Education Research Current About VU Amsterdam NL
Login as
Prospective student Student Employee
Bachelor Master VU for Professionals
Exchange programme VU Amsterdam Summer School Honours programme VU-NT2 Semester in Amsterdam
PhD at VU Amsterdam Research highlights Prizes and distinctions
Research institutes Our scientists Research Impact Support Portal Creating impact
News Events calendar Biodiversity at VU Amsterdam
Israël and Palestinian regions Culture on campus
Practical matters Mission and core values Entrepreneurship on VU Campus
Governance Partnerships Alumni University Library Working at VU Amsterdam
Sorry! De informatie die je zoekt, is enkel beschikbaar in het Engels.
This programme is saved in My Study Choice.
Something went wrong with processing the request.
Something went wrong with processing the request.

VU Education Awards

VU attaches great importance to good and inspiring education, good and inspiring students and good and inspiring teachers.

To underline this importance, every year VU Amsterdam presents Education Awards to exceptional lecturers and students who deserve to be put in the spotlight. The finalists and winners are put in the spotlight during the VU Education Day with the Master's Thesis Award, Student Talent Award, Education Impact Award and Teacher Talent Award.

You can find more information about the VU Education Awards and a brief overview of the winners from previous academic years below. 

Are you looking for more elaborate information about the winners and finalists from the academic year 2024-2025? Consult the jury report here.

Master's Thesis Award

The Master's Thesis Award is awarded to the master student who can best argue the (potential) societal impact of his/her thesis research. Entries for the Master's Thesis Award are judged on (potential) societal impact, scientific quality and originality, relevance to the field and society, and alignment with VU values. The winner of the Master's Thesis Award receives 2,000 euros and is paired with a VU alumnus of interest to them.

Student Talent Award

The Student Talent Award is intended for students who make a special social or cultural contribution, are pioneering in their approach and are committed to the VU. A student with organisational, administrative, creative or sports talent - who can act as a role model. The winner will receive €2,000 and will be paired with a VU alumnus of interest to them. Only full-time final-year bachelor or master students are eligible, with no more than one year of study delay.

Education Impact Award

The Education Impact Award is designed to encourage and highlight (interdisciplinary or trans-faculty) teaching teams. If you have developed an educational initiative that focuses on improving the student learning process, you have a chance to win this award. If the initiative strengthens the implementation of the Institutional Plan by focusing on (1) sustainability, (2) diversity & inclusion, (3) transformative learning, (4) learning with new technology, then you will earn bonus points.

The Education Impact Award jury will select two winning teams. The two winning teacher teams will receive €15,000 each. Following the presentation, an article will appear in the VU newsletter Onderwijs op Koers. The Centre for Teaching and Learning will provide free assistance to the two winning teams in scaling up their projects.

Teacher Talent Award

The Teacher Talent Award is awarded to the best lecturer as viewed from the student population and is coordinated by the University Student Council. Lecturers are nominated by Faculty Student Councils. Both junior and senior lecturers may be nominated for the award. The winner receives EUR 2,000 to spend on teaching. The jury determines an annual theme each time and there are three categories of sub-criteria: inspiring qualities of the lecturer, commitment of the lecturer and teaching skills of the lecturer.

Overview of award winners by academic year

  • Student Talent Award

    Winner and finalists 2024-25

    • Winner: Sofia Zampedri (Master of International Business Law, Master of Law)
    • Finalist: Asmaa Elhassan (Master of Medicine)
    • Finalist: Radu Nicolae (Bachelor of Computer Science)

    Winners from previous years

    2023-24 - Lotte Witké (Bachelor of Econometrics and Operations Research)

    2022-23 - Amarylle van Doorn (Master of Medicine)

    2021-22 - Ramla Jamac (Master of Science, Business and Innovation)

    2020-21 - Yatou Sallah (Bachelor of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology)

    2019-20 - Jardo Stammeshaus (Master of Science, Business and Innovation)

    2018-19 - Dymphe Mensink (Bachelor of Law)

