He has dedicated his working life to mining and post-mining, and has cultivated international partnerships as well as the next generation of scientists: For his dedication, Prof. Jürgen Kretschmann, President of the Georg Agricola University of Applied Sciences (THGA), Bochum/Germany, has now been honoured with the Günter Fettweis Award. The prize is awarded by the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP), the world’s leading professional association for mining industry sciences, of which Prof. Kretschmann was Chair for a year in 2018 (Figure 1). The association honours active members who have made a particular specialist contribution to the SOMP with this international award. The prize primarily celebrates excellence in teaching and research which promotes mining as a scientific discipline.
The distinction is named after Günter B. Fettweis, Professor of Mining Sciences in the Department for Mining Sciences, Mining Technology and Mining Management at the Montan-universität Leoben/Austria, who passed away in 2018. In 1990, Fettweis re-established the SOMP in line with its historical predecessor and also became the first President of the re-founded society. He was considered a role model by both students and specialist colleagues thanks to his enthusiasm for his subject.
This is just one of the reasons why Prof. Fettweis and Prof. Kretschmann – the namesake of the award and its winner – have a lot in common. Both studied in Aachen, “lived and taught” mining internationally and have driven academic education in the mining sector. “I am very happy to be the first German recipient of this important honour from the most renowned academic association in mining in the world,” said Prof. Kretschmann at the award ceremony. “It is also an honour for my university. The THGA has an excellent reputation worldwide. It stands not only for outstanding practice-oriented engineering education, but is also the leading university of applied sciences in Germany in the fields of raw materials sciences and post-mining. Here, we are working together with renowned universities as equals.”
Prof. Kretschmann studied Economics at Aachen, Bochum and Dortmund and completed his doctorate in 1990 at Göttingen. His postdoctoral qualification followed in 1998 at the RWTH Aachen University in the field of Georesources and Materials Technology, where he then became a lecturer. From 1990 until 2001, Kretschmann held various positions at RAG Aktiengesellschaft. He has been Chair of the Management Board of the DMT Gesellschaft für Lehre und Bildung mbH and simultaneously President of the THGA since 2006. Prof. Kretschmann is also a member of numerous national and international specialist associations and was recently President of the SOMP (2018/19). (THGA/Si.)
