On November 7, 2019, Prof. Aulenbacher (head of the Department of Social Theory and Social Analysis, JKU), Richard Bärnthaler, Veronika Heimerl, and Andreas Novy were honored for their work in economic journalism for their work titled: Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, and Contemporary Capitalism: "Putting the Economy in Its Place".

Prof. Aulenbacher is an expert on sociological theory and social analysis (with special emphasis on the gender dimension). She studied sociology at Saarland University, Saarbrücken and at Bielefeld University. She earned her doctorate degree at the University of Bielefeld in 1990.