13 September 2023 Articles

Four ITM alumni win 2023 Prize for Global Research

The award ceremony, preceded by a press conference, took place on Wednesday 13 September 2023.

Four former ITM master’s students, graduates of our MSc in Public Health, MSc in Tropical Medicine and MSc in Global One Health (2022-23) have been awarded the 2023 Prize for Global Research of the Province of Antwerp. The award ceremony, preceded by a press conference, took place on Wednesday 13 September 2023.

For more than 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 ten 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), one student at the University of Antwerp and two bachelor's students in university colleges: Karel de Grote and Thomas More.

Protecting human health from effects of climate change, improving healthcare including HIV, gender empowerment through cash transfer, green energy, the Philippine Bangsamoro agreement, status acquisition with a small developing country, and influencing classroom management by students and women in Congo are the central themes of the winning graduation projects for 2023.

First Deputy of Global Policy Luk Lemmens awarded the prizes, stating: "We want to stimulate students to think about global issues in times of increasing globalisation. That's why we launched the provincial Prize for Global Research. The University of Antwerp and its Institute of Development Policy, the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the university colleges Karel de Grote and Thomas More are the ideal partners for this. The unique expertise of these educational and research institutions reaches far beyond the Antwerp Province, and we want to highlight the importance of this cooperation."

“The Prize for Global Research from the Province of Antwerp is a nice recognition of the academic merit of the students and the ITM supervisors. We guide our students throughout the master's programme to embrace a system approach to international health problems. The four winning thesis projects are a nice reflection of this “one health” concept.”

Lut Lynen
ITM Director

Alumni webinars

Do you want to know more about the work of the winners? Register for one of our upcoming webinars:

Hashim Ulrich Hounkpatin
21 September, 14-15h CEST
Kehinde Okunade
05 October, 15-16h CEST
Angelique Jacobs
12 October, 11-12h CEST
Blessing Chidinma Umeigbo
16 November, 14-15h CET

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The 2023 ITM winners

Angelique Jacobs (South Africa) completed the MSc in Global One Health. Thesis: “Investigating rodents and environmental samples as possible sources of Leptospira infections in the Mnisi communal area, Bushbuckridge, South Africa.”
Hashim Ulrich Hounkpatin (Benin) completed the MSc in Public Health. Thesis: “How are health systems in sub-Saharan Africa adapting to protect human health from climate change threats?”
Kehinde Sharafadeen Okunade (Nigeria) completed the MSc in Tropical Medicine. Thesis: “Development of antepartum risk prediction model for postpartum haemorrhage in Lagos, Nigeria (Predict-PPH study).”
Blessing Chidinma Umeigbo (Nigeria) completed the MSc in Public Health. Thesis: “Impact of a Quality Improvement Intervention on Viral Load Suppression Amongst Children and Adolescents Living with HIV in Adamawa State.”