GRADE Sustain

Frankfurt Prize for Environment and Sustainability 2026

The Frankfurt Prize for Environment and Sustainability 2026, endowed with a total of €5,000, was awarded to early-career researchers from various disciplines at Goethe University whose outstanding theses impressed the jury. Through their ambitious research, the award recipients address highly relevant and urgent topics, thereby contributing to new, interdisciplinary, and innovative approaches to solutions in the field of environment and sustainability. All submitted works were distinguished by a high level of academic excellence and socially relevant research questions.

The main prize was shared by two researchers whose work in sustainability research was honored:

Dr. Sarah Hörchner (Department 15) for her dissertation “

  • Dr.‘in Sarah Hörchner aus dem Fachbereich 15 mit ihrer Dissertation „Disentangling”, and
  • Dr. Julian Salg (Department 02) for his dissertation “Empirical essays on energy subsitution, biased technical change and the economy-wide rebound effect.”

This year’s sponsorship prize was awarded to two researchers for their outstanding theses:

  • Miriam Janßen (Dept. 15) for her study entitled “Erstellung von didaktischem Material zur Vermittlung von Wissen zur Biodiversität im Wildnisrevier des Wissenschaftsgartens der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main”, and
  • Diana Sattelmeier (Dept. 11) for her thesis “The global distribution and diversity of sea turtles and their drivers.”

The prizes, which were donated this year by the GRADE Center Sustain at Goethe University, will be formally presented during the Academic Ceremony of the Department of Geosciences.

Laudators: Prof. Dr. Petra Döll (Department 11) and Prof. Dr. Martin Piepenbring (Department 14)