Graduation Ceremony of the Elite Network & Fritz and Maria Hofmann Prize
On November 25, 2025, the time had finally come. A new class of graduates was honored for their achievements by the Elite Network of Bavaria. This year, the graduation ceremony took place at the Heinrich-Lades-Halle in Erlangen. Eighteen of our 29 graduates attended and celebrated their graduation together with other graduates, relatives, friends, and program representatives. After a standing reception, the graduates were honored on stage by Markus Blume, Minister of State for Science and the Arts, and photos were taken together. Afterwards, everyone was able to round off the evening with delicious food, good conversation, and live music. Since the ceremony only takes place once a year, some graduates met again after a long time and were able to share their experiences.
About two weeks later, another very enjoyable event was the handing over of the Fritz and Maria Hofmann Prize. The Fritz and Maria Hofmann Prize is an award presented by Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nuremberg for outstanding academic work, particularly for excellent master’s theses, awarded by the Fritz and Maria Hofmann Foundation. Jonas Prokscha, who had already won the Master’s Prize for the best academic performance during his studies in the graduating class of 2024, was now also honored for his outstanding achievements in his master’s thesis.
Prof. Lars Nitschke (chairmen of the exam baord), Prof. Falk Nimmerjahn (spokesperson of the program) , and Professor Anja Lux (Professor for Integarted Immunology) were honored to hand over the prize to Jonas, who wrote his master’s thesis titled Establishment of a two-dimensional barrier model for analysis of HTLV-1 transmission at the Harald-zur-Hausen Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Erlangen.
We congratulate all of this year’s graduates and Jonas for their outstanding achievements and wish them all the best for their future.
It is always a great pleasure to meet such committed, bright, and ambitious students, and this shows us once again how successful the master’s program is.
