This prize is awarded to a recent research project that combines scientific quality and innovation with significant societal value. The nomination was made by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
Olfactory Heritage: The Role of Scent in Our Culture
The research project of Inger Leemans: Scent is a vehicle for memories and a powerful means of communication. Yet, it is a topic that has been little researched, partly due to its fleeting nature. As the leader of the pan-European, transdisciplinary research project Odeuropa, Inger Leemans has ensured that scent is now taken more seriously worldwide as part of cultural heritage. By developing digital methods for "sensory data mining," more than 2.4 million historical "olfactory testimonies" in text and image have been made accessible for research and analysis.
From the jury report
With Odeuropa, cultural scientist Leemans has succeeded in bringing scent to life. A breakthrough came with an article for the prestigious American Historical Review, which advocated for 'embodied learning' and was accompanied by a scratch-and-sniff card. Thanks to the work of her team, scents from the past are being reconstructed, and we now know how the battlefield of Waterloo smelled and what the scent was of the powder used to embalm William of Orange. In collaboration with various museums, the Odeuropa team has demonstrated the value of using scent in storytelling. By innovatively making history smellable and raising awareness of scent among both heritage institutions and the general public, Inger Leemans, in the eyes of the jury, has added an exceptionally original dimension to historical research.
Seeing Without the Intervention of Eyes
Pieter Roelfsema's research project: Artificial intelligence has accelerated the field of neuroscience. A team of researchers led by neuroscientist Pieter Roelfsema is working on an innovative digital solution to "cure" blindness. They are doing this by placing a prosthesis in the visual cortex, a brain chip. Electrical stimuli generate visual perceptions, creating a form of vision through small flashes of light (phosphenes) that can be used for navigation, recognizing objects and faces, or even reading. Ultimately, Roelfsema's efforts could contribute to the partial restoration of vision for some of the 40 million people worldwide who suffer from blindness.
From the jury report
In the jury's view, this impressive work will later be recognized as the breakthrough toward enabling vision for people who have been blind with no chance of improvement until now. The jury observes with admiration that Roelfsema's socially driven work is attracting enormous interest from abroad. His research has had a remarkable impact on the field, and the implantation of the visual prosthesis developed by his team is already gaining attention from international tech companies. There are even potential applications beyond the visual system on the horizon.
Huibregtsen Prize
The Huibregtsen Prize is awarded to a recent research project that combines scientific quality and innovation with significant societal value or outreach. All public scientific research organizations in the Netherlands can nominate candidates. The jury, chaired by the president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Marileen Dogterom, has selected six research projects. The winner of this year's Huibregtsen Prize will be announced on October 7, 2024, during the Evening of Science & Society.