Dr. Christian Ollig receives the first prize of €25,000 in the 2025 German Study Prize awarded by the Körber Foundation in the Humanities and Cultural Sciences section. In his doctoral thesis on media law, which he wrote at the Universität Hamburg and the HBI, he used the EU’s Digital Services Act to examine how people can enforce their fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, on online platforms.
The Körber Foundation awards the German Study Prize annually to the best doctoral graduates in all disciplines. The social significance of the research is particularly important.
In his thesis “EU-Plattformregulierung: weltweiter Goldstandard des digitalen Grundrechtsschutzes?” [EU Platform Regulation: Global Gold Standard for the Protection of Fundamental Rights in the Digital Age?], Christian Ollig developed a new theory for the legal implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Among other things, this law obliges social media platforms to uphold the fundamental rights of the European Charter for the first time. Christian Ollig shows that the DSA limits the power of platform operators – even outside the EU – and strengthens the rights of users.
“Who sets the standards for protecting our fundamental rights in the digital space?” asks Christian Ollig. His main concern is developing a proposal on how to bind platform companies to the fundamental rights of their users. He argues that current EU laws, particularly the Digital Services Act, are bringing about a fundamental shift in our understanding of the roles of public and private actors. The traditional separation between the state and companies is becoming increasingly obsolete in the digital world.
Christian Ollig’s theory offers a new perspective on pressing challenges, especially in regulating non-European companies, such as TikTok and X, that significantly influence public opinion in the EU. Through his research, he contributes to designing a sustainable legal framework for the digital public sphere.
The assessment model he developed provides practical guidance and significantly contributes to the democratization of the digital public sphere. In doing so, he offers a new perspective on key challenges in platform regulation.
About Christian Ollig
Christian Ollig has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the HBI since February 2025. Prior to this, he was a research assistant at the Chair of Media Law and Public Law, including its legal theory foundations, at the Faculty of Law at the Universität Hamburg, where he supported Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz in research and teaching and coordinated the work between the university and the Leibniz Institute for Media Research.
About the German Study Prize
The German Study Prize is awarded annually to outstanding young scientists in all disciplines. The Körber Foundation awards prizes totaling €135,000 for excellent dissertations of particular social significance. This makes the German Study Prize one of the most highly endowed prizes for young scientists in Germany. The patron is Bundestag President Julia Klöckner. She will present the German Study Prize 2025 at the German Parliamentary Society in Berlin in December.
Photo: Körber Foundation / David Ausserhofer