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Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences Student Awards: awards for impactful projects

01 September 2022

Each year students and staff vote for the best projects at our Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. This year we have ten winners who not only received an award but prize money as well.

Student Award Bachelor

Anwar Almofti, student at the Electrical and Electronic Engineering study programme, won first place with his torso and leg simulator. This device simulates bleeding and detects whether the correct treatment has been applied. "During the war in Syria, I witnessed victims dying from haemorrhaging. If aid workers were better trained in treating them, they could save many more people. I am very happy that I won the Student Award Bachelor. The prize money goes to my family because they deserve it all."

Gabi Broodman, student at the Communication & Multimedia Design study programme, received the second prize: "I am an ice-skating trainer and therefore know a thing or two about exercise. Once I committed myself to healthcare, I realised that patients with stem cell therapy do not get enough exercise. They are frustrated by the small isolation room and also by the lack of information about their situation. So, I designed the Care and Treatment app that supports leukaemia patients in isolation in three ways. Information is provided to the patient throughout the treatment process, they are offered moments of exercise appropriate to their condition, and the patient is mentally supported by stories of experience from fellow sufferers."

Winnaars student awards

Water Management student, Aniss Idahmanen, won the third prize. "My project is linked to climate change. I myself live in Rotterdam-South, where many people have to deal with major social and societal problems. They don't necessarily think about the consequences of climate change. By developing the Street Climate Map, I encouraged climate awareness in the focus neighbourhoods of Rotterdam. With my Street Climate Map, I also aroused the interest of the City of Rotterdam. Rotterdam Urban Development plans to use the Street Climate Map for the major task of greening and cooling the neighbourhoods.

Student Award Associate Degree

The Student Award Associate Degree was awarded to two projects. Sophia Zobel received the award for creating a jewellery collection, and Julia Hollebrandse, Ricardo van Meggelen and Marit Jutte received the award for developing a recycled synthetic reel. 

Arts & Crafts student, Sophia, made the jewellery collection to break through patterns and ideas about the dependent, passive woman. Based on her research, she tried to link the contemporary position of women with the way women were viewed from our childhood fairy tales. Sophia's jewellery symbolises freedom of choice, autonomy, and aims to remind us of our ability to change our own lives.

Julia Hollebrandse, Ricardo van Meggelen and Marit Jutte are enrolled in three different study programmes at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Together they came up with a recycled synthetic reel. Julia: "The sustainability issue was the starting point of our project. What would be impactful? We chose the logging sector. We considered the construction sector because it is a very polluting sector. With that in mind, we then came up with a recycled synthetic reel. We can use it to make the construction sector greener. Within five years we want to replace all wooden reels in the Benelux with our recycled synthetic reels."

Winnaars student awards 2

Student Award Master and the Exceed Expectations Grant

Master's student, Elvira Nouwens, received the Student Award Master for her conduct research. Her research took place in a cardiology centre. "There, I supervised an interdisciplinary team to collaborate better, with the aim of improving the healthcare for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This increases patient satisfaction with the healthcare sector and reduces the pressure on the healthcare system because staff members take over tasks from each other. With the prize money I would like to be able to do voluntary work."

Alumnus, Luke Vermeulen, graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy. He received the Exceed Expectations Grant for his project on addressing racism in the world of football. "I did my project when I was a student. When we discuss inclusiveness, we are often aware of what is missing, but unaware of what is systematically and institutionally present. I often noticed this in environments where people have been indoctrinated with it; we therefore no longer look at it with a fresh view. Like in the world of football. When football fans become aware of racism and that we need to change, solutions emerge. That leads to opportunities and will hopefully end the polarisation."

Research Lecturer of the Year

Lecturer, Remko van der Pluijm, of Research Centre Business Innovation received the award for Research Lecturer of the Year. He came up with a way to integrate new values into economic education. "My project is about transforming economic education. Economic education goes hand in hand with the social task of contributing to society. Originally, economic education was organised on the basis of a very narrow definition of value. It was mainly concerned with making money. My research is about how we can integrate the creation of other values into education. Such as helping social cohesion and leaving a smaller footprint on the earth."