The Heritage Intervention Award recognises graduates whose thesis demonstrates exceptional potential to contribute to social transformation and adaptive change within the heritage field.

Alumnus Arthur Veys works at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) as a junior adviser in the movable heritage department. His research took place within an advisory project (with Frank Bergevoet and Tessa Luger) at the RCE for the Utrecht University Library (UBU). The aim of the project was to provide recommendations for an overarching heritage vision shared by the UBU and the University Museum.
“For this, I conducted research into thematic points of connection and opportunities for collaboration between the heritage managers. In addition, I carried out international research into best practices at institutions such as The Hunterian (University of Glasgow), the Pitt Rivers Museum (University of Oxford), and the Ghent University Museum. This resulted in a written advisory report concerning the integration of university collections within the curriculum and the expansion of collaboration between heritage managers across the university. I also produced visuals that clearly and thematically bring the collections together. The most important lesson from my research is that the active use of university collections is essential for the continuity and future resilience of academic heritage and its caretakers.”

Alumna Josje-Marie Vrolijk won the Heritage Intervention Award with her master’s thesis “Engaging museum visitors with the biodiversity crisis through a natural history collection.”She investigated how natural history museums can enhance public understanding of biodiversity and encourage care for nature through their exhibitions. Josje-Marie links academic theory on the human–nature relationship and the “green gap” between ideals and actions to museum practice, drawing on an analysis of ten museums and a case study at Naturalis Biodiversity Center on an exhibition in development about Suriname. In it, she examines the challenges Naturalis faces in fulfilling its ambition to become a “change agent” in a biodiversity-positive society.

View all photos of the award ceremony and the inauguration of our UNESCO Chair here.

Are you in your fourth year or a master’s student, and do you want to know how to qualify for the Heritage Intervention Prize? Click here.