Elke Heinrich-Pendl honoured with Josef Krainer Prize
Elke Heinrich-Pendl, former Institute research fellow, has received the Josef Krainer Prize for her post-doctoral dissertation (Habilitationsschrift). The award is bestowed each year for exceptional academic performance based on international criteria. The Austrian association – the Josef Krainer-Steirische Gedenkwerk – is thereby honouring the work of the researcher for a second time, having previously awarded her with a Josef Krainer Prize for her doctoral dissertation.
In her post-doctoral dissertation “Kollegialorgane in Kapitalgesellschaften – Binnenorganisation von Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat in der Aktiengesellschaft” [Collegial Bodies in Stock Corporations – The Internal Organization of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board], Heinrich-Pendl identifies, explores, and contextualizes the various facets of the internal relationship within and between the board of directors and the supervisory board. The two company organs illustrate pars pro toto the typical problems that arise specifically from an organizational structure featuring collegial bodies. In addition to relying on doctrinal analysis, the study is complemented by its broad historical perspective, comparative legal observations, and findings from social psychology research on (small) group behaviour.
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Elke Heinrich-Pendl studied law at the University of Graz, where in 2013 she was awarded her doctoral degree with distinction. Her dissertation, honoured with the Award of Excellence bestowed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research as well as the Wolf Theiss Award, examined the role of creditworthiness assessments in Austrian and German consumer credit law. From 2013 to 2023 she conducted research at the Institute, where she also staffed the desk on Austria. She taught at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg from 2017 to 2021 and subsequently served as acting professor at the both the Universities of Mainz and Bonn. At present she is interim Professor of Civil Law, German, European and International Business Law at the Law Faculty of Leipzig University.
Image: © Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law / Johanna Detering