On the University of Twente’s 62nd Dies Natalis, Master's in Applied Communication Science (2004) and Master’s in Applied Education Science (2005) graduate Shira van Lohuizen will be presented with the twenty-first Marina van Damme Grant. Van Lohuizen is currently working as an independent entrepreneur. In recent years, she has focused on encouraging collaboration in complex networking environments.
Shira is forty-one years of age and started her career at a health insurance company, making her way up to manager of its customer contact centre over the course of nine years. She then went on to work as a board member for the Startup Apeldoorn foundation. In 2017, she started her own business, under the flag of which she has held various interim management positions.
“In my case, collaboration in complex networking environments often concerns tackling major societal challenges, such as the energy transition, labour market shortages and healthcare innovation. Such collaborations don’t always go smoothly from the outset and that’s where I come in.”
Jury
The next step for Van Lohuizen is to further develop her leadership skills and qualities. She has a clear vision of modern leadership, which is required in contributing to the various transitions, and would like to take on a wider and more influential role in this respect. In support of her ambitions, Shira van Lohuizen would like to take a course on leadership and complexity at Comenius (affiliated to the University of Groningen).
THE MARINA VAN DAMME SCHOLARSHIP
The Marina van Damme scholarship is awarded each year to a talented female alumna from the University of Twente, and was awarded this year for the 19th time. The scholarship is awarded by the Twente University Fund and was made possible thanks to a donation by Dr M.A. van Damme-Van Weele. In 1965 she was the first woman to obtain a PhD at Twente Technical College, the institute that went on to become the University of Twente. The scholarship is intended to support the career development of a talented, ambitious, and enthusiastic UT alumna and to help her achieve new ambitions. The scholarship consists of a work by the artist Mohana van den Kroonenberg and a scholarship of €9000. This year 17 candidates had been put forward for consideration.