Winner Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs 2024
The study ‘Spieken mag niet, maar wel in het ziekenhuis’ is the winner of the eighth Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs. For the winning project, Britt Müller and Charlotte Poot from the Hospital Hero Foundation and the Leiden University Medical Center developed a game that children can play in preparation for their visit to the hospital. The prize was awarded during the ninth edition of InScience Film Festival in Nijmegen, which took place from March 12 to 17, 2024.
For their research, the winners asked children and their parents how they wanted to be prepared for their hospital visit in a good and, above all, fun way. This way they found out what children find exciting when they go to the hospital and what they would like to know at home. They used this information to create SamenSterk, a game in the Hospital Hero app. This allows children to cheat in hospital rooms at home with their parents. Children in the hospital were the first to play the game and helped to make the game even more fun.
The second and third prizes went to the research ‘Levende hersenen in het laboratorium’ by Dr. Jean-Philippe Frimat, Dr. Regina Luttge & Dr. Govert Hoogland and the research ‘Cyberboeven en cookiemonsters’ by Rolf van Wegberg.
Chosen by children
Children chose the winner via the website of Het Klokhuis (NTR). Here they could vote for the research that they found most interesting and relevant. In total, more than 8,000 votes were cast. Het Klokhuis is making an episode about the winning research. This episode will premiere during the next edition of InScience, in 2025.
Presentation during InScience 2024
The Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs was awarded on Sunday, March 17, during the ninth edition of InScience by Klokhuis presenter Janouk Kelderman. More than 300 children met the scientists during the program ‘Meet the researcher’ in the Mariënburg Library. In addition to the presentation of the prize, the Klokhuis episode ‘Papa can’t walk, but he can hop’ was shown, about the winning research of 2023. This episode will be broadcast on television on Wednesday, March 20 and can then be viewed via the Klokhuis website.
About the Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs
The aim of the prize is to introduce a broad and young audience to scientific research in the Netherlands. More than 60 studies were submitted by Dutch universities, UMCs and colleges, ten of which were nominated by the editorial staff of Het Klokhuis. The prize has been awarded for the eighth time at InScience. With this science prize, Het Klokhuis and InScience reward interesting and relevant scientific research for children from 9 to 12 years old.
Picture: Coen Koppen