Archimedes Prize awarded to 20 undergraduates
Some 20 projects carried out by undergraduate scientists from the EU and candidate countries were awarded the Archimedes Prize in Munich on 5 December. Each student received between 34,000 and 44,000 euro in prize money, aimed at helping them to kick-start their scientific careers. Launched by the European Commission in 2000, the prize promotes research among university and higher education students in Europe and was created to bridge the gap between the EU Young Scientists Contest for secondary school students and the Descartes Prize for researchers. The ceremony brought together the winners from 2001 and 2002 from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK. Director of science and society in the Commission's Research DG, Rainer Gerold, noted with satisfaction the success of both researchers from candidate countries and women researchers in the contest. In 2001, 40 per cent of the prizes went to women, a figure which increased to 50 per cent in 2002. Carsten Dewey, a 27 year old undergraduate from Münster University was rewarded for his project on navigation services for wheelchair users. Barriers and obstacles in public places restrict the mobility of wheelchair users. Travelling from place to place would be much easier for wheelchair users with location based mobile services that offer information on the environmental demands of a given route. Wheelchair users would then be able to navigate foreign cities according to their individual abilities as well as those of the wheelchair. Mr Dewey told CORDIS News that the 44,000 euro prize will be used to finance his PhD in a related subject, possibly at a different university, as well as to purchase the relevant equipment and to travel to conferences and workshops. He would like to further develop his project on wheelchair navigation, particularly the filters, allowing users to specify their abilities. The prize ceremony was held in the European Patent Office, giving young scientists such as Mr Dewey the opportunity to discuss their ideas with experts in intellectual property rights. Other projects awarded under the Archimedes initiative included studies on the structure-function relationships in nucleobase transporters, the anti-bacterial properties present in human and bovine milk, cancer therapy, DNA analysis of mood disorder treatments, making hydrogen from photocatalytic water decomposition, traffic conditions and demographic changes, hybrid systems for water management, the therapeutic potential of Aloe Vera and a prototype prosthetic hand.