The Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus Students
2021 Laureate of the Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus Students
Award ceremony, 29 June 2021
The 2021 Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus students was officially awarded to Katharina Wenderott (University of Göttingen, Erasmus+ exchange at the University of Granada) during a virtual ceremony held in presence of the Duke of Arenberg on 29 June 2021.
Recommendation 2021
The Selection Committee established by the Executive Board for the 2021 Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus Students is pleased to unanimously nominate Ms. Katharina Wenderott from the University of Göttingen (Germany) for this year’s award.
Ms. Katharina Wenderott spent her 5-month Erasmus exchange at the University of Granada in Spain in the academic year 2018-2019. In August 2020 she obtained a Master’s degree with distinction in Psychology from the University of Göttingen.
In her application, Ms. Katharina Wenderott has very well described the multidimensional experiences and benefits of her Erasmus stay.
She has articulated clearly about the transformative impact of the new pedagogical settings she got to know during her studies at the University of Granada: group projects, work in multicultural teams, inspirational young women as lecturers who she now sees as role models, etc
Ms Katharina Wenderott has shown that the value of the Erasmus experience is particularly significant for expanding research interests, reaching academic excellence as well as for gaining linguistic and intercultural skills. During her studies in Spain, she voluntarily selected academic subjects that were not offered at her home university such as community psychology and health psychology. This has eventually led her to write her master’s thesis on the job demands of nurses and particularly the stress that they are exposed to. Such topic has become increasingly relevant in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While studying in Granada, Ms. Katharina Wenderott completed a B2.1 Spanish course and joined the local scout group as a volunteer for full immersion. At the time of her nomination to the Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize, she was volunteering for three months at the World Centre of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in Kandersteg, Switzerland, while also preparing applications for Ph.D. studies in a field of research that is directly inspiring from her academic experience at the University of Granada: the mental health of people interacting with new technological systems.
The Selection Committee would like to congratulate Ms. Katharina Wenderott on this year’s Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize and wish her a successful career based on her European educational experience.
We should also like to commend the other nominees; the standard was very high and their testimonials also provided excellent examples of the impact of their mobility experience and academic qualities. We are pleased to recognize also the commitment to the Erasmus project of the Coimbra Group Universities where they were awarded their degrees and undertook their exchange periods of study.
Laureate article:
2020 Laureate of the Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus Students
Award ceremony, 20 October 2020
Left to right: Duke Leopold of Arenberg, Maddalena Centanni
The 2020 Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus students was officially awarded to Maddalena Centanni (University of Leiden, Erasmus+ exchange at Uppsala University) during a virtual ceremony held in presence of the Duke of Arenberg on 22 October 2020.
Award ceremony speech by the Duke of Arenberg
Award ceremony speech by the laureate Maddalena Centanni
Recommendation 2020
The Selection Committee established by the Executive Board for the 2020 Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize for Erasmus Students is pleased to unanimously nominate Ms Maddalena Centanni from Leiden University (The Netherlands) for this year’s award. Ms Maddalena Centanni spent her 6 month Erasmus exchange at Uppsala University in Sweden in 2017-2018. Shortly after graduating in February 2019 with a degree in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences from Leiden University with cum laude, she was awarded the Nijbakker-Morra Oncology Research Award 2019 in Amsterdam.
Ms Maddalena Centanni has shown that the value of the Erasmus experience was essential for her future career. The opportunities created by the European Higher Education Area allow students to develop their research interests and serve to demonstrate the power of strengthened international cooperation.
Her research internship at the host University in Uppsala enabled Ms Centanni to work with and learn from leading scientists in her field as well as to access new material and methods. The project required interdisciplinary approaches (medical and pharmaceutical) and involved her studying alongside experts from the Netherlands and Sweden. Her work resulted in impressive, highly relevant and prize-winning bio-pharmaceutical research on the dosage of cancer drugs. Her application represented a convincing argument that the international and interdisciplinary team of Dutch and Swedish researchers were crucial in enabling these results and not least in generating international interest for her project over multiple countries.
In her application Ms Maddalena Centanni articulated clearly her career trajectory gained from the Erasmus experience, namely a Dutch-Swedish PhD project. Currently Ms Centanni is a MD/PhD student both at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Uppsala. Her publications are testament to the quality and impact of her research.
The Selection Committee would like to congratulate Ms Maddalena Centanni on this year’s Arenberg-Coimbra Group Prize and wish her a successful career that builds on her European research and educational experience.
We should also like to commend the other applicants; the standard was very high and their testimonials also provided excellent examples of the impact of their mobility experience and academic qualities, as well as their commitment to the Erasmus project at the Coimbra Group Universities where they were awarded their degrees and undertook their exchange periods.
Laureate article
Maddalena Centanni (Leiden University) – Article