Felix Aiwanger awarded the Elise Reimarus Prize by the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg

The Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg has awarded Institute research fellow Felix Aiwanger the 2025 Elise Reimarus Prize for his dissertation “Jenseits der Haftung – Analyse und Kritik selbstgesetzten Vermögensschutzes” [Beyond Liability – Analysis and Critique of Self-Settled Asset Protection]. The prize was presented to him by Academy President Mojib Latif as part of the Academy's 20th anniversary celebrations in Hamburg on 16 October 2025.

With the Elise Reimarus Prize, the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg has since 2021 annually recognized outstanding book-length studies from all areas of the humanities and social sciences. The award is named after the Hamburg writer, educator, translator, and philosopher Elise Reimarus (1735–1805), a figure who is now considered one of the most important representatives of the Enlightenment in Germany.

Felix Aiwanger’s dissertation has already been awarded the German Academic Scholarship Foundation’s Lieselotte Pongratz Doctoral Prize as well as the Law Faculty Prize by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The jury for the Elise Reimarus Prize based its decision on the work’s outstanding analysis of the legal phenomenon of asset protection along with the topicality and social relevance of the topic. Aiwanger was seen to have completed an in-depth analysis of a nature never before undertaken. Also striking was his ability to present legal content in a clear and interdisciplinary manner capable of appealing to a broad, non-legal audience. The unusual and bold structure of the work was also singled out for praise. Further, by deploying a literary meta-level, the complex content was made understandable and accessible for readers.

Dr. Felix Aiwanger studied law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he conducted research at the Chair of Private Law, Private International Law, and Comparative Law and received his doctoral degree in 2023. His academic efforts have also led him to the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome and to the firm of Martin Kenney & Co. Solicitors (now MKS Law) in the British Virgin Islands. In 2023 he was a legal advisor for the State Animal Protection Commissioner at the Berlin Senate Department for Justice and Consumer Protection. He has been employed at the Institute as a research fellow since 2024.