CLAAS Foundation honours bright young stars from seven countries

Prizes at a total value of more than 45,000 euros went to students from Bulgaria, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.

The winners and teachers at the partner universities came together on the eve of the ceremony to socialise and to meet young scientists from other countries. 'These informal get-togethers are hugely important for us as a charitable foundation, as they help us to continue expanding our international network of universities and cooperation partners,' says Sylvia Looks from the Executive Board of the CLAAS Foundation.

The nominees held talks on the bachelor theses they submitted, but did not find out which prize they had actually won until they took possession of the certificate. Helmut Claas, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the CLAAS Foundations, personally handed over the certificates and congratulated the winners.

The following individual prizes were awarded:

Scholarships:

Helmut Claas scholarships support students in the general engineering disciplines and those completing business management degrees.

1st Prize: The first prize, a scholarship worth 7,200 euros, went to Philip Schierning, student of organic agricultural sciences at the University of Kassel, Witzenhausen. His bachelor thesis investigated how various wheat mixtures can be used to optimise baking quality.

2nd Prize: Andreas Kopf, student of mechanical engineering at the KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), was delighted to come in second and to collect the prize money of 6,000 euros. His bachelor thesis looked into the issue of optimising combustion engines.

3rd Prize: Maximilian Springer from the Technical University of Munich was awarded the third place worth 4,800 euros. In his bachelor thesis, he explored the efficient use of mobile agricultural robots in sowing processes.

4th Prize: The fourth prize of 3,600 euros went to Thomas Sutton from the Harper Adams University. His thesis discussed the ideal combination of tractors and attachments.

Bonus Prizes:

Three Bonus Prizes, each worth 1,500 euros, were awarded in addition to the annual scholarships. Sophie Lippmann from the University of Kassel was the prize-winner in the Internationality category. The paper she submitted focused on improvements in food safety in rural, small-town and urban settings in Africa.

James Charnley from the Harper Adams University received an award in the Technical Involvement category for his paper on the importance of brand equity in industrial decisions to purchase agricultural tractors in the United Kingdom.

The bonus prize in the Market Mechanisms category went to Jan Fischer from the University of Vechta. In his bachelor thesis, he used the coffee industry as a benchmark to analyse and assess global purchasing strategies for raw materials in the agricultural sector.

International Student Prizes:

The International Student Prizes, each valued at 4,500 euros, were awarded to students at the Banat University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Timisoara (Romania), the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), Wageningen University (the Netherlands), the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia) and the 'Angel Kanchev' University of Ruse (Bulgaria).

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CLAAS Group, Corporate Communications
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