On Friday 14 November2014 for the fourth in a row the Tjeerd de Jong Award was presented. This award is a research award for an excellent student studying in the field of livestock and economics at the Wageningen University.
The award ceremony took place at the Zodiac building of the Wageningen University. That Friday afternoon the three nominees, staff of the university, the board of the foundation and guests were gathered for the ceremony.
The ceremony was opened by speeches of Professor Doctor Bas Kemp of the university and chairman of the foundation Professor Doctor Herre Kingma. They informed the audience about the procedures and the back ground of the Tjeerd de Jong Award.
The three nominees for 2014 – all of them excellent students who joined the course Master Research Cluster where they were challenged to develop their own research project – were:
- Ms. Sem Jacobs and her research project “In vivo dynamics of a developing immune response: real-time imaging of antigen uptake and immune cell trafficking in zebrafish. “
- Ms. Jerine van Eijk and her research project “Effects of early life gut microbiota on social behaviour with a focus on feather pecking in laying hens.”
- Ms. Jonna Koper and her research project “The impact of dietary proteins and exercise on the immune status in fast ageing Mice.”
The three nominees presented their own research project with verve in a pitch. In between their pitches the audience had the opportunity to ask questions to the nominees. The nominees had several questions to answer. The audience for example took great interest in the process of mice aging healthy apparently because the audience thought they could benefit personally from the results of that research project.
The quality level of the three pitches and research projects appeared very high so it took the three headed jury an unusual lengthy deliberation to choose a winner. The jury formed by Mr. Bas Kemp, Mr. Herre Kingma and Mr. Erik Meijer eventually decided to present the first price to Mrs. Jerine van Eijk. She received the symbolic cheque worth 2,000 Euros. Mrs. Sem Jacobs and Mrs. Jonna Koper were each awarded a price of 1,000 Euros taken into account the high quality of their research projects and pitches. All of the three also received the ‘koebeker’ by Royal Tichelaar Makkum and flowers. We all wish them lots of success in carrying out their research project and above all a bright future whether it is inside or outside the field of science.
Our special thanks go to the staff of the Wageningen University for the organization the Tjeerd de Jong Award 2014. Especially we would like to thank Mr. Jan van der Poel who organized the four ceremonies so far but will retire soon as staff member of the university. It is understood that follow up is ensured.
