Anna-Katharina König awarded prize in recognition of her doctoral thesis on the rules of the housing crisis
The legal scholar Dr. Anna-Katharina König has been awarded one of this year’s Deutscher Studienpreis (German Academic Award) awards from the Körber-Stiftung. After completing her doctoral degree at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), she was awarded second prize in the category “Humanities and cultural sciences”. Anna-Katharina König was awarded the prize for her doctoral thesis entitled “The rules of the housing crisis”. The prize is worth €10,000.
The rules of the housing crisis
Housing crises raise key questions about distribution. They determine who can live in desirable neighborhoods, who gets displaced, and who is offered access to social participation. Anna-Katharina König’s work demonstrates that housing crises are a global phenomenon that is often treated as a constitutional issue. Constitutions define the fundamental principles of a social order and establish the standards by which conflicts over the distribution of housing are addressed. The Basic Law has a unique feature in this regard: It leaves the rules governing the distribution of housing open. This openness is a constitutional principle that is often underestimated, but is well established in other countries. South Africa, for instance, demonstrates how constitutions can keep the design of a distribution system democratically open and yet still serve an important oversight function. Based on this premise, the work develops a new perspective on the Basic Law and on the question of who sets the rules of our housing system.
The Deutscher Studienpreis from the Körber-Stiftung
The non-profit foundation established in 1959 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Kurt A. Körber annually honors the best doctoral graduates across all disciplines with the Deutscher Studienpreis. The key criterion is the social relevance of the research: Early career researchers are encouraged to highlight the social value of their work and engage in public debate about it. One top prize of €25,000 and two second prizes of €10,000 each are awarded in each of the three sections Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, and Humanities and Cultural Studies. This year, 859 participants submitted entries.