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The AYA Recognition & Reward Awards are awarded to UvA and VU academics in the fields of Teaching, Societal Impact and Academic community support. This year, Nicos Starreveld was awarded the AYA R&R Award in the category Teaching, for improving education quality.

On 7 November 2024, the rectores of VU and UvA handed out the second AYA Recognition & Reward Awards during the inauguration of the new AYA cohort in the Hortus Botanicus. The awards are intended to reward VU and UvA academics who perform exceptionally in the fields of Teaching, Social impact or Academic Community Support. These are activities that often get insufficient recognition in academia, while they are vital for a well-functioning university. AYA would like to change this, not only by making a critical contribution to the debate on recognition and rewarding, but also by actively and directly contributing to this greater appreciation by means of these awards.

AYA has received around 50 nominations, more or less equally distributed among both universities and spread across the different faculties. For many nominees, the nomination alone seems to have energized them and constituted a genuine peer recognition. Among the three sections (Teaching, Societal Impact, Academic Community Support), the category of ‘Academic community care’ received the most nominations. Many nominations in this category highlight how the respective colleague acted generously and empathically in difficult situations, be it during the covid pandemic, during departmental restructurings or individually challenging times.

Category Teaching: Nicos Starreveld 

Nicos is lecturer at the Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics (Faculty of Science). The Jury was very much impressed by the dedication and commitment that Nicos has toward improving the quality of the education within the mathematics institute at the UvA. The nomination praised his tireless efforts in a variety of different aspects, ranging from student support, curriculum development and the design of new courses that have greatly contributed to the innovative character of the bachelor programme. Nicos has always creative ideas and he has often initiated collaborations with partners outside of the mathematics institute, such as the Nederlandse Forensisch Instituut for joint student supervision or with the Universitaire Lerarenopleiding Amsterdam for a teacher program. Finally, it was stressed in the nomination how Nicos has crucially contributed in strengthening the sense of community in the institute organizing many activities that bring together staff and students. All of these activities are way beyond the scope of his role as academic skills coordinator and we are happy that this award will help to recognize his outstanding efforts but also provide him with a platform and support to continue his transformative work in the realm of education.

Winners in the other categories

The award in the category Societal Impact was won by dr. Katja Tuma (VU) for organizing the women-only hackaton Hack4her. The award in the category Academic Community Support was awarded to dr. Abbey Steele (Political Science, UvA) for making recruitment procedures more inclusive.