skills of citizens in the context of social space-oriented civil protection in order to positively influence social resilience to emergencies in the long term. The aim was to make an activating survey applicable as a social work method for civil protection.

Graduate of the University of Cologne, received the DKKV Sponsorship Award 2021 in the Master’s category for her outstanding thesis entitled

“Geomorphological and sedimentary impacts of exceptional precipitation events on a dry valley in the Andean Precordillera (Tarapacá region, N Chile)”.

Her focus was on the geomorphological and sedimentological investigation of exceptional precipitation and flood events in the Atacama Desert, not only against the background of palaeoclimatic reconstruction. Rather, her Master’s thesis aimed to generate a fundamental understanding of the intensity and frequency of these rare but serious and dangerous flood events, while also providing starting points for future investigations.

A graduate of the Joint Master’s programme “Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security” at the United Nations University and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn, convinced the jury with her Master’s thesis. She dealt with the topic

“Drought Risk Assessment in Zimbabwe: A Spatial Analysis of Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability”.

To assess the drought risk in Zimbabwe, she carried out a remote sensing-based analysis of data on the health status of vegetation in Zimbabwe from 1989-2019. She combined in-depth literature review with an expert survey to identify, select and prioritise relevant indicators of drought vulnerability. Combined with data on exposure, she was able to calculate the drought risk index, which can be used to optimise drought risk management and thus strengthen the resilience of the population.

For the second time, the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV) has awarded the DKKV “Preparedness 2030” prize in cooperation with the German Climate Foundation. In his master’s thesis at the United Nations University with the topic

“The Role of Social-psychological Factors for the Adaption of Domestic Rainwater Harvesting as a Measure of Adapting to Urban Water Scarcity in Rondebosch, Cape Town”

Dominic Sett analysed rainwater harvesting as an adaptation strategy to increasing water scarcity in a suburb of Cape Town. The results of the work show that social-psychological factors should be given more attention in cost-benefit analyses and other adaptation strategies in order to further strengthen the resilience of (water) systems in Cape Town. The complexity and topicality of the topic convinced the jury.

Katharina Seeger wrote her bachelor thesis at the University of Cologne on the topic

“Characterisation of modern tropical cyclone deposits at Chaung Thar by applying sedimentological and luminiscene dating approaches – towards using sedimentary evidence for long-term hazard assessment in Myanmar”

dedicated. To this end, she analysed recent and historical sedimentary deposits of tropical cyclones with regard to their character, composition, age and size, among other things, in order to draw conclusions about the relevance of sediment analyses and luminescence dating for hazard assessment. The additional method of luminescence dating used proved to be an important tool for creating a chronological framework.

Johanna Stötzer wrote her master’s thesis at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) on the topic of

“Development of a generic concept to analyse the accessibility of emergency facilities in critical infrastructure”

and developed generic and modular approaches to analyse the accessibility of emergency facilities in critical road infrastructure on several scale levels. Their work represents a valuable decision-making aid for the regional planning of a road network.