Thijmen Calis best student, Namkje Koudenburg writes best thesis

Third-year student of Economics and Business Economics Thijmen Calis has won the University of Groningen Aart Bosman Student Excellence Award. He was chosen from the nine winners of the GUF-100 prizes, which are awarded to the best student from each faculty. Dr Namkje Koudenburg won the Wierenga-Rengerink PhD Prizefor the best thesis. The winners were announced on Friday 3 July 2015 during the Summer Ceremony, which marks the official closing of the academic year.

Thijmen Calis

‘An extremely talented and hardworking student with an enormous interest in economic issues, in particular in developing countries.’ This is how the Programme Director of Economics and Business Economics Professor Bert Schoonbeek described Thijmen Calis. His average mark over three years was an 8.9 and he earned a 9 for his thesis. His marks were also high during his studies at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. He has a chance of graduating summa cum laude this summer.

Calis organized a successful seminar on Bitcoin and participated in a research project on the role of microfinance in India. He presented the research report at the European Microfinance Conference in Geneva in June this year.

As a result of his interest in the problems faced by developing countries, Calis volunteered for the AIESEC Kick4Ed project in Manila in the Philippines. There he taught English, mathematics and physics, and he also taught the children how to play football.

GUF-100 prizes and Student Excellence Award

The GUF-100 prizes for student excellence were first awarded in 1993 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Groningen University Fund (GUF). The prizes were awarded every five years until 2010, when the GUF and the Board of the University decided to award them every year instead. The first Aart Bosman Student Excellence Award (until 2013 the University of Groningen Student Excellence Award) was awarded in 2009 to mark the establishment of the University of Groningen Honours College. The winner is chosen from the winners of the GUF-100 prizes. Each GUF-100 winner receives EUR 2500 prize money and the winner of the Aart Bosman Student Excellence Award receives an additional EUR 2500.

Wierenga-Rengerink PhD Prize

For the first time this year, there will be a prize awarded to the best Groningen thesis: the Wierenga-Rengerink PhD prize. The prize is open to PhD students who have written the best thesis in their faculty. Each faculty chooses its own winner, and an overall winner is chosen from this group. The 2014 prizewinner is Dr Namkje Koudenburg of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences for her thesis entitled ‘Conversational Flow: The Emergence and Regulation of Solidarity through Social Interaction’.