2026
Award Recipient: Dr. Susanne Arbeiter
For her outstanding scientific work on the sedge warbler, as well as for her exceptional contributions to bridging the gap between ornithological research, applied bird conservation, and wetland conservation.
Laudation
There are moments in science when it’s about more than just data and publications. It’s about passion and the way a person observes nature. Today, I have the great honor and pleasure of honoring a woman whose work reflects precision, perseverance, and thoroughness, and who represents a generation of ornithologists who are highly competent, determined, and truly effective in advancing ornithology and bird conservation: Dr. Susanne Arbeiter.
Presentation of the 2026 Horst Wiehe Foundation Award to Dr. Susanne Arbeiter (center) by DOG President Dr. Dorit Visbeck-Liebers (right) and PD Dr. Franziska Tanneberger, laudator and honorary member of the DOG (left).
When you look at Susanne’s journey, you see a fascinating evolution and bird species with a slight penchant for the extreme. It all began with a passion for the colorful—with her master’s thesis on the bee-eater. But Susanne was soon drawn to the true challenges of fieldwork: to those species that prefer to hide rather than stand out.
In her doctoral dissertation, she focused on the corncrake. Anyone who has worked in the Lower Oder Valley knows that this landscape is as beautiful as it is unforgiving. Susanne did pioneering work there, fitting females with transmitters in fields of reed canary grass stretching to the horizon. In doing so, she demonstrated a resilience—the cooperation of both females and males left much to be desired when it came to the transmitters—that impressed us all. Fieldwork is rarely a linear process; there are technical glitches and bitter setbacks. But where others would have given up, Susanne remained persistent and ultimately led the study to success—yielding concrete insights for the better protection of females and young birds in the mowed floodplain meadows.
This perseverance brings us to her current focus: the sedge warbler. Susanne is researching this globally threatened marsh bird as a scientist in the truest sense of the word—across borders. Her
work ranges from the breeding grounds in Germany and Poland to the wintering grounds, and from the analysis of the first translocations to complex population modeling and the assessment of food availability. She is therefore a key figure for the long-term EU LIFE project LIFE4AquaticWarbler and its scientific foundation. Closely linked to this is her work at the PaludiZentrale, where scientific studies on rewetting and agricultural use in nine model regions across Germany are consolidated and centrally analyzed.
To me, Susanne embodies the strong inner desire and enthusiasm to answer crucial questions in applied conservation through robust, top-quality science. This also includes her commitment to raising critical questions—even as an outsider at first—within a close-knit community like the “Reed Warbler family”—always accompanied by an offer to help clarify these issues and overcome existing problems. She does all this with a fundamental kindness and without disparaging any views or individuals.
The German Ornithological Society is awarding Susanne Arbeiter the Horst Wiehe Prize not only for her outstanding research, but also for her tireless dedication, her consistent scientific approach, and her courage to tackle even difficult topics. Congratulations!
Mainz, September 17, 2026
Awarded by the
German Ornithological Society (DOG)
at its 159th Annual Meeting
Dr. Dorit Visbeck-Liebers
, President
; PD Dr. Franziska Tanneberger
, Honorary Member of the DOG
