HomeNewsPatricia Reyes Benavides wins TGS award 2019
Fokke Eenhoorn

Patricia Reyes Benavides wins TGS award 2019

The TGS Award for talented and ambitious UT Master’s degree students who wish to pursue a PhD, goes to Patricia Reyes Benavides, researcher at the UT, Faculty BMS. She accepted the Award on Monday 2 September during the Opening of the Academic Year of the University of Twente. The prize awarded to Reyes consists of a cheque of 2,500 euros, which she may spend on an educational programme or exchange during her research. 

Reyes: "My research looks at the role that Internet-platforms have in shaping networks of activism across nations to address climate change. The analysis is achieved by bridging historical and philosophical approaches to reflect on the political dimension of human-technology relations. The leading questions in my research are: How can postphenomenology and global history of technology be bridged to understand the political dimension of human-technology relations? And how is the localized use of Internet platforms for establishing networks of activism shaping the global movement for climate action?"

Reyes completed her Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society master degree in July 2018. Before getting into research, Reyes worked three years as a design engineer for agricultural technologies. During her Master studies, she also worked as a columnist and contributing writer for U-Today. Reyes integrates these different experiences into her research to gain a wider perspective on the social and environmental impact of technological developments, especially those related to media and communication.

The jury was very impressed by her good presentation and how she showed enthusiasm. Furthermore Reyes proved to be thoughtful in her answers and was knowledgeable on every aspect, without trivializing flaws of difficulties. The jury also noticed she is a global citizen and developed herself from an engineer to a philosopher of science, and even took the challenge to write a column in U-Today. The jury consisted of Dr Paul van Dijk, TGS chairman, Dr Ruchi Bansal, Professor Andre de Boer, Professor Ariana Need, Professor Andy Nelson and Prof Tom Veldkamp, assisted by Dr Anne Dijkstra. This year, six students presented their research proposals to the jury in hopes of winning the award.