Student Award nominees announced

Psychology student Noa Duizend and Biology student Kjeld Werther are in the running for the Social Impact Student Award. Last year, Noa, a student of a Jewish background, set up the Share the Dove initiative along with another Jewish student and two students of a Muslim background. They aim to counter the polarisation surrounding the conflict in Gaza among young people through guest lectures and dialogues at educational institutions.

Kjeld has been committed to protecting the oceans for several years now. On his advice, the World Wildlife Fund recently formed a youth council. He has also been instrumental in establishing a Dutch branch of the Early Career Ocean Professionals Network Programme. This networking community provides a platform connecting young people interested in becoming professionally involved in ocean research.

Three recent graduates are in the running for the prize of Best Master's Thesis. Femke Lenderink completed her Master's degree in Medicine with a study on the extent to which parents influence the lung and heart function of children with congenital heart defects — and, therefore, their fitness. 

Bilyana Manolova obtained a Master's degree in Comparative Literary Studies using literary texts to investigate how residents of Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine experienced the transition from socialism to capitalism.

As a Master's student in Computing Science and History & Philosophy of Science, Marien Braat showed in his thesis that a computer's computational powers may not encounter limits as quickly as the famous British mathematician Alan Turing once argued. In a press release, UU states that Marien is seen by the jury as nothing less than a genius in his field. 

Margot van der Starre, the vice-president of the Executive Board, will announce the winners in the Opening ceremony of the Academic Year, which is set to take place on September 2 at Dom Church. Each of the winners will receive a certificate and a cash prize of 1,500 euros.