Dies Academicus 2005

LAUDATIONES DIES ACADEMICUS 2005

Faculty of Theology > Dr. Branco Weiss

Faculty of Law > Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schnyder

Faculty of Medicine > Eliane Gluckman

Faculty of Humanities > Dr. phil. Charles Linsmayer

Faculty of Science > Dr. iur. Franz B. Humer

Faculty of Business and Economics > Dr. Ernst Baltensperger

Faculty of Psychology > Klaus. J. Jacobs

For her outstanding dissertation “Verhärtet eure Herzen nicht: Der Hebräer, eine Synagogenhomilie zu Tischa be-Aw”, which makes a significant contribution to New Testament studies by demonstrating in a highly ambitious and reflected manner that Hebrews is in actual fact a codified Christian synagogue homily to Tischa be-Aw. The study, moreover, provides a superior interpretation of the literary composition of Hebrews and its theological and cultural depths.

Furthermore, the prize is awarded to:

Dr. Pascal Leumann Liebster (from Arlesheim and Basel)

Whose dissertation ”Die Stufenklage im schweizerischen Zivilprozessrecht” presents a comprehensive dogmatic examination of the problems arising from claims to information and their assertion in connection with subsequent claims, embedding this issue in the proceedings of Swiss Civil Law and putting forward convincing proposals.

Prize of the Faculty of Medicine

The prize of the Faculty of Medicine, funded with an endowment from the Roche Research Foundation, is awarded to:

Dr. med. Magdalena Filipowicz (from Riehen)

Whose dissertation “Molecular mechanisms of Hepatitis C Virus interference with Jak/STAT signalling” examines the molecular causes of failed Interferon Therapy in the case of Chronic Hepatitis C, revealing that Hepatitis C Viruses can significantly impair Interferon signal transmission from the cell surface to the cell nucleus.

Prize of the Faculty of Humanities

The prize of the Faculty of Humanities, funded with an endowment from the Migros Cooperative Basel, is awarded to:

Dr. Anke Stephan (from Deutschland)

Whose outstanding dissertation ”Stalins rebellische Töchter: Lebenswege sowjetischer Dissidentinnen der 1960er bis 1980er Jahre” bestows a voice upon the women who played a key role in taking a stance against centralised power in the former Sowjetunion but whose endeavours have been sadly neglected. The study examines biographical and archive material (conversations, autobiographies, etc.) to bring into view the lives of various female dissidents and depict the social context, thereby revealing not merely how these women became dissidents but offering a novel “inside” view of the Sowjetunion. The study also sets new theoretical and methodological standards for research in this field.

Faculty of Science

The prize of the Faculty of Science, endowed by the Migros Cooperative Basel, is awarded to:

Dr. phil. Hans-Andreas Engel (from Eggiwil Bern)

Whose outstanding dissertation ”Electron spins in dots and rings: Coherence, read out, and transport” marks a significant development in Theoretical Physics and has provided a basis for laboratory work conducted in Delft, Harvard, Munich, and Tokyo.

The prize is also awarded to:

Dr. phil. Simon Hippenmeyer (from Pratteln BL and Gottlieben TG)

Whose outstanding dissertation ”Molecular mechanisms of neuronal circuit assembly in the vertebrate spinal cord” resulted from research conducted at the University’s Biozentrum to mark a significant development in Neurobiology.

Faculty of Business and Economics

The prize of the Faculty of Business and Economics is awarded to:

lic. rer. pol. Yves Grüninger (from Basel)

Whose thesis ”Die Whistleblowing-Paragraphen im Sarbanes-Oxley Act” makes an important econo-political contribution from an economic perspective about the significance of the whistleblowing articles in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for Swiss enterprises.

The prize is also awarded to:

Herrn lic. rer. pol. Pascal Pensa (from Basel)

Whose thesis ”Wohlfahrtsverlust von Managementoptionsprogrammen in der Schweiz” has contributed to a theoretical and empirical understanding of the cost-benefit interplay of option-based management remuneration schemes.

Faculty of Psychology

The prize of the Faculty of Psychology, funded with an endowment from the Karger Verlag für Medizin und Naturwissenschaften, is awarded to:

Herrn Dr. phil. Claude Messner

Whose dissertation ”Messung der Valenz mittels Reaktionszeiten am Beispiel des Implicit Association Tests (IAT) und der Evaluative Movement Assessment (EMA)” contributes to our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying IAT. The study combines the theories of cognitive psychology and perceptive experiments in an innovative manner to reveal the limits of the explanatory power of IAT and to propose a new procedure to measure individual attitudes. The study improves our understanding of one of the most important testing procedures in psychology and presents a new ways of designing new procedures. 


The prize is also awarded to:

PD Dr. phil. Torsten Reimer

For his research on the heuristics of group decision-making. Dr. Reimer’s work, which is concerned with one of the key questions of decision-making strategies, reveals that simple strategies, used to describe individual behaviour, can also be drawn upon to explain group decision-making. Dr. Reimer’s studies are impressive, particularly their sophisticated combination of mathematical analyses, computer simulations, and experiments. This body of research enriches our understanding of how groups take decisions and presents completely new ways in which research on collective and individual decision-making can be connected.  

Awards and Prizes

Irma-Tschudi-Steiner-Price

The Irma Tschudi-Steiner Prize is awarded every other year for the best dissertation in pharmaceutical studies submitted by a female candidate. This year, the prize is awarded to:

Dr. phil. Gan-Pangao (from China)

For her dissertation ”Synthesis of Antagonists of Myelin-associated Glycoprotein (MAG) for Conformational and SAR Studies”.


Amerbach Price

The Faculty of Science awards the 2005 Amerbach Prize of the University of Basel to:

Dr. phil. Andreas Christen (from Basel and Affoltern i.E., BE)

Whose study of the turbulent exchange of energy within the urban boundary layer has produced internationally significant results in Micrometerology. Dr. Christen’s findings represent an important basis for improving numerical models concerning the spread of air pollutants and the medico-meterological analysis of heatwaves during summer in urban areas.

Sports Award

The Sports Award of the University of Basel, endowed by the National Versicherung, is awarded to:

Frau Dr. Karin Hiss (from Basel)

The former Swiss University triathlon, mountain bike, and snowboard champion has made a longstanding and successful commitment to promoting winter sports at the University.