Two winners receive Marina van Damme Grant 2019
On Wednesday May 13th, Delft University Fund organised the award ceremony of the Marina van Damme Grant 2019. This grant is made possible thanks to dr.ir. Marina van Damme and enables young female engineers to develop and boost their personal career. This year, the jury nominated two candidates for the prestigious award (€9,000). The result was special: both candidates were declared winner of the Marina van Damme Grant 2019.
“It was a huge challenge for the jury. The candidates were so different and at the same time equally strong in choosing their own path towards the future. One is committed to leadership for women and the other is committed to co-creating the living environment. Both candidates deal with difficult processes with different stakeholders. They work in two different worlds and that is why we have decided to declare both of them winners," says Prof. Marina van Geenhuizen, chair of the jury.
Andrea Mangel Raventos
Andrea graduated in 2016 from the Faculty of Applied Sciences, MSc Sustainable Energy Technology. She is currently halfway through her PhD at the Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE) where she focuses on large scale storage of renewable energy. During her PhD, she realised that not only technical knowledge and skills are important for the development of your career, but soft skills such as leadership and communication skills are just as important. Andrea decided to apply for the Homeward Bound programme.
Homeward Bound is a ground breaking leadership initiative aiming to promote women into decision-making positions that are affecting policy around sustainability. Women are globally under-represented in leadership positions and Andrea wants to do something about this.
The programme offers leadership and strategic skills in a strong, purposeful network. The goal is to build a global network of 1000 women in 10 consecutive years in the STEMM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine). After a challenging selection procedure, Andrea was selected in the group of 100 women who will form the 2019 cohort. “The programme includes extensive training in topics such as collaboration, visibility, and science communication skills which are very valuable for my future career”, says Andrea. With the support of the Marina van Damme grant, Andrea can now participate in this programme. Andrea: “I am honored that I won this award. It is a positive pressure to maximize my participation in the programme and I look forward to sharing this with TU Delft and the whole world.”
Hanneke Stenfert
Hanneke graduated cum laude in 2017 from the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, MSc Architecture. Hanneke is fascinated by what places mean for people and how a pleasant living and working environment is created in collaboration with designers, other professionals and its users. Hanneke: “Co-creation is more than just listening to residents; it requires professional skills to effectively and meaningfully shape co-creative processes." Hanneke’s fascination for co-creation started already in 2014 during the establishment of the design agency Open Kaart.
The agency specialises in design assignments that involve multiple stakeholders. The needs of the residents and users are always the starting point for the agency.
The field of co-creation is young and the knowledge is therefore still limited, but there are already inspiring examples of co-creative projects in the world. With the support of the Marina van Damme Grant, Hanneke will visit three international case studies. These case studies are embedded in a training programme at the DRIFT research institute. DRIFT is an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers and advisors, an independent institute under the umbrella of Erasmus University Rotterdam. It is Hanneke's ambition to build the co-creative field at the interface of theory and practice. Winning the grant enables her to take the next step in creating a meaningful living environment. Hanneke: "Winning the grant gives me the support and confirmation that I have to continue with the things I believe in"