During the annual ESHCC Spring Lunch, the 2026 Societal Engagement Award was presented for the fourth time. The award recognises staff members who, in inspiring ways, connect their academic work with wider society and help build meaningful bridges. At the Faculty, we emphasise societal engagement as an integral part of academic excellence, rather than an additional activity.
From a strong pool of ten nominees, two winners were selected this year, each making a distinctive impact beyond the university in their own way, connecting academic work to real societal questions. The award was presented by jury member and former winner Lise Zurné. The jury further included Jacco van Sterkenburg, Marit Haven, Simona Simkute, and Mariangela Lavanga.
We are pleased to announce that this year’s ESHCC Societal Engagement Award goes to Amanda Brandellero & Janna Michael, and Tina van der Vlies, in recognition of their outstanding contributions.
Amanda Brandellero and Janna Michael receive the award for their continued work on Cultuur & Campus Putselaan (C&CP), a shared hub for transdisciplinary learning, engaged research, and community collaboration around arts, culture, and societal challenges. The vision for C&CP is to co-create a space where students, researchers, residents, and societal partners learn from one another and build meaningful, reciprocal relationships. The hub is the result of a long-term partnership between EUR, Codarts, Willem de Kooning Academy, the Municipality of Rotterdam, and in partnership with local organisations including Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie, Buzinezzclub, Stichting Bruggenslaan, Stichting Steensoep, Stichting Samen Sterk, and local networks of residents and creative collectives. Research and education at C&CP bring together participatory approaches on creative placemaking, sustainability transitions, and cultural heritage.
Amanda is one of the key initiators of C&CP’s realization and principal investigator of a Horizon Europe New European Bauhaus Lighthouse Demonstrator grant which enabled the sustainable renovation and realization of the project. Janna is working on engaged research and education within C&CP and initiated it’s first neighbourhood assembly alongside various other activities which bring together the local initiatives, students, residents, researchers and lecturers in this third space.
Tina van der Vlies receives the award for her sustained efforts to safeguard the Dutch National Museum of Education as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. As the jury states: 'Now that this unique institution, home to 150 years of educational history, is at risk of disappearing, Tina steps in not only as a scholar, but as an academic activist.' The jury further notes that, through her writing, active engagement in public debate, and efforts to bring together a broad network of scholars, she has helped draw attention to the urgency of preserving this heritage of national significance.
She publicly raised the question: what happens when a society loses its educational memory? The stakes go far beyond nostalgia. Without access to the historical record of how knowledge, worldviews, values, and power have been transmitted through education, societies risk reproducing past injustices, normalising bias, and overlooking historically marginalised voices and experiences. Preserving tangible memories - including experimental teaching machines, Nazi youth propaganda, colonial school posters, and historical textbooks - is essential for understanding the past, and for fostering critical thinking and social awareness.
Van der Vlies credits the recognition to the many individuals and sectors campaigning to protect the National Museum of Education. These efforts remain highly necessary, as the museum's future is still not secured.
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