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SURF Onderwijsdagen
Winners SURF Onderwijsawards 2025 bring innovation from AI to robotics
With the annual presentation of the Onderwijsawards during the SURF Onderwijsdagen (this year on 11 and 12 November), we put the spotlight on innovators who use IT to take education to a higher level. The winners are nominated by colleagues and chosen by an independent jury. The 2025 edition shows how diverse and inspiring educational innovation can be, and how cooperation, vision and dedication make the difference.
Lecturer Martin Klomp of Delft University of Technology receives the SURF Onderwijsaward 2025 for his open-source robotics education programme MIRTE (www.mirte.org). With MIRTE, pupils and students at all levels, from primary school to university, can work on robotics themselves.
This is what colleagues say about Martin
"