Carl-Rappert Foundation Engineering Prize 2026: Awards for Antonia Nitsch and Florian Christ

2026-09-24

Two doctoral theses completed at the Chair received the Carl-Rappert Foundation Engineering Award 2026 at the 39th Baugrundtagung in Leipzig. Antonia Nitsch received first prize, while Florian Christ was awarded third prize.

First prize for Dr.-Ing. Antonia Nitsch

Antonia Nitsch received first prize for her dissertation, “A novel framework for the numerical modelling of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of expansive soils”. Her research developed a new approach to the numerical modelling of the coupled hydro-mechanical behaviour of expansive soils. She presented her award-winning research during the conference’s plenary lecture session.

Third prize for Dr.-Ing. Florian Christ

Florian Christ received third prize for his dissertation, “Experimental investigations on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of clay shales for tunnelling relevant boundary conditions”. His research focused on experimental investigations into the hydro-mechanical behaviour of clay shales under boundary conditions relevant to tunnelling.

The Carl-Rappert Foundation Engineering Award, sponsored by Keller Grundbau GmbH, is presented by the German Geotechnical Society (DGGT) to recognise outstanding scientific work by early-career researchers in geotechnical engineering.

Congratulations to Antonia Nitsch and Florian Christ on this well-deserved recognition of their research!