Ruud van Sloun, Tom de Greef and Eva Demerouti are the first winners of the TU/e Science Awards
The TU/e community elects the winners of the TU/e Science Awards in three different categories on the first ever TU/e Research Day. This day, we celebrate science together.
On the very first TU/e Research Day, we celebrate science. This year, for the first time, we are presenting the TU/e Science Awards. With the awards, we are recognizing and rewarding our researchers at different stages of their careers. This is also the first year we will hand out the TU/e Science Awards. With these awards we recognize and reward our own scientists in different stages of their careers. The winners of the awards are Ruud van Sloun (exceptional uses of AI in imaging), Tom de Greef (development of a molecular computer, using DNA-technology) and Eva Demerouti (well-being and performance of employees).
Just before the award ceremony, the three new honorary doctorates were also awarded and they gave their acceptance speeches. Earlier in the day, they had spoken with Rector Frank Baaijens during a ‘college tour’ in which attendees could ask all of their questions. On the TU/e Research Day, the TU/e celebrates science with their community. This day, TU/e scientists and their research take center stage. Three different awards – each worth 15,000 euros to spend on activities to develop your scientific career – have been created:
- Young Researcher Award - promising young scientist with breakthrough research ideas
- Groundbreaking Researcher Award - scientist with groundbreaking research results
- Leadership in Excellence Award - nationally or internationally prominent scientist
Who are the nominees and the lucky winners in 2022? We’re delighted to introduce them to you!
Young Researcher Award 2022
This year’s Young Researcher Award will be presented to young, promising TU/e researchers who received their PhD between 2015 and 2020. Despite this, they are already well-known names in their field, both at TU/e and beyond. The nominees were Mauro Salazar, Rob Wolfs and Bas Overvelde, but the winner is Ruud van Sloun. Van Sloun reacts with surprise: “It’s a great feeling to be nominated, especially in this environment with so many talented people. Winning is a huge recognition, but not for me alone. I also owe this award to the contributions of the smart colleagues and students around me."
Groundbreaking researcher award 2022
For the Groundbreaking Researcher Award, notable researchers who obtained their PhD between 2010 and 2015 were sought out. For their excellent research and careers, Andreas Hülsing, Ghislaine Vantomme, Dirk Fahland and Liesbeth Janssen were nominated. Yet they just missed out on the award this year, which goes to biomedical enigeer Tom de Greef. “It’s an honor to be nominated for the award. I see it as recognition for the team of PhD students and postdocs that I’ve had the pleasure to lead for the past ten years. This team has worked extremely hard on risky and highly challenging research, which has proven to be worthwhile in the end thanks to their enormous dedication and commitment,” says de Greef in response to this.
Leadership in excellence award 2022
In the last category, the Leadership in Excellence Award, there is room for established names in science who have already earned their spurs. Panos Markopoulos and Heleen de Coninck were nominated, but the 2022 award goes to occupational psychologist Evangelia Demerouti, of the Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences departement! “I think it’s really great that my department thought of nominating me,” responds Demerouti. “It can be challenging to be recognized as a social scientist at a technical university. In any case, the award can’t make me even more enthusiastic about my research than I already am. Winning the award does give me the feeling that there is now a better balance between the effort and recognition in my work.”
TU/e Science Awards 2022
Each year, the different awards are open to different research domains and departments. This year, the Young Researcher Award could be won by scientists in the Engineering domain (the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Built Environment and an Eindhoven Young Academy of Engineering (EYAE) candidate). The Groundbreaking Researcher Award was awarded in the Science domain (Applied Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science, Chemical Engineering & Chemistry). Finally, this year’s Leadership in Excellence Award went to the Design & Management domain (Industrial Design, Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences). Built Environment alternates between the Engineering and Design & Management domains every three years.
The jury for each award consists of the rector magnificus and the deans of the departments not competing for the award.