Danubius Awards 2015 within the frame of the High-Level Event of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission www.bmwfw.gv.at Danubius and Danubius Young Scientists Award The Danubius Award was created in 2011 by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Rese- arch (BMWF) and the Institute for the Danube Re- gion and Central Europe (IDM) with the intention to honor persons with extraordinary achievements in their scientific activity and output in relation to the Danube Region. Within a rotation system in one year achievements in the fields of humani- ties, social and cultural studies are awarded, in the following year achievements in the fields of life sciences. Previous award winners were Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus Roth (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Mu- nich, Institute for European Ethnology), Prof. Dr. Miroslav Veskovic (Rector of the University of Novi Sad) and Prof. Dr. András Inotai (Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Since 2014 this award is complemented with a specific price for young scientists – the so-called „Danubius Young Scientists Award“. The award seeks to encourage young scientists to engage themselves in the scientific examination of pro- blems and questions specifically related to the Danube and to stimulate the scientific community in the Danube region. Universities, Academies of Sciences and Research Institutions in all 14 coun- tries of the Danube Region have been encouraged to nominate suitable and promising candidates that then have been assessed by an international expert jury. The highest ranked candidate of each of the countries that submitted eligible nomina- Danubius Award tions will now be awarded with the prize. in the field of Life Sciences: The Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy is glad to announce the winners of 2015: Leopold März AUSTRIA Em.O.Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat. techn. Dr.h.c. Leopold März had been working as Rector of the BOKU-Uni- versity of Natural Resources and Ap- plied Life Sciences, Vienna, between 1993 and 2003. Currently he holds a professor emeritus status. Danubius Young Scientists Awards: Prof.Dr. März started working as an Associate Professor of Biochemistry in 1983 and became quickly the head of the Department of Che- mistry at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Vi- enna. Leopold März acted as president of the Aus- trian Association of agricultural, environmental and life sciences research. He was the founding presi- dent of the Austrian Society for Biotechnology and the President of the Danube Rectors Conference, for both of which he still acts as Honorary President. Since 2000 he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Danube University Krems. Since 2002 he is the Chairman of the board of the Agency for Health and Food Safety and since 2003 he is the Chairman of the Interuniversity Consortium for Agricultural and Related Sciences in Europe and the Vice Presi- dent of the Eco-Social Forum Austria. He has received several awards and is member of several scientific councils. Marija Zunabovic Jelena Trivic AUSTRIA BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA Marija Zunabovic holds a PhD in Food Jelena Trivic, born August 8th 1983 Science and Biotechnology from the received her bachelor‘s degree in University of Natural Resources and economics from the University of Life Sciences, Vienna. She works Banja Luka in 2006. A year later as a Senior Scientist at the Institu- Jelena gained the master degree in te of Food Science since 2012 and economics from the University of as a Senior Scientist at the Institute Bologna and started working as an of Sanitary Engineering and Water Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pollution Control since 2013. Economics at the University of Banja Luka. In 2013 she obtained a PhD degree from the Dr. Marija Zunabovic has a broad expertise in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade. fields of Food Technology; Food Control, Microbio- logy and Water Quality Assessment. She won seve- Her research interests include the field of interna- ral national and international awards and is an acti- tional economics, i.e. international trade and trade ve member at the Association of Austrian Food and policy, international finances, globalization, as well Biotechnologists, the Austrian Association for Gas as the field of European integration process. and Water and the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group. Jelena Trivic participated actively at the DRC sum- mer schools in Vienna and Pecs and presented pa- Other than her teaching activities, Marja Zunabovic pers which were published in proceedings from the is involved in eight ongoing Projects, 3 of them are conference. Danube region relevant. Strahil V. Karapchanski Stela Jokić BULGARIA CROATIA Chief Assistant Professor Strahil Stela Jokić, PhD, assistant professor Karapchanski was born on Dezem- at the University of Osijek, Faculty of ber 06th 