HomeNews2018: Rise & Shine UT New Year's breakfast and UT in the Media Award

2018: Rise & Shine UT New Year's breakfast and UT in the Media Award

“The year that is behind us, was a very good year for the University of Twente. The study programmes ranked high, leading to the qualification Best Technical University. De UT is number one, when it comes to entrepreneurship and societal impact. Students did great in several international competitions. Others received a prestigious grant, published work in a high-impact journal, got a lot of media attention, started a company or got positive feedback on their work. All these individual highlights together shape the success of the university as a whole”, said Victor van der Chijs during the UT-New Year’s breakfast in the Vrijhof on the UT-Campus.

“At the same time we celebrated these successes in 2017, we were doing a major renovation of our own organization. Many of you were involved in this. We did this to be better prepared for the demands of society, to be more competitive in funding. Can we reach these ambitions, just by changing a structure? Well, in fact, no. We will need more than that. The bottom line is that in a new organization, every UT employee will have more room to flourish and excel, to take initiative and responsibility. We made an animation showing how we see this."

Over 1.000 guests attended the New Year’s breakfast meeting in the Vrijhof, which had a packed programme with among others the UT-musicians Peter-Paul Verbeek (vocals and keys), Guus Rijnders (guitar) and Stefano Stramigioli (drums). Afterwards, the traditional UT gadget was handed out: a sporty, warm hat!

Be good and tell it

As has become a tradition, the UT in the Media-awards are being presented at the New Year’s Meeting. It’s an award for researches who have made an impact in the media with their work. Frank Leferink (1st), Hans Heerkens (2nd) and Marcel Boogers (3rd) picked up the staff awards for their achievements. The award of Boogers was received by his PhD student Franziska Eckhardt. Solar Team Twente, who came in fifth in 2017’s World Solar Challenge won the competition for students and Festus Ihwagi won the PhD-category. The UT in the Social Media award went to Pim Fij.

drs. J.G.M. van den Elshout (Janneke)
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