DKKV Promotional Award
The DKKV Promotional Award was launched in 2018 by the German Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV e.V.) and has been awarded annually since then to honor current research work and best practice examples related to disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management. Since the promotion of young scientists is particularly important to the DKKV, the award is primarily aimed at young professionals.
The prize is aimed at German- and English-language bachelor’s and master’s theses and is awarded to both the best bachelor’s and the best master’s thesis. These will be awarded with prize money of €500 (Bachelor) and €1,000 (Master) as well as a two-year membership as a Young Professional in the DKKV.

Award Ceremony of the DKKV Sponsorship awards 2022 and 2023
During a Parliamentary Evening organized by the DKKV together with the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) and the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) on October 12, 2023 at the Museum for Communication in Berlin, the DKKV Sponsorship Awards from this and last year were presented.
Albrecht Broemme, on behalf of the THW Foundation, which supported the DKKV Sponsorship Award in 2022, gave a laudatory speech about the winners from last year. Sebastian Herbe (winner in the Bachelor’s category, Akkon University of Applied Sciences) and Chris Hetkämper (winner in the Master’s category, Cologne University of Applied Sciences) were delighted with the certificates.

© Laurin Schmid / bundesfoto

© Laurin Schmid / bundesfoto
The winners of the DKKV Sponsorship Award 2023 were honored by Sabrina Bagus, this year’s jury member and representative of the German Red Cross as this year’s supporting institution. Sabrina Bagus presented the certificates to Jana Wiedemann (winner in the category Bachelor, Berlin School of Economics and Law) and to Fabian Rackelmann (winner in the category Master, United Nations University and University of Bonn). Both speakers pointed out the importance of young professionals in the field of disaster risk management and the outstanding quality of the final theses of the winners.
In order to offer interested parties a thematic insight into the final theses, the DKKV has had a short film produced. In this film, the winners from the years 2022 and 2023 briefly introduce themselves and summarize the most important findings of their work.
You can watch the film here.
Only available in German language.
DKKV Sponsorship awards 2023
This year, we were once again pleased to receive numerous applications for the DKKV Sponsorship Award. Due to the many high-quality final theses, the jury had a hard time making a decision. We are therefore pleased to announce that this year’s winners have been selected!
Award Winner 2023
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 nutrition preparedness in Germany”.
In her thesis, Jana Wiedemann deals with the resilience of emergency food preparedness in Germany, which is becoming increasingly important in light of the Corona pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine. For this purpose, she conducts document analyses and interviews with experts within the framework of a case study. In addition to the crisis management of the actors, current challenges, problems and approaches to solutions will be addressed. The results are classified and evaluated on the basis of theoretical core capabilities of resilience. The basis for this is the resilience model of the Frauenhofer Institute.
2nd place: Paul Berg (University of Cologne): “ENVI-met based simulation of the effect of different tree species on the microclimate in the Südstadt in Cologne during a heat event”.
3rd place: Julia Feth (University of Bonn): “Geomorphological effects of the heavy rain event in July 2021 on the catchment area of the Aulbach (Ahr valley)”.
Fabian Rackelmann, graduate of the United Nations University and University of Bonn, wins 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 several services that reduce flood risk, they can also contribute to flooding by providing wood that potentially contributes to stream blockages and associated backwater effects. In this context, deadwood is often the focus of post-flood discourse as a key aspect of healthy forests. This master’s thesis addresses this ambivalence by examining the relationship between the two goals of forest management, forest health and flood risk reduction. With the help of 19 investigative semi-structured expert:in 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 investigated exemplarily for the Rhineland-Palatinate part of the Ahr catchment.
2nd place: Michael Bartz (University of Bonn & BBK): “Cooperation between governmental authorities and spontaneous responders -Optimization approaches for the coordination of spontaneous responders using the example of the 2021 flood disaster in Stolberg (Rhld.)”.
3rd place: Angela Marie Bungert (United Nations University & University of Bonn): “Assessing the Role of Disaster Risk Education in Secondary Schools in Light of Community Resilience”.
Jury members 2023

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Norbert Gebekken
Universität der Bundeswehr München

Dr. Anne Schneibel
Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Prof. Dr. Peter Schmiedtchen
Hochschule Magdeburg –Stendal

Sylvia Wallasch
Regierung von Schwaben

Prof. Dr. Wiltrud Terlau
Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

Sabrina Bagus
Deutsches Rote Kreuz e.V
DKKV Promotional Award 2023
The Promotional Award is given to theses that contribute to the DKKV vision: “Creating a resilient society through sustainable crisis and disaster risk reduction”. In this context, the submitted thesis should address one or more of the topics listed in the word cloud above.
The application period for this year’s Promotional Award ended on 15th June 2023.
Missed the deadline? Then we look forward to receiving your application next year!

