Awards for outstanding research and high-impact research valorisation at CLS and RICH presented
On Tuesday, September 28, the awards for outstanding research and high-impact research valorisation were presented to researchers at the CLS and RICH research institutes. The awards went to, among others, a research publication on word order in Old English and a YouTube channel on the misconceptions of sign language (interpreting).
The awards for outstanding research were given to publications with a major scholarly impact on the field, achieved in 2020. At the Centre for Language Studies (CLS) the award went to PhD student Tara Struik and Prof. Ans van Kemenade for their publication On the givenness of OV word order: a (re) examination of OV/VO variation in Old English in English Language & Linguistics (read more). At the Radboud Institute for Culture and History (RICH), Prof. Hanneke Grootenboer was awarded a prize for her monograph entitled The Pensive Image. Art as a Form of Thinking, which was published in 2020 by the University of Chicago Press (read more).
The prize of 1,500 euros that accompanies the award for outstanding research is awarded to the Research Fund (FWB) of the expertise groups to which Tara Struik and Ans van Kemenade and Hanneke Grootenboer belong. The money must be used to support further research and/or the whole group.
Award for high impact research valorisation
On Tuesday, awards were also presented per research institute for successful valorisation initiatives with a clear societal impact that were realised in 2020. At CLS, doctoral candidate Aurélia Nana Gassa Gonga received the award for her YouTube channel La Tête Froide (read more), which she uses to examine misconceptions about sign language (interpreting) for a young audience. The RICH valorisation prize goes to the citizen science project Amsterdamse doodsoorzaken 1854 -1940 by Angélique Janssens and her team, in which - the causes of death of all people who died between 1854 and 1940 in Amsterdam were mapped, with the help of a large group of volunteers (read more).
This prize of also 1,500 euros is awarded to the Research Fund (FWB) of the expertise groups to which Aurélia Nana Gassa Gonga and Angelique Janssens belong.
The jury for both awards consisted of Prof. Marjet Derks (research coordinator of RICH), Prof. Rob Schoonen (research coordinator of CLS) and Prof. André Lardinois (vice dean of the faculty).
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Tara Struik and Ans van Kemenade - Award for outstanding research CLS
PhD candidate Tara Struik and professor emeritus Ans van Kemenade receive the award for their publication On the givenness of OV word order: a (re) examination of OV/VO variation in Old English in English Language & Linguistics. The article focuses on the decades-long controversy over whether Old English is an OV language (Object-Verb word order) or a VO language (Verb-Object word order). Old English exhibits a mixture of OV and VO as found in the historical stages of English and other West Germanic languages. English developed into a strict VO language; German and Dutch into strict OV languages. Struik and Kemenade's article establishes that Old English is a VO language on the basis of new arguments and a methodologically innovative and extensive corpus study. The article was accepted for publication without significant changes and makes a striking contribution to scholarship, both theoretically and methodologically. The case study in the article is the first to depict how the relationship between structure and use of language can be investigated at a detailed level, and can lead to scientific breakthroughs.
Hanneke Grootenboer - Award for outstanding research RICH
Professor of Art History Hanneke Grootenboer receives the award for her monograph entitled The Pensive Image. Art as a Form of Thinking, which was published in 2020 by the prestigious University of Chicago Press. In the publication, Grootenboer examines works of visual art (such as interior pieces, still lifes, and historic dollhouses) dating particularly from the Dutch seventeenth century. The focus is not on the historical or contextual interpretation, but on the function that these works of art fulfil in philosophical reflection. The starting point is the relationship between art history, art practice and philosophy. In the course of time these domains have grown further and further apart; Grootenboer's book looks for ways to reconnect the domains and strengthen their mutual relations. Fundamentally innovative to the research is the entirely new vision of art history. Indeed, the discipline is viewed through the lenses of the contemporary practice of artistic research. The emphasis is on the fact that works of art should be understood as forms of knowledge, which (therefore) possess the capacity to make people think. In a short time The Pensive Image has already generated a great deal of attention in both the academic and art worlds. With this book, Grootenboer not only appeals to art historians, but also to artists and philosophers.
Aurélia Nana Gassa Gonga - Award for high impact research valorisation CLS
PhD student Aurélia Nana Gassa Gonga receives the CLS Valorisation Award for her YouTube channel La Tête Froide. While sign language interpreters were prominent on public TV channels across Europe during the pandemic, Aurélia discovered persistent misconceptions about what these interpreters do and what sign language is in French media and social media. She targeted an audience of younger generations and created a series of catchy short videos that approached these misconceptions in a very positive tone. Aurélia spent the vast majority of the lockdown with her family in France, as her studio in Nijmegen was too small to both live and work at home. Despite the social isolation from colleagues, she managed to continue her research and find inspiration for these videos. She sets an example for all of us to reach out to the younger generations. The videos are now subtitled in English to make them accessible to a wider audience, the first has already been published on a special English playlist.
Angélique Janssens and team - Award for high impact research valorisation RICH
The valorisation award from RICH goes to the citizen science project Amsterdamse doodsoorzaken 1854 - 1940 by Prof. Angélique Janssens and her team. The project was completed in April 2020 after a total duration of 4.5 years. Hundreds of volunteers worked together to create a database of all persons who died in Amsterdam between 1854 and 1940. The project was carried out on the platform Velehanden.nl. The size of the data to be entered was enormous, as it involved more than 660,000 people. At the height of the project, more than 600 volunteers were involved in the work. The project team, led by Prof. Angélique Janssens, worked closely with the volunteers, through daily exchanges on the Velehanden platform, through regular meetings with lectures, but also social exchanges, and a monthly newsletter. Over the years, the project generated a lot of media attention. Janssens was interviewed on national radio a number of times. A number of newspapers and a number of special magazines had articles on the start, progress and finish of the project.