About the Ben Feringa Impact Awards

Every year, the University of Groningen distinguishes the special achievements of its researchers and students in the field of knowledge utilization with the Ben Feringa Impact Awards. This prize honors researchers and students whose research pays exceptional attention to knowledge utilization. During a festive ceremony, the winners are announced and the awards are presented by none other than Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa.

Categories 

The awards are presented in two categories. One prize is awarded to a student project and one prize to a research project which is executed by UG researchers. A maximum of 4 team memes may participate in a student or research project.  

Criteria

All entries for the Ben Feringa Impact Awards are assessed by a selection committee consisting of UG researchers, UG students and employees of external partners. The selection committee tests each entry against the following criteria:

• Impact (50%): demonstrable use of knowledge in practice with significant societal and/or economic impact. The project contributes to societal challenges on a regional, national or global scale;

• Innovation (20%): the researcher or student has, on their own initiative, taken imaginative and effective steps to make a connection between science and society in a way that goes beyond standard science communication;

• Collaboration (15%): the project is the result of co-creation in which various partners, such as scientific and non-scientific staff at all stages of their careers, industry, government, NGOs and/or citizens, are actively involved during all phases of the project;

• Quality (15%): the results of the project are of a high standard and show the qualitative/quantitative value of the impact realized.

A selection committee reviews all submitted projects and selects 3 projects per category as finalists. The winners will be announced during a festive award ceremony.

Prize money and sponsors

The winning research project will receive a cash prize of €5,000, which must be used for further knowledge utilization. This prize is made possible by the Executive Board of the University of Groningen.

The winning student project will receive a cash prize of €2,500, which can be used for free use. This prize is made possible by the Ubbo Emmius Fund of the University of Groningen.

Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa 

The Ben Feringa Impact Award is named after Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa (1951). In 2016 he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of molecular machines. Feringa believes that visibility and showing what the university stands for is extremely important: “it helps to establish cooperation with the business community”.