Sponsors of the DKKV Promotional Award
We would like to thank our institutional member “Deutsches Rotes Kreuz” (DRK) for the kind support of the DKKV Promotional Award 2023!
With numerous projects for disaster risk reduction worldwide, the German Red Cross is committed to improving the resilience of affected populations in particularly threatened countries to the consequences of extreme weather events and supports disaster risk reduction measures in fragile and conflict-prone regions in particular.
Would you like to learn more about the DRK? Click here to go to the homepage.
TIME SCHEDULE
03.04.2023 Start of the application period
31.05.2023 End of application period
15.09.2023 End of the evaluation period
Announcement of the award winners expected at the beginning of October
Remarks
The submitted thesis must not be older than two years (24 months) at the time of closing the application period. The submission date counts, which thus may not be before April 03, 2021. Only work that has already been submitted and finally evaluated will be accepted. You can apply for the sponsorship award more than once, as long as it is not the same thesis.
After the application deadline, all submitted application documents will be reviewed and evaluated by the jury. The winners are expected to be announced in October 2023. The framework for the award ceremony has yet to be determined.
Jury members 2023

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Norbert Gebekken
Universität der Bundeswehr München

Dr. Anne Schneibel
Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Prof. Dr. Peter Schmiedtchen
Hochschule Magdeburg –Stendal

Sylvia Wallasch
Regierung von Schwaben

Prof. Dr. Wiltrud Terlau
Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

Sabrina Bagus
Deutsches Rote Kreuz e.V
Award winners 2022
In 2022, the DKKV Promotion Award was sponsored by the THW Foundation.
Graduate of the Akkon University of Human Sciences Berlin, receives the DKKV Promotional Award 2022 in the category Bachelor for his outstanding thesis titled
“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 peak result for German civil protection. Within the framework of the research project, 17 experts, who were active as leaders in staffs or in subordinate leadership levels in the operational command of heavy rain, were interviewed in order to identify reasons for a deviating self-perception and causes for the inadequate functioning of the leadership system. The objective of the research project was to explore the reasons for a deviating self-perception and perception by others of the staff work of the storm surge management, to reveal problem areas, and to derive implications for future developments of the established management systems from the findings obtained.
2nd place: Sari Rombach -” Risikoanalyse eines extremen Starkregenereignisses in Bonn –eine GIS-gestützte Untersuchung“
3rd place: Elaine Donderer – “Rethinking Resilience – The Urban Political Ecology of Informal Settlements and Participatory Disaster Risk Reduction: A Comparative Case Study of Informal Settlements in Soweto and Belgrade”
Graduate of the Technical University of Cologne, receives the DKKV Promotional Award 2022 in the Master’s category for his outstanding thesis titled
“Methode zur Bewertung der Notfallplanung von Krankenhäusern im Bereich der Energieversorgung”
In his work, Chris Hetkämper dealt with the question of how emergency planning for energy supply in hospitals can be evaluated. The work developed a method that provides hospital operators with a way to evaluate and optimize their existing emergency planning in the area of energy supply. Technical and organizational aspects as well as vulnerability were considered as framework parameters in order to avoid a failure of the emergency power supply due to damaging events.
2nd place: Florence Nick – “Resilience of people with disabilities in Germany during the Covid 19-pandemic”
3rd place: Nathalie Sänger -” Exploring factors that influence urban planner`s behavior towards green infrastructure for climate change adaptation in Bonn”
Award winners 2021
Graduate of Kiel University of Applied Sciences,received the DKKV Promotional Award 2021 in the Bachelor’s category for his outstanding thesis titled
“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 competence of citizens in the context of social-space-oriented population protection, in order to positively influence social resilience to emergencies in the long term. The aim was to apply an activating survey as a method of social work for population protection.
Graduate of the University of Cologne, received the DKKV Promotional Award 2021 in the Master’s category for her outstanding thesis titled
“Geomorphological and sedimentary impacts of exceptional precipitation events on a dry valley in the Andean Precordillera (Tarapacá region, N Chile)”.
For her, the geomorphological and sedimentological investigation of exceptional precipitation and flood events in the Atacama Desert was not only in focus against the background of paleoclimatic reconstruction. Rather, her master’s thesis aimed to generate a fundamental understanding of the intensity and frequency of these rare but momentous and dangerous flood events, while providing starting points for future investigations.
Award Winner 2020
In 2020, the DKKV Promotional Award was presented with the support of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V). Bachelor’s and master’s theses written on the topic of “resilience” were eligible for submission.
graduate of the Joint Masters “Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security” of the United Nations University and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn, could convince the jury with her master thesis. She dealt here with the topic
„Drought Risk Assessment in Zimbabwe: A Spatial Analysis of Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability“.
To assess drought vulnerability in Zimbabwe, she conducted a remote sensing-based analysis of vegetation health data in Zimbabwe from 1989-2019. She combined in-depth literature review with expert consultation to identify and select relevant indicators of drought vulnerability and rank them in order of relevance. Combined with exposure data, this allowed her to calculate the drought risk index, which can be used to optimize drought risk management and thus strengthen community resilience.
Award Winner 2019
For the second time, the German Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV) in cooperation with the German Climate Foundation has awarded the DKKV Promotional Award “Preparedness 2030”. 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 studied 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 to further strengthen the resilience of (water) systems in Cape Town. The complexity as well as the timeliness of the topic convinced the jury.
Award Winners 2018
The German Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV), in cooperation with the German Climate Foundation, awarded the “Preparedness 2030” promotional prize for the first time on October 5, 2018. After a thorough review of all papers, the sponsorship award was given to two people, Johanna Stötzer and Katharina Seeger!
Katharina Seeger has dedicated her bachelor thesis at the University of Cologne to the topic of
“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”.
For this purpose, she investigated recent and historical sedimentary deposits of tropical cyclones with respect to character, composition, age and size, among other things, in order to draw conclusions on the relevance of sedimentary analyses and luminescence dating for hazard assessment. The additionally applied method of luminescence dating proved to be an important tool for establishing a chronological framework.
Johanna Stötzer wrote her master thesis at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) on the topic of
“Development of a generic concept to analyze the accessibility of emergency facilities in critical infrastructure”
and developed generic and modular approaches to analyze the accessibility of emergency facilities in a critical road infrastructure on several scale levels. Her work provides a valuable decision support tool for the regional planning of a road network.