    2017-18 - Joyce Sombroek (Medicine)

  • Master's thesis award

    Winners and finalists 2024-25

    • Winner: Clara Luxardo, Faculty of Science
      Title thesis: Pastoral socio-ecological systems in transition - a case study in the high-altitude rangelands of Mustang Nepal.
    • Winner: Tianzheng Hu, Faculty of Science
      Title thesis: Interpretable diagnosis of Schizophrenia using Graph-based brain network information bottleneck.
    • Finalist: Jan-Hendrik Seelow, Faculty of Law
      Title thesis: Why not talk about one's own country? An analysis of factors impacting the utilization of Art. 12(4) ICCPR in Dutch domestic litigation on residence permits for long-term residents.

    Winners from previous years

    2023-24 - Charlotte Parree (Faculty of Law)

    2022-23 - Tim Mocking (Master of Bioinformatics & Systems Biology)

    2021-22 - Marie de Vries (Master of Public Administration)

    2020-21 - Leonardo Nunes (Master of Spatial, Transport and Environmental Economics)

    2019-20 - Sem Duijndam (Master of Environment and resource management)

    2018-19 - Inken Kröger (Master of Accounting and Control)

  • Education Impact Award (formerly Educational Innovation Award)

    Winners and finalists 2024-25

    • Winner: Esther Schagen's teaching team, Faculty of Social Sciences
      Project title: Let's collaborate! Practicing collaboration skills through AI-powered avatar training.
    • Winner: the teaching team of Wouter Werner and Sofia Stolk, Faculty of Law, i.c.w. Social Sciences and Religion and Theology
      Title project: Visual Evidence.
    • Finalist: the teaching team of Janina Klein, Rafael Wilms and Katie Stephenson, School of Business and Economics
      Title project: Developing professional skills through debates.
    • Finalist: Marina Bool, Faculty of Science
      Title project: Customisation within students' academic development promotes motivation and study success.

    Winners from previous years

    2023-24 - The team of Ana-Clara Cassanti, Faculty of Science.
    Title project: Diversity and Inclusion as a means of a safe learning environment within Earth Sciences and BETA programmes.

    2023-24 - Joris Koene's team, Faculty of Science.
    Title project: Digital anatomy: the anatomy lesson of the future.

    2021-22 - Jantien Stuifbergen, Faculty of Law.
    Title project: Personal and Professional Identity learning line.

    2019-20 - Marcelle Reneman, Jan Gooijer and Kaylee Zournas, Faculty of Law.

    2016-17 - Marjolein Zweekhorst and Tjard de Cock Buning, Faculty of Science (formerly: Earth and Life Sciences).

    2015-16 - Pieter van Beukering, Faculty of Science.

  • Teacher Talent Award

    Winner and finalists 2024-25

    • Winner: Geert Schenk (Faculty of Medicine)
    • Finalist: Malte Max (School of Business and Economics)
    • Finalist: John Hogan (Faculty of Social Sciences)

    Winners from previous years

    2023-24 - Atze van der Ploeg, Faculty of Science

    2022-23 - Lachezar Yanev, Faculty of Law

    2021-22 - Alexander Bijnsdorp, Faculty of Medicine / Amsterdam UMC

    2019-20 - Johan Lievens, Faculty of Law

    2018-19 - Teun Zuiderent-Jerak, Faculty of Science and Technology

    2017-18 - Beatriz Gimenez Gonzalez, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam

    2016-17 - Lidewij van Gils, Faculty of Humanities

    2015-16 - Sjirk Zijlstra, Faculty of Beta Sciences (formerly: Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences)

    2014-15 - Janneke Oostrom, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences

  • Awards from the past

    Bachelor's Thesis Award

    The Bachelor's Thesis Award was presented until 2023. Bachelor's theses that were preferably graded with a nine or higher were eligible for the Bachelor's Thesis Award. Entries were assessed on scientific quality and originality, good style and readability, and social relevance. The final theses were nominated by the faculty board. The winner of the Bachelor's Thesis Award received two thousand euros and was linked to a VU alumnus of interest to them. Below you will find the award winners up to and including 2023.

