TU Dortmund PhD Researcher Attends Miss Germany Studios Awards 2026 - Advocating for Women in Deep Tech and Science
This month, Natalia Ogorelysheva, PhD candidate at the Faculty of Computer Science and researcher in the AQUA Group, attended the Miss Germany Studios Awards ceremony at the Bavaria Studios in Munich - as a former Top 15 finalist in the "Mover" category from the 2024/25 season [1]. The event has long moved away from its origins as a traditional beauty pageant, operating today under the motto "impact over evaluation, values over clichés" and serving as a platform for women who are actively shaping society and industry [2].
For Natalia, the journey to Top 15 in the Mover category was as much about self-discovery as about advocacy. Her participation was driven by a clear mission: to make pathways in Deep Tech visible for people who look like her - a migrant, a formerly single mother, a researcher in a male-dominated field, and a former Head of Lab at Fraunhofer IML. Attending the 2026 final gave her the opportunity to reflect on that journey and reconnect with a remarkable community it had created along the way.
One highlight of the evening was witnessing Amelie Reigl receive the Female Founder Award. Reigl is a PhD biologist and founder of the biotech startup TigerShark Science, which has already secured €1.5 million in pre-seed funding and focuses on cultivating human skin using 3D stem cell-derived models, with the goal of reducing animal testing and advancing pharmaceutical and cosmetics research [3]. Outside the lab, she reaches nearly half a million people on social media as @dieWissenschaftlerin, making science accessible and inspiring girls and women to pursue scientific careers [4]. Amelie's recognition on that stage was a powerful illustration of what the event now stands for: women who do not just talk about change, but build it.
References:
[1] Miss Germany - Natalia Ogorelysheva: https://missgermany.com/teilnehmerin/natalia-ogorelysheva/
[2] Miss Germany - Vom Labor auf die große Bühne: https://wuerzburgerleben.de/2026/03/06/vom-labor-auf-die-grosse-buehne-biologin-amelie-steht-im-miss-germany-finale/
[3] Falling Walls - Amelie Reigl, TigerShark Science: https://falling-walls.com/foundation/people/amelie-reigl
[4] VDI Nachrichten - Amelie Reigl alias „dieWissenschaftlerin": https://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/dossiers/frauen-in-fuehrungsposition/klug-oder-huebsch-warum-diese-wissenschaftlerin-beides-sprengt/