DAAD Prize for Alyssa Marie McIntyre

The 29-year-old prizewinner comes from Australia and has been studying for a Master of Public Policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt on a Franz Haniel Scholarship since 2022. She was nominated by Dr Hasnain Bokhari, whose project on the internationalisation of the University of Erfurt she was involved in, and impressed the jury not only with her academic achievements during her studies, but also with her social commitment. Among other things, Alyssa McIntyre has led the Brandt School's bulletin blog and podcast teams. She has also been an active member of the University of Erfurt's integration programme "Fremde werden Freunde" (strangers become friends) since the beginning of her studies in Erfurt and was also active as a student mentor for first-year students. She helped them to settle in quickly in Erfurt and was their contact person for questions about studying and living in Erfurt.

The 29-year-old paid particular attention to the topics of diversity and inclusion. In 2023, she supported the Special Olympics in Berlin as a volunteer. This year, she also volunteered at the Brussels-based advocacy group Inclusion Europe, where she led a group focusing on the impact of digitalisation on people with intellectual disabilities. She also took part in re:publica, Europe's largest festival for the digital society, which brought together experts from business, politics, companies, hacker culture, NGOs, media, marketing, bloggers, activists, artists and social media experts. "Alyssa McIntyre's commitment is an excellent example of international students who have not only found a good balance between their academic achievements and their social commitment, but also work with a great deal of passion on topics that are highly relevant to society and drive them both professionally and academically," says the jury's statement.

Also nominated for the DAAD Prize this year were: Chrispen Gumunyu, Anastasiia Levkovych, Mireille Nasief and Jignesh Patel.