    2023 - Merel Stroes (School of Business and Economics)

    2022 - Andrew Tan (Bachelor of Information Sciences)

    2021 - Emily Kruidhof (Bachelor's in Sociology)

    2020 - Robin Weiler (Bachelor's in Computer Science)

    2019 - William Harry King (Bachelor's in Computer Science)

    2018 - Birgit Henrich (Bachelor's in Science, Business & Innovation)

    Van der Duijn Schouten Education Award

    The Van der Duijn Schouten Education Award was presented between 2015 and 2023 and was created especially for senior lecturers (as the successor to the Education Award). The lecturers were nominated by the faculty boards. The award was presented once every two years. The winner received seven thousand euros (to be spent on their own education). To be eligible for this award, a lecturer had to have been appointed to VU for at least ten years and not have been nominated before.

    The nominated lecturer was assessed on quantitative data such as course evaluations, nominations for awards and qualitative criteria. The lecturer had to have a clear vision of education and contribute significantly to didactic and content-related improvements in education. In addition, the lecturer had to present the essence of the subject area in an appealing and effective manner and have an integrated vision of the relationship between education, research and society. The lecturer had to stimulate and challenge students. Below you will find the award winners up to and including 2023.

    2023 - Yvette Taminiau, Faculty of Social Sciences

    2020 - Marleen de Moor, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences.

    2018 - Ellen Bal, Faculty of Social Sciences

    2016 - Lodewijk Smeehuizen, Faculty of Law

    Previously, the Van der Duijn Schouten Education Award was called the Education Award.

    2015 - Meindert Flikkema, School of Business & Economics

    2014 - Sonja Zweegman, VU Medical Centre

    2013 - Kilian Wawoe, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences

    2012 - Theo Doreleijers, VU Medical Centre

    2011 - Wolter Mooi, VU Medical Centre

    2010 - Ad Kerkhof, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences (formerly: Faculty of Psychology and Education)

    2009 - Erik Scherder, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences (formerly: Faculty of Psychology and Education)

    2008 - Ad Verbrugge, Faculty of Humanities (formerly: Faculty of Philosophy)

    2007 - Ronald Griessen, Faculty of Science

    2006 - Sandjai Bhulai, Faculty of Science

    KnowVU Awards

    KnowVU – VU Education Knowledge Network – was an independent knowledge network that brought together lecturers (from VU Amsterdam, VUmc and ACTA). It was an initiative of participants in the first edition of the Educational Leadership Course and lecturers who had obtained the Senior Qualification in Education (SKO in Dutch). KnowVU presented annual university incentive awards for innovative educational ideas. Below are the winners up to and including 2019.

    2019 - Carlo Ierna, Faculty of Humanities

    2019 - Danny Scholten and Maikel Wijtmans, Faculty of Science

    2017 - Trynke Hoekstra, Faculty of Science

    2017 - Knoek van Soest, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences

    2016 - Agnes Willemen, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences

    2016 - Loek van der Kallen, Faculty of Science

    2015 - Marijke Leijdekkers, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences

Maybe you were looking for this as well?

Want to know more about the VU Education Awards?

For questions about the Master's Thesis Award, Student Talent Award or Teacher Talent Award, contact secretary Kristel Struiksma.

k.struiksma@vu.nl

For questions about the Education Impact Award, contact secretaries Amrita Das and Syreen Arens (CTL).

ctlrecognize@vu.nl

Quick links

Homepage Culture on campus VU Sports Centre Dashboard

Study

Academic calendar Study guide Timetable Canvas

Featured

VUfonds VU Magazine Ad Valvas Digital accessibility

About VU

Contact us Working at VU Amsterdam Faculties Divisions
Privacy Disclaimer Safety Web Colophon Cookie Settings Web Archive

Copyright © 2025 - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam