Rianne Kat posing with her prize, a Pawpaw tree she planted in the forest garden. Photo Arjen Buijs This new thesis award was created in memory of Birgit Elands, who worked for nearly two decades at the Forest and Nature Conservation Policy (FNP) group. Following a period of illness, she passed away in February 2022. The award is intended to reward the best theses on the relationship between humans and nature. The first awards were presented on Wednesday, 21 December.
Senior researcher Arjen Buijs taught with Elands for about a decade. “Birgit launched one of our three FNP official themes: ‘human-nature relations’. She was passionate about nature conservation and biodiversity, but also about people, family, friends, colleagues, and her students. Today we are here to congratulate two students who, like Birgit, are exploring the relationship between humans and nature.”
In total, 11 theses were submitted, from five different departments. A jury then nominated two finalists. Roxane Bradaczek wrote a Master’s thesis on the motivations of Mediterranean farmers for choosing traditional agricultural methods and landscapes. The jury praised her research for providing insights and policy recommendations on how to help farmers continue to farm in a traditional and sustainable way, at a time when the risk of intensification is always looming.
Extra special
Rianne Kat wrote a thesis on land ethics (values, ideas, and principles on how we treat the land) as a force for innovation. Based on four Dutch initiatives (a forest garden, an ecological housing estate, an organic dairy farm, and a wild harvest farm), she explored what sustainable land ethics could look like in practice and how they contribute to sustainable innovation. The jury was impressed with her thesis among other reasons because it “offers insights into the relationship between ethics and transformative processes”. In the end, both theses won an award.
Kat is happy with her award. “It helps me realize that I did a good job on my thesis. When you’re in the middle of it, you mostly see what is not working. This also feels extra special, because I personally knew Birgit. When I was a Bachelor’s student in Forest and Nature Management, Birgit was my thesis and internship supervisor. These days, I also work for FNP, the group where she worked. At the ceremony, Birgit’s wife said Birgit would be proud of me. That feels really nice.”
Plantable prizes
After the presentation, the winners relocated to the Droevendaal forest garden, together with the judges, Elands’ family and other attendees, to plant their prizes: Kat was given an Asimina Tribola, a deciduous tree also known as Pawpaw. Bradaczek got to plant a mulberry bush.