1983 in Yambol, Bulgaria. Food Technology Osijek, was born on Since 2010 he has been an assistant 31st July 1982. professor at the „Angel Kanchev“ University of Ruse. In 2014 he was Since May 2007 she has been an awarded a PhD degree. employee at the Department of Pro- cess Engineering at the Faculty of Mr. Karapchanski has conducted pro- Food Technology in Osijek and since found research on the cooperation processes in the the academic year 2010/2011 she has also been Danube area. He has examined the potentials for teaching at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food macro-regions to introduce new modes of gover- Technology at the University of Mostar. nance into the European practice and also their added value towards the Cohesion policy of the Eu- She enrolled in a Postgraduate University Study ropean Union. Program of Food Engineering in 2008 and received her PhD in 2011 at the Faculty of Food Technology In most of his scientific work, Dr. Strahil has re- in Osijek. flected on the European Strategy for the Danube Region as an instrument for bridging the gap in She designed and built one pilot plant for supercri- the development of Central and Eastern European tical fluid extraction at the Faculty of Food Techno- countries and, in the same time, as an incentive logy Osijek, which is the first device of its kind in for the more efficient cooperation and exchange of the Republic of Croatia. best-practices in old and new member states. She has received several prestigious awards for her Mr. Karapchanski holds several awards. work. Abraham Kabutey Florian Kührer-Wielach CZECH REPUBLIK GERMANY Ing. Abraham Kabutey, Ph.D. born on Florian Kührer-Wielach, born March December 31st 1980 in Ghana recei- 27th 1982 received his PhD in philo- ved his PhD in 2014 and currently sophy/history in 2013 and is cur- works as a postdoctoral researcher rently working as a research fellow at the Czech University of Life Scien- at the Institute for German Culture ces, Prague specializing in renewable and History in South Eastern Europe, sources of energy and bioeconomy. where he also acts as deputy of the director. Currently he is working on the de- scription of mechanical behavior of bulk oilseeds The projects and initiatives of Dr. Florian Kührer— or kernels such as rape, sunflower, jatropha and Wielach approach the culture and history of the oil palm under compression loading. This in-depth Danube—Carpathian region from the 19th to the knowledge is intended for application in the indust- 21st century. rial technology involving mechanical screw presses for improvement of oil yield and energy utilization He lays a focus on questions of ethnical and reli- and to help engineers with all necessary informati- gious minorities, examining the specific develop- on in designing new presses with low energy input ment of Central and South Eastern Europe in the or pressure for utilization in the rural areas of un- interwar period through the example of Romania, derdeveloped and developing countries. examining issues which are still relevant today: the creation and consolidation of pluralistic societies as well as democratic order. Valentin Brodszky Victor Popescu HUNGARY REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA Valentin Brodszky, MD, PhD was born Dr. Victor Popescu born on Decem- on March 31st 1975 and graduated ber 17th 1982 in Podgorica (Monte- as a medical doctor from the Sem- negro) holds a PhD in engineering. melweis University of Budapest in 1999. After medical school he star- He is currently working as associate ted to study Business Administration professor at the Department of rural at Corvinus University of Budapest, electrification and automation at the he defended his PhD at Semmelweis Agricultural Engineering and Auto- University in 2010 and his research mobiles Faculty of the State Agrarian topic focused on cost-of-illness and quality of life in University of Moldova. patient with chronic inflammatory disorders. His research activity focuses on solving problems His scientific research focuses on evidence ba- ensuring reliability indicators of electrical sys- sed medicine and main areas of health economic tems. The scientific results obtained by Dr. Popes- evaluation, including the methods for measuring cu have a noticeable impact for Electrical Power of costs-of-illness, eliciting utility weights, decision the Moldova Republic and of other countries in the modelling and issues relating to the transferability actual conditions of influence of various random of economic data. factors which cause a large number of refusals in operation. He works as an associate professor at the Depart- ment of Health Economics of the Corvinus Universi- Dr. Victor Popescu is a very active researcher, au- ty of Budapest and holds several domestic awards. thor and co-author of over 120 scientific papers methodical — didactic and reports at national and international scientific forums and an experienced teacher. He is a multiple winner of competitions and laureate of valuable prizes in Moldova.