Marina Martin has been awarded the Master's Thesis Prize from the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention (DGSMP) for her Master's thesis in the degree programme for management of social change at the Faculty of Social Sciences at HSZG. The thesis, titled “The Healthcare System Caught Between Trust and Conspiracy Theories,” was supervised by Prof. Nadine Jukschat. The thesis is an empirical study of the COVID-19 protests in Saxony. Already during the research semester of her studies, Marina Martin was part of a research group that investigated the protests. Since she originally comes from the healthcare sector, it made sense for her to continue exploring this topic.

To this end, she spent several months observing the protests and conducting narrative interviews with medical professionals from Saxony who had varying degrees of involvement with the protests.

Looking back, she finds researching the topic both challenging and enriching: “Much of what I was confronted with left me stunned and angry. There was certainly understandable criticism of some infection control measures, but also widespread trivialization of the Holocaust and a demonization of healthcare institutions. But I gained deep insights into how these beliefs developed, and for that I am grateful. It helps me better understand the world and political developments as well.”

Driven by her positive experience studying at the HSZG and the Master's thesis colloquium—which she describes as “an appreciative and encouraging setting for jointly exploring scientific questions” she has joined the DGSMP, a scientific professional association, to continue having such a framework even after graduation.