Master’s student BCN Noa Schwensfeier wins GUF 100 Prize

At the UG Ceremony of Merits on July 1, previously the UG Summer Ceremony, Noa Schwensfeier has been awarded the GUF 100 Prize, making her the best student of the Faculty. Noa is a second-year Master’s student in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience (BCN) with a provisional average of 9. She was chosen by the jury of the Groningen University Fund (GUF) out of three FSE students, nominated by students and teaching staff of the faculty last spring.

The prize consists of a scholarship for study or research worth €2,500 and is annually awarded to the best student of each faculty.

Impressive study results

Noa Schwensfeier is a second year Master’s student of Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience. She previously obtained her bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Groningen summa cum laude, along with an honors track of 45 credits. Her provisional average grade for her master's so far is a 9.

Noa is renowned for possessing the unique combination of technical skills and theoretical understanding. According to the supervisor of her first master's research project – on model of the working memory – Noa's greatest strength is her ability to integrate theory and modeling. Her thesis is therefore so good that it can almost directly be submitted to a journal.

In addition to her own study programme, Noa has been very active within the master Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience. As a member of the programme committee, she made a very strong case to improve the curriculum in the field of statistics which has been taken up by the programme director of the BCN programme. In addition, Noa was part of the summer symposium committee.

Nominated by students and teaching staff

No a Schwensfeier was selected from three candidates, nominated by students and teaching staff of our faculty last spring. In total, 25 students were nominated, from which the faculty jury members chose three candidates to present to the GUF 100 jury: Sami Balahsioui (MSc Biomedical Sciences), Ondrej Belfin (MSc Ecology and Evolution) and Noa Schwensfeier (MSc Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences).

UG Ceremony of Merits

The GUF 100 prizes have been awarded during the UG Ceremony of Merits on July 1. Previously, this event was known as the UG Summer Ceremony. With the Ceremony of Merits, the UG wants to honor staff and students that made exceptional contributions to the university. Besides the GUF 100 prizes, the winner of the Wierenga Rengerink Dissertation Award, the winner of the Gratama Science Award and next year’s international alumni ambassadors were announced.