The award was announced during the Annual Work Conference of the Netherlands Institute of Government (NIG), which was held in Amsterdam on 7-8 November 2019. The 2019 winner was Prof. Bas Denters from the University of Twente, where he also supervises PLATO PhD researcher Dominika Proszowska.
The nomination procedure is organised by NIG's PhD Council, which represents all PhD members. The purpose of the award is to highlight practices of great supervision.
Bas Denters was praised for managing to tailor his supervision to the specific needs of many different students. The ability to focus on the candidate and ask what they need to finish a successful PhD project is the essence of good supervision, according to the council.
Announcing the award, the PhD council highlighted the following:
Bas was nominated by no less than seven candidates from very different backgrounds, with very different preferences when it comes to supervision. Some candidates need a safe space, whilst other thrive when being challenged with constructive criticism. [...] Bas managed to tailor his supervision the specific preferences of each candidate. Bas made a great effort to find out what each candidate needed. Sometimes, this involved sitting down to listen to presentations. Sometimes, involved was reminding people to take a rest every now and then. Bas is applauded for his great dedication to furthering the careers of young researchers, also through his work for the NIG.
The PLATO consortium is happy to have Bas as part of its team of supervisors and chimes in with the praise.
