The award of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) was presented by Prof. Dr. Thomas Bayer, Vice President for Internationalisation of HNU. In his acceptance speech, Javier Lede encouraged other students to gain international experience: "I believe that the challenges facing humanity require global solutions, which are only possible through a joint effort by the different countries."
Javier Lede has been a Master's student at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (HNU) in Germany since the beginning of 2019 and is completing the English Master's programme "International Corporate Communication and Media Management" at HNU. In his home country in Argentina, he has already worked successfully for nine years in large companies as well as independently in the field of "Multimedia and Visual Communication Design", until he set himself the goal of completing a Master's degree abroad in order to gain international experience.
By studying in Germany, he was able to steer his career in a new direction. Lede received support and suggestions both from his professors at HNU and in discussions within the international community of his course. In reflecting on his professional role, he focused on two topics: the ecological consequences of human activity and the impact of digital media on democratic processes. He has devoted a lot of time to his research, in which he critically analysed the role of social media in democratic processes and wrote articles on this topic, which were published in the Danish online newspaper https://dataethics.eu/ (opens in a new window) (Think-Do tank DataEthics).
The committed Master's student can now imagine a scientific career. With his research he wants to create the ethical basis for the handling and analysis of social media for our democratic society.
In the past, the DAAD Awards of the twin cities Ulm/Neu-Ulm were officially presented at a Lord Mayor Reception. Due to the Corona Pandemic, the ceremony was suspended this year.
DAAD Prize of the University of Ulm
This year, the DAAD Prize of the University of Ulm goes to Aboud Tahanis. The 28-year-old Greek citizen, who was born and grew up in the Syrian city of Aleppo, also completed his medical studies in the city ravaged by civil war - and did so very successfully. Since 2018, Tahanis has been studying in the Master's programme "Molecular and Translational Neuroscience" (MTN) at the University of Ulm. He not only achieves above-average academic achievements, but is also very socially committed: In Syria, he built up a blood donation network together with friends, and later he helped to care for refugees on the Greek island of Samos as a translator and hospital coordinator. Aboud Tahanis is also very active at the University of Ulm: both in a research project on the mental health of refugees and in a student initiative organising a symposium on molecular psychology and psychiatry.
