Ulrike Hahn wins NWO Synergy ’22 Award

ResearchIN’ Comics

Traditional academic publications are often read by a specific audience. How can they be made more widely available to society? Imagine you could tell your research findings in a few images, in a visually powerful, engaging, and understandable way for your kid, your grandpa or your colleague. Imagine, this way, you could tell research findings to virtually anyone, inside but also outside the academic community, in simple and effective ways. Ulrike’s idea for making societal impact is to create a platform for academic PhD comics illustrating the results of PhD students’ publications. With this she strives to achieve making academic findings more widely available in fun and engaging ways. “ResearchIN’ Comics” can create societal impact in visually powerful and engaging ways, by reaching people who would not otherwise know about the research or who want to see research in a different way.

Synergy Award

The NWO Synergy Award is awarded every year during the Synergy event for researchers and policy developers. This award aims to provide an opportunity for PhD students to explore and present the potential impact of their research on society. The audience and an expert jury vote for the most exciting and innovative idea for societal impact. The winner receives a prize of €2500 to kick-start the development of their idea. After the event, NWO aims to connect the winner to academic and non-academic professionals who are interested in exploring the practical dimensions of the winner’s research.