The German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA) has awarded two prizes recognizing outstanding contributions to global health research and practice. Dr. Hannah Strohmeier received the prize for her research on the links between racism and mental health in humanitarian settings, particularly for her innovative approach to research communication through the documentary film Colour, which she directed and filmed in Kenya as part of her project. An equally-weighted prize went to Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb and Dr. Maham Saleem from the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, on behalf of their extended team, for taking a community-based approach to digitally adapting a WHO intervention for lay health workers in Pakistan. The resulting intervention reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety and holds promise for wider use in low-resource settings.
A Prize Jury composed of GLOHRA’s Steering Committee members pre-selected five projects to pitch at GLOHRA’s annual symposium, GLOHRA Day 2025, with the two winners decided by an audience vote. In their pitches, all five prize nominated teams delivered persuasive evidence that collaboration leads to real-world impact. Read the press release with highlights from the award ceremony.
The prize seeks to recognize GLOHRA projects that demonstrate exceptional contributions to global health research, with a focus on:
- Interdisciplinary and/or Cross-Sector Collaboration: Projects that successfully integrate knowledge, methods, and expertise across multiple disciplines to address complex global health challenges.
- Advancing Equity in Partnerships and/or Approaches: Initiatives that foster fair, inclusive, and mutually beneficial collaborations between researchers, institutions, or communities, particularly in low-resource settings.
- Research Communication: Recognizing projects that effectively translate research findings into accessible, engaging, and impactful communication for diverse audiences.
- Sustainable Outlook: Recognizing projects that demonstrate a commitment to sustainable approaches in terms of longevity of project outputs and/or environmental considerations.
- Capacity-Building for Early Career Researcher(s): Recognizing efforts that empower and support emerging global health researchers through mentorship, training, or leadership opportunities.
GLOHRA Prize Nominees 2025
IndoCerCa: Community Cervical Cancer Screening and Prevention in Indonesia
Project type: Cross-sector project
Focus: Sustainable Outlook
Team: Prof. Dr. Jörg Haier (Rostock University Medicine), Dr. Supriyatiningsih Wenang (Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta), Sri Sundari (Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta), Prof. Dr. Peter Hillemanns (Hannover Medical School), Prof. Ralph Lellé (University Hospital Münster), Detty Siti Nurdiati (Gadjah Mada University), Prof. Ova Emilia (Gadjah Mada University)
OHSSIN: Co-creating One Health workforce through health system strengthening in Western India
Project type: Partnerships for Research and Training in Health (PATH)
Focus: Excellence in Interdisciplinary and/or Cross-sector Collaboration
Team: Dr. Sandul Yasobant (Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar, IIPHG), PD Dr. Timo Falkenberg (Universitätsklinikum Bonn), Prof. Dr. med. Walter Bruchhausen (Universitätsklinikum Bonn), Prof. Dr. Deepak Saxena (IIPHG)
Racism and Mental Health: A Qualitative Study with Humanitarian Workers (Prize recipient)
Project type: Global Health Postdoc Fellowship
Focus: Research Communication
Team: Dr. Hannah Strohmeier (Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin)
RESAMP: Reducing schistosomiasis through aquaculture interventions in Madagascar: a pilot study
Project type: Interdisciplinary Pilot Project
Focus: Excellence in Interdisciplinary and/or Cross-sector Collaboration
Team: Dr. Daniela Fusco (Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin, BNITM), Dr. Ralf Krumkamp (BNITM), Prof. Amena Almes Ahmad (Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg, HAW Hamburg), Juliane Boenecke (BNITM)
WellPak: Community-based Integration of a Digital Intervention for Mental Health in Pakistan (Prize recipient)
Project type: Cross-sector project
Focus: Advancing Equity in Partnerships and/or Approaches
Team: Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb & Dr. Maham Saleem (Leibniz-Institut für Präventionsforschung und Epidemiologie - BIPS), Prof. Dr. Markus Kösters & Thomas Klein (Universität Ulm), Ramzan Salman (Ethno-Medical Center e.V.), Prof. Dr. Shamsa Zafar (Fazaia Medical College)
We thank all nominees for sharing many noteworthy milestones and concrete contributions to global health research.