23 January 2026, by Denise Longe

Photo: Rahel E. Photography

Prof. Dr. Malte Fliedner and Dr. Julia Diana Lenk at the award ceremony

Early-career researcher Dr. Julia Diana Lenk was honored with the Professor Herbert Jacob Prize for her outstanding dissertation.

On January 23, 2026, Dr. Julia Diana Lenk received the Professor Herbert Jacob Prize, which comes with a cash award of 1,000 euros. The Vice-Dean for Research and Graduate Education, Prof. Dr. Malte Fliedner—himself a recipient of the award in 2010—honored Lenk for her dissertation in the field of marketing communication and consumer behavior at the intersection of sustainability, diversity, and digitalization during the graduation ceremony at the School.

The research assistant is conducting postdoctoral research in the department of Henrik Sattler, Professor of Marketing and Branding. “I am very pleased to receive this award,” says Lenk. “It is not only a sign of appreciation for my research work but also a source of motivation for current and future doctoral candidates.” The Vice-Dean adds: “As a research-intensive business school, we are proud to be able to make a significant contribution to current research in business administration. A key pillar of this is the work of our early-career researchers who are pursuing their doctorates, working toward their habilitation, or serving as postdocs at the Business School.”

The Professor Herbert Jacob Prize is awarded every two years by the Universitäts-Gesellschaft Hamburg e.V. in memory of Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Herbert Jacob (1927–1997), who taught industrial management at the University of Hamburg. Promoting practice-oriented business administration was always a particular concern for the prize’s namesake. For this reason, the Professor Herbert Jacob Prize honors outstanding business administration dissertations that make a current and relevant contribution to research and practice and also present their topic in an accessible manner.

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