Prize for excellence in teaching for two FAU researchers

Economist Mario Liebensteiner and philologist Katharina Oft have been awarded this year’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching from the Bavarian Ministry of Science and the Arts.

The Prize for Excellence in Teaching is awarded by the Bavarian Ministry of Science and the Arts in recognition of outstanding dedication and teaching of an excellent quality. Among this year’s prize winners are economist Prof. Dr. Mario Liebensteiner and classicist Katharina Oft from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).

Mario Liebensteiner’s research focuses on the regulation of energy markets and his teaching is based on practice-oriented research methods.

Has the move away from nuclear energy led to higher electricity prices? How does international electricity trading work? – A simple explanation. These are the titles of some of the videos Prof. Mario Liebensteiner uses to present his area of research on his YouTube channel in a straightforward manner. Mario Liebensteiner is assistant professor of Energy Markets and Energy Systems Analysis and analyzes these markets and investigates the effects of their regulation. “If, for example, the government decides to promote renewable energies or ban coal-fired power stations, I want to know: Have emissions gone down? Have electricity prices gone up?”, explains Mario Liebensteiner.

He not only succeeds in presenting his research topics in a clear and entertaining manner in his videos, but also in his teaching. He is happy to discuss current research papers with his students and talks with them about researchers’ methods. “I want students to learn that they don’t need to be afraid of specialist publications that look so incredibly complex when you first look at them. They find out that researchers also just use the methods the students themselves are learning,” says Mario Liebensteiner. In one course, he is replicating a published empirical study with his students. Together, they work on methods for finding, downloading and processing relevant data relevant on the Internet, and how to formulate and test a hypothesis for the expected result on the basis of the data before interpreting the results. “The students first try to complete these steps themselves and I then upload the video where I show how it’s done so that they can check their own work. We discuss each step in the group,” explains Mario Liebensteiner.

Creating a learning environment where students feel valued and have the courage to ask all the questions they may have is particularly important to him. He is also happy to provide assistance to his students on an individual basis and provides support for presentations and Master’s theses, for example.

Philologist Katharina Oft’s work is guided by the needs of her students.

While Mario Liebensteiner examines current economic developments, Katharina Oft’s research focuses on late antiquity. The research associate at the Chair of Classical Philology is currently writing her dissertation on Claudian, a late antique poet, and his Roman Gigantomachy. She is analyzing this poem against the background of the literary tradition and the political and historical works of the late antique author.

“It is a very specialized area of research, of course,” she says and laughs. Her lectures and seminars deal with a slightly wider field: “Of course, studying Latin involves a lot of translations and in seminars we examine various texts, authors and topics from a wide variety of perspectives. There are repeated opportunities to integrate my research into my teaching. For example, next semester I am offering a seminar about the poet Claudian.”

Responding to the individual needs of her students is particularly important to Katharina Oft: “My students are often involved in designing seminars”, she says. “I draw up a rough plan beforehand of what I would like to do and discuss it with my students at the beginning of the semester.” She then adapts her teaching plan to meet the needs of her students as far as possible. She also takes the time during the semester to find out if any new topics have come up. This is possible in particular due to the size of the degree program. “I am mainly responsible for seminars that have around 15 to 20 students. This makes it quite easy to cater to their individual needs.” Katharina Oft also provides support to her students beyond the scope of her seminars by providing suggestions for further reading, for example.

Often, she accompanies students over the course of their entire degree program: “The State Examination in Latin took place last week and there were students taking it who were in my very first seminar when I started teaching six years ago. It’s great to see how students have developed. You could say that we’ve grown together.” Unfortunately Katharina Oft could not take part in the awards ceremony as she is currently on a field trip to Rome with some students.

About the Prize for Excellence in Teaching

Every year, FAU nominates two members of its teaching staff for the Prize for Excellence in Teaching awarded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts. The Students’ Representatives select the candidates that the President of the University then nominates. The prize honors the work of the best teachers at state universities in Bavaria and is worth 5000 euros. Teaching staff who have demonstrated excellence in teaching for at least two academic years at a university in Bavaria are eligible to be nominated for the prize.

Further information

Prof. Dr. Mario Liebensteiner
mario.liebensteiner@fau.de

Katharina Oft
katharina.oft@fau.de