HomeNewsNWO Stairway to Impact Award for David Fernandez Rivas

NWO Stairway to Impact Award for David Fernandez Rivas

David Fernandez Rivas has received the Stairway to Impact Award. The award is one of five prizes that the NWO domain Science (ENW) presents this week to scientists who are an inspiration in the area of societal impact, team science, excellent science, diversity and communication.

David is an adjunct professor in the Mesoscale Chemical Systems (MCS) department of the Science & Technology (ST) faculty at the University of Twente. He is mainly known for the development of an injection technique that reduces needle usage, by making the fluid itself the needle: it is 'shot' through the epidermis at high speed. Earlier this year, David also received the prestigious Prins Friso Ingenieursprijs Engineer of 2021, granted by the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for his work on bubbles for practical uses.

“I am very happy to receive this recognition! My plan is to use the prize to empower my students and together prepare didactical material to educate students from MSc, BSc and high-school levels. Moreover, we will organize the second edition of The Future Under Our Skin.

Kickstarted in 2019, ‘The Future Under Our Skin’ (FUOS), is an international stakeholder network with funding from the National Research Agenda. FUOS has evolved into an academic-to-user network of scientists, dermatologists, cosmeticians, tattoo artists, and patient organizations. They share a dream of using skin as a platform for improving quality of life.”

In addition to David, Thomas van den Heuvel (RadboudUMC) and Toby Kiers (VU University) also received the Stairway to Impact Award, which comes with a cash prize of 50,000 euros to be used for further steps towards impact and knowledge utilisation.

Read all about the NWO domain Science Awards here.

L.P.W. van der Velde MSc (Laurens)
Spokesperson Executive Board (EB)