With her dissertation entitled “Unbegleitet, minderjährig, Flüchtling?! Fixierungen, Ambivalenzen und Aushandlungen von ‚adult minors‘ im Europäischen Grenzregime am Beispiel Malta,” she presented an ethnographic paper that was created in close cooperation with young refugees in Malta. In her work, she outlines the significance and legal frameworks of “age” and shows how self-placement and placement by others of young refugees occur after they have arrived in Europe. After her degree in cultural and transcultural studies at the University of Bremen, Laura McAdam-Otto went on to complete her cultural studies PhD at the University of Bremen. The Augsburg Science Award honors the outstanding work of early-career researchers who have focused on the intercultural reality of present societies and the related issues and challenges in their research.