AREC Award for improving ethical standards in animal research
The Research Society on Alcohol Animal Research and Ethics Committee (AREC) in the US has presented Prof. Dr. Rainer Spanagel, Scientific Director of the Institute of Psychopharmacology, with the AREC Award 2024. The annual award recognizes his leading contributions to improving ethical standards of research with animals. The citation states: “Prof. Spanagel was a pioneer in performing meta-analyses into preclinical addiction research, and his lab has now published over 10 such analyses. In addition, Prof. Spanagel has led several directives to reduce the use of animals in preclinical research, including the development of an organ bank for genetically engineered mice, and adopting in silico approaches to reduce and replace animals needed for experiments. Finally, and most recently, Prof. Spanagel has helped to launch an integrative approach to best practice guidelines in preclinical alcohol research (STRINGENCY), that should continue to improve the reliability and impact of preclinical alcohol research.”
Supervisor Award for PD Dr. Gordon Feld
PD Dr. Gordon Feld, head of the Psychology and Neurobiology of Sleep and Memory research group, has been awarded the Supervisor Prize of the German Society for Psychophysiology and its Application (DGPA) and the Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology Division. The prize is awarded for excellent supervision during the doctorate, which is determined competitively by a survey of doctoral students in the field of biological psychology. Gordon Feld received the award from the young members of the two specialist societies after being nominated in the survey by the doctoral students in his working group. The prize was awarded at the Psychology and Brain Conference 2024 in Hamburg.
Advancement Award for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 2024
Sibel Nayman, research associate in the Research Group Longitudinal and Intervention Research, has been awarded the 2024 Advancement Award for Young Scientists in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. The prize was awarded by the Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Division of the German Psychological Society (DGPs). The prize was awarded for work on premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDS), a disorder that has been little researched to date but is increasingly becoming the focus of scientific attention.
IMMERSE wins Value-Based Health Care Collaboration Award
The IMMERSE consortium, in which the Public Mental Health department is involved, has won the Value-Based Health Care Collaboration Award 2024. The European IMMERSE consortium (Implementing Mobile Mental health Recording Strategy for Europe) is investigating how an app for mental health can be integrated into treatment. An app was developed specifically for this purpose, a kind of digital therapy companion designed to support patient-centered treatment and decision-making. The prize was awarded by an international jury and recognizes initiatives that establish a fundamentally new way of thinking in order to create benefits for patients.