Every year, the Vogel Foundation and the Universitätsbund award the "Vogel Foundation Research Promotion Prize 2021" at Julius-Maximilians-Universität JMU. The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros and will be awarded in 2021 to Dr. Florian Kleefeldt from the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology. His study on the "Influence of CEACAM1 on diabetic microangiopathy" is being funded. This is about the fundamentals of novel therapies for diabetes-related diseases with a focus on preventing the visual impairments or even blindness that frequently occur in diabetics.

In addition, three further special research prizes were awarded this year.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the University Alliance, the Vogel Foundation's Board of Trustees decided to award a special research prize "100 Years of the University Alliance". Philipp Helmer from the Clinic and Polyclinic for Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Pain Therapy received the award for his project "Evaluation and implementation of mobile trackers in hospitalized patients to increase patient safety (MONITOR)". The project focuses on the use of commercially available fitness wristbands (wearables) to improve patient care and safety, especially after an operation. The prize is endowed with 15,000 euros.

The Special Research Award "Digital" goes to Dr. Annika Kreikenbohm at the Chair of Physics and Didactics for her research on "immersive methods for the scientific visual analysis of big data". The researcher aims to use interactive virtual representations, for example in 3D, to visualize the internal structures of large amounts of data and make them easier to understand for researchers. The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros.

The Special Research Award "Media" goes to Prof. Dr. Jana-Kristin Prigge for the research project "Stop Hate for Profit - and Forever: The Use of Influencer Potentials in the Context of Charitable Campaigns against Hate on the Internet". Together with her team, the Professor of Digital Marketing & E-Commerce at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics wants to research the influence of social media influencers for socially relevant or charitable projects and campaigns in a Germany-wide campaign. This special prize is endowed with 22,000 euros, of which 5,000 euros come from the Würzburg Crossover Benefit Concert and 2,000 euros from the Unibund.

"Due to the large number of excellent applications, we have decided to award a total of four funding prizes this year," says Dr. Gunther Schunk, Chairman of the Vogel Foundation: "The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that research is the key to the future: Research is the key to the future. There is no more sustainable investment for humanity. And the Vogel Foundation wants to make its contribution to this at the science location and support outstanding researchers."

The Vogel Foundation awarded a total of four prizes with a total funding amount of 87,000 euros:

- Research grant for Dr. Florian Kleefeldt: "Influence of CEACAM1 on diabetic microangiopathy": 25,000 euros

- Special Research Award "100 Years of Unibund" for Philipp Helmer: "Evaluation and implementation of mobile trackers in hospitalized patients to increase patient safety (MONITOR)": 15,000 euros

- Special Research Award "Digital" for Dr. Annika Kreikenbohm: "Immersive methods for the scientific visual analysis of big data": 25,000 euros

- Special Research Award "Media": Prof. Dr. Jana-Kristin Prigge: "Stop Hate for Profit - and Forever: The use of influencer potential in the context of charitable campaigns against hate on the Internet": 22,000 euros. This project was supported by the Würzburg Benefit Concert with 5,000 euros and the Unibund with 2,000 euros.

The Vogel Foundation Dr. Eckernkamp was founded in 2000 by the Würzburg publisher Dr. Kurt Eckernkamp and his wife Nina Eckernkamp-Vogel. The foundation focuses its support on four fields: Education, science, medicine/healthcare and culture. The foundation is based in Würzburg and celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2020. The Research Promotion Prize is one of the most highly endowed private research prizes in the German-speaking world.