The drupa Prize 2026 has been awarded to literary scholar Christina Slopek-Hauff for her outstanding doctoral thesis in the field of English and American Studies. With her thesis ‘Plural Psychologies: Interrogating Mental Illness in Anglophone African and African-Diasporic Fiction,’ she makes an innovative contribution to interdisciplinary literary and cultural studies.
With this prize, drupa annually supports outstanding early-career researchers from the Faculty of Arts at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
The drupa Prize, worth 6,000 Euros, was presented on 7 May 2026 during a formal ceremony at the exhibition grounds in Düsseldorf. The presentation was attended by Wolfram N. Diener, chairman of the management board of Messe Düsseldorf, Sabine Geldermann, director of the drupa Portfolio Print Technologies, Heidrun Dorgeloh, vice-rector of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Ulli Seegers, dean of the Faculty of Arts at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and her supervisor, Birgit Neumann.
Andreas Plesske, chairman of the drupa Committee, paid tribute to the award winner, “Christina Slopek-Hauff’s work exemplifies research that transcends disciplinary boundaries and brings global perspectives to light. Particularly in a time of profound transformation, including within our industry, such nuanced, intercultural approaches are crucial for understanding complex interrelationships and developing new ways of thinking.”
Contribution to literary and cultural studies
In her dissertation, awarded a summa cum laude, Christina Slopek-Hauff analyses literary texts as spaces in which dominant, often Western-influenced concepts of psychology and mental health are critically questioned and expanded. In doing so, she combines approaches from the medical humanities, disability studies and postcolonial studies.
The work demonstrates how literature helps to make diverse (‘plural’) perspectives on mental health visible and to challenge hegemonic structures of knowledge. In doing so, it makes both an academic and a societal contribution to the current debate on diversity and cultural perspectives on health.
Christina Slopek-Hauff is a literary scholar specializing in Anglophone and British literature, postcolonialism, medical humanities, and gender and queer studies. She has held positions at institutions including Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and is currently a researcher and lecturer in British Studies at TU Dortmund University.
Since 1978, Messe Düsseldorf has awarded the drupa Prize, worth 6,000 Euros, to recognize outstanding doctoral theses produced at the Faculty of Arts at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. The prize money is used to fund the publication and dissemination of the winning humanities thesis.
The award of the drupa Prize is decided by an expert panel comprising the Rectorate of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), the chair of the drupa committee and the chair of the Management Board of Messe Düsseldorf.
The next drupa will take place from 9 to 17 May 2028 at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre.
