The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen and 2025 Charlemagne Prize laureate, Ursula von der Leyen, are supporting the outstanding commitment of the German Trauma Foundation with project funding of half a million euros.

This year's Charlemagne Prize winner Dr Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission) and the Charlemagne Prize are awarding €500,276.25 to the German Trauma Foundation. The award recognises its outstanding commitment to improving trauma care and protecting the mental health of children and young people – both nationally and internationally in education, research and networking. 

The prize money will primarily be used to implement two key European projects developed and personally led by ESCAP President Jörg M. Fegert: 

• Training series for Ukrainian professionals in psychosocial care
  In close cooperation with UNICEF Ukraine, the Mental Health Coordination Centre of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and ESCAP, healthcare professionals in Ukraine are receiving targeted training to better support children, adolescents and families who have been traumatised by the war. The existing online formats are being expanded and supported by international experts. The aim is to establish a sustainable, stable network of psychosocial professionals in Ukraine. 
  
  
• Child protection in the digital world
  The project responds to the increasing challenges that children and young people face through digital media – such as cyberbullying, sexualised violence on the internet and exploitative online structures. In cooperation with the German Society for Child Protection in Medicine (DGKiM), Dazugehören e.V. and the Competence Centre for Child Protection in Medicine Baden-Württemberg at Ulm University Hospital, a European guidance paper and practice-oriented e-learning modules are being developed and distributed throughout Europe via ESCAP. These measures are intended to help professionals identify digital risks at an early stage and effectively protect affected children.
   

The ESCAP Board is delighted and proud that this funding enables us to continue with our Ukraine webinar series and to carry out such important projects. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the Commission President von der Leyen, the Charlemagne Prize and the German Trauma Foundation.
 
We are grateful for the recognition Commission President von der Leyen has shown with this noble gesture towards the work of us child and adolescent psychiatrists in Europe in times of the great youth mental health crisis. 

Photo: © European Union, 2025 (Photographer: Christophe Licoppe)
From left: Michael Drechsler, Managing Director German Trauma Foundation; Prof. Dr. Thomas Prefi, Spokesperson for the Board of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen Foundation; Prof. Dr. Jörg M. Fegert, ESCAP President and past President of the German Trauma Foundation; Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President EU Commission; Dr. Jürgen Linden, Chair of the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors; Univ. Prof. Dr. med Markus Huber-Lang, President German Trauma Foundation; Ralph P. Blankenberg, Treasurer German Trauma Foundation