The guests and other prize-winners joined the ceremony online. Sylvia Looks, CLAAS Foundation Executive Board, was nonetheless visibly pleased that the prize-winners were once again able to attend the award ceremony in person: “These students really have done such great work within their academic fields – work with real added value for agriculture and agricultural technology; it is so lovely to meet them and once again present their prizes to them face to face.”
First to take place was the event with Cathrina Claas-Mühlhäuser, who now succeeds her father as Chair of the Board of Trustees: “I am delighted to be able to preserve my father’s aims, ideas and values by awarding the Helmut Claas scholarships, thereby helping to support highly promising up-and-coming talent.”
The CLAAS Foundation was founded in 1999 and has since awarded the Helmut Claas scholarships, bonus prizes and international prizes on an annual basis. In total, the 15 prize-winners from Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Russia, Romania, Slovakia and Poland received more than €40,000 in prize money from the foundation.
The individual prizes were awarded as follows:
Scholarships:
1st prize: Julius Willmaring from Osnabrück University took first place with his work on topology optimisation and economic and functional potential analysis for the use of 3D printing in the production of agricultural machinery. This means that he will receive €7,200 in financial support.
2nd prize: Fynn Lammers won second prize, worth over €6,000. His thesis examined new methods of chemical crop protection by means of injection techniques. He is also a graduate of Osnabrück University.
3rd prize: Marcell Szalai, a student of Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), succeeded in securing third place, thereby receiving €4,800 in prize money. He carried out a scientific examination of the design of power harrows.
4th prize: Markus Stauder from the University of Hohenheim took fourth place with his paper on the challenges presented by mixed cultivation, with particular consideration given to different sowing methods. He received €3,600 in prize money.
Bonus prizes:
In addition to the annual scholarships, five bonus prizes, each worth €1,500, were also awarded.
In the “Innovation” category, an award was given in recognition of the work of Valeria Lotz and Eva Wasserloos. Lotz completed her thesis on the potential of crowdsourcing in the field of food product development at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. Wasserloos, from the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn, focused on parameters and characteristics of sensor technology in the dairy industry.
The award for the “Health and Safety in Agriculture” category went to Emily Jones, a graduate of Harper Adams University (England). The advancement of farm safety was her chosen topic.
Philip Francis Pinn won the prize for the “Product Validation” category. He investigated new teeth configurations in the spreader units of manure spreaders with the aim of improving distribution. He also completed his thesis at Harper Adams University (England).
Sophia Levitskaja from University College Roosevelt (Netherlands) also won an award. She undertook a critical examination of water quality controls and compared the results of elaborate, costly processes with those of inexpensive ones. Her thesis was therefore included in the “Innovation in Agriculture” category.
International Student Prizes:
The International Student Prizes worth €2,000 each were awarded to students from Banat University of Agricultural Sciences in Timisoara (Romania), the University of Technology and Economics in Budapest (Hungary), Wageningen University & Research (Netherlands), the University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia), the Kuban State Agrarian University in Krasnodar (Russia) and Poznan University of Life Sciences (Poland).
