Dr. Justin Arickal has been awarded the prestigious Doctoral-Prize 2024 of the University Society Bonn for his exceptional doctoral dissertation. For the first time in its history, the University Society awarded a Theologian.
Already in 2023, Dr. Arickal was awarded the Pax-Bank-Prize 2023 for the best doctoral dissertation of the year by the Theological Faculty of the University of Bonn. In the subsequent year, all seven Faculties of the University of Bonn, including the renowned Medical Faculty and Law Faculty, submit their best doctoral candidates to the selection procedure for the University-wide Doctoral-Prize.
The selection committee, headed by Mathematician and Epidemiologist Professor Dr. Max P. Baur, consists of professors from various faculties, the Chancellor of the University and of selected members of the University Society Bonn. This committee selected and invited six exceptional candidates to a final round, in which the candidates gave individual presentations of their dissertations and discussed their findings with the selection committee. The topics ranged from astrophysics to medicine to theology.
At a festive award ceremony on November 12, 2024, the University Society Bonn announced that the Doctoral-Prize 2024 would be awarded to Dr. Justin Arickal. This is the first time that the University-wide Doctoral-Prize is going to a Theologian.
The laudator, Professor Dr. Max P Baur praised Dr. Arickal’s excellent dissertation and his outstanding presentation to the selection committee, in which he demonstrated the value of Theology for contemporary issues. Professor Baur also praised Dr. Arickal’s exceptional career path, his continued efforts in continued education and his extensive volunteer work.
The Doctoral-Prize of the University Society Bonn is being awarded since 2009 and is endowed with 10.000 Euro.
The award ceremony was concluded with an engaging concert by the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Bonn.
We congratulate Dr. Justin Arickal for this remarkable achievement and wish him all the best for the future!
About the award recipient:
Dr. Justin Arickal was born 1985 in Cologne and is of Indian descent. After completing a dual-study program in cooperation with Bayer AG, a MBA-program at Bradford University and an Executive Education program at Oxford University, he worked in various managerial roles for Bayer AG globally. In 2013 he switched to Theology. After completing his Magister of Theology at the University of Bonn, he pursued his Doctor of Theology at the University of Bonn. In between he conducted a research semester at Yale University (USA). He currently works as a Post-Doc at the University of Vienna and teaches Systematic Theology. More…
About the doctoral dissertation:
In his dissertation "Ambivalent images of God as a hermeneutical challenge. An interdisciplinary trialogue between Erich Zenger, Karl Rahner and Edith Stein", Dr. Arickal combines Biblical Theology, Systematic Theology and Spiritual Theology to make sense of ambivalent depictions of God.
About the University of Bonn:
The University of Bonn, founded in 1818, is currently Germany’s preeminent “University of Excellence” with the most research clusters of excellence in the “German Universities Excellence Initiative”. The University consists of seven faculties with approx. approx. 6,000 doctoral candidates and approx. 31,000 students. More…
