Ina Constantin ‘26 receives the 2025 DAAD Prize

The recipient of this year’s DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) Prize at Bard College Berlin is Ina Constantin ‘26, a fourth year Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought student. This prestigious award is conferred annually to an outstanding international student who has demonstrated not only academic excellence, but has also shown strong dedication to civic and cultural engagement beyond their studies.

Ina, who comes from Romania, has demonstrated a continual, impactful commitment to community engagement, leadership, and academic distinction during her four years at Bard College Berlin on campus, in the city of Berlin, and across Europe.

Ina has co-led Open Classroom at Bard College Berlin, a project that enables community members to experience student-taught university courses in a public setting. In 2024 Ina founded the ABC House, a residential community project for Bard College Berlin students living on campus to support one another as neighbors and engaged community members. Together with the students in the ABC House, they launched FOCUS!, a series of events supported for students by students, which offers a space outside the classroom to share and discuss global issues. The series is now part of the Office of Civic Engagement.

Beyond the Bard College Berlin campus, Ina co-produced a grant-funded podcast episode for Stories from the Beauty Parlor on queer Ukrainian beauty, focused on amplifying the voices of women and LGBTQIA+ individuals living in a warzone. Ina is currently a journalist-in-residence at Romanian publication Scena9, working on a longform piece about the most recent wave of student organizing in Berlin, Belgrade, Kyiv, and Bucharest.

Her values of fostering meaningful connection, whether through journalism or community-building initiatives, has led Ina to dedicate herself to civic engagement and leadership. “Coming from a post-dictatorial society, I grew up in an environment where journalism was a democratic tool never to be taken for granted,” she says. In line with her experiences at home, a significant goal of her work in Germany has been “building the spaces and the structures [that are] careful and caring, and work towards sharing collective responsibilities, inspiring and supporting action and change.”

“I am deeply grateful for the award,” Ina says. “My work has been shaped by the environment at BCB – by like-minded peers with whom I’ve been able to build, experiment, and test new ideas, and by supportive professors and offices that have guided us and provided financial support. I especially want to thank the Civic Engagement Office, the Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network, and Student Life Office for making my college experience more meaningful and for trusting and encouraging students to believe that initiatives like these matter.”

Students are nominated for the DAAD Prize by members of the faculty. Managing Director Florian Becker awarded Ina the prize certificate on December 12, 2025. Previous recipients of BCB’s DAAD Prize include Muhammad Faraz Sadiq (2024), Christin Alhalabi (2023), Salma Houmane (2022), and Vala Schriefer (2021).

Post Date: 12-17-2025