14 September 2022 Articles

Four ITM alumni win 2022 Prize for Global Research

The Province of Antwerp has been awarding students for 25 years

Four former ITM master’s students, graduates of our MSc in Public Health, MSc in Tropical Medicine and MSc in Global One Health (2021-22) have been awarded the 2022 Prize for Global Research of the Province of Antwerp. The award ceremony, preceded by a press conference, took place on Wednesday 14 September 2022.

For 25 years, the Province of Antwerp has annually awarded the Prize for Global Research. With this prize the provincial government wants to stimulate scientific research with regard to the global South. Development relevance, quality and originality of the graduation project are central assessment criteria. This year 11 students received a prize for their graduation project on global themes: four master's students at ITM, three master's students at the Institute of Development Policy (University of Antwerp), and four bachelor's students in university colleges of Antwerp: Karel de Groote, AP, Thomas More and the University of Antwerp.

Peace building, humanitarian aid in conflict areas, resilience of health systems, digitalisation linked to the SDGs, diversity in the workplace and interculturalism are the central themes of the winning graduation projects for 2022.

Mireille Colson, representative of the Province of Antwerp, awarded the prizes by emphasizing: "The Province of Antwerp has been handing the Prize of Global Research for 25 years. With this award, together with the various educational institutions as our partners, we want to emphasize the importance of the global themes in scientific research. The expertise of the students and the institutions, and the relevance of their work goes much beyond Antwerp or Flanders.”

ITM's Head of Department of Public Health, Prof Marianne van der Sande stressed the importance of the Prize for ITM and its laureates: “This Prize is an important recognition of our students’ hard work and encouragement for them and other students to create impact on global and local health. Societal relevance of excellent research and education is at the heart of ITM’s mission which we also aim to instill in our students. We’re thrilled to see their success.”

The 2022 ITM winners

Claire Julie Akwongo (Uganda) completed the MSc in Tropical Animal Health. Her thesis is entitled “Prevalence, risk factors for exposure, and socio-economic impact of peste des petits ruminants in Karenga district, Karamoja region, Uganda.”
Joseph Bahati Djoki (DRC) completed the MSc in Public Health - Orientation Health Systems and Disease Control. His thesis is entitled “Humanitarian Aid Agencies and Responsible Exit in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings. A Case Study of Zummar Project (Iraq) Médecins Sans Frontières-Switzerland.”
Amber Hadermann (Belgium) completed the MSc in Tropical Medicine. Her thesis is entitled “Genome diversity of Leishmania aethiopica from Ethiopia.”
Calvin Tonga (Cameroon) completed the MSc in Public Health - Orientation Health Systems and Disease Control. His thesis is entitled “How to Assess Health System Resilience? A scoping review.”