Historian and Dr. Designate Nina Kleinöder won the 2015 drupa Prize. drupa recognized her for the dissertation entitled “Occupational Health and Safety in the West German Iron and Steel Industry in the 20th Century. Structures, Player and Connected Processes.” The prize was recently presented by Claus Bolza-Schünemann (CEO of Koenig & Bauer AG and Chairman of the drupa committee), Werner M. Dornscheidt (President & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf) and Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck (President of Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf) during an awards ceremony at the Industry-Club Düsseldorf (Germany).

In her award-winning work, Nina Kleinöder explores the decreasing number of work related accidents in the German iron and steel industry since the 1920s and 30s and examines the causes of this trend. She believes that this trend is not only due to technology and automation or improved occupational safety legislation and attempts to find answers to this complex background. She is tracking the accident figures from four companies in the iron and steel industry in the Rhine-Ruhr region (Hoesch, Krupp, Mannesmann and Thyssen) and reveals a complex link between in-company and external influences – as well as a combination of economic, political and human factors, ranging from voluntariness and regulation to economic reality and social expectations.

After finishing her secondary education with the German Abitur, she studied Modern and Contemporary History including German Regional History, Economic History as well as Contemporary English and American Studies at the Heinrich Heine University. In 2009 she completed her studies with a Master of Arts degree and went on to study for a Doctorate in History.

About the drupa Prize

Every year, Messe Düsseldorf awards the drupa Prize to the best doctoral thesis at the Arts Faculty of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since 1978, it has honored outstanding art/humanities dissertations produced at the Düsseldorf University and promoted their publication and distribution with prize money of EUR 6,000. The drupa Prize is awarded each year by an expert panel consisting of the President and Vice-President of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the Chairman of the drupa Committee and the President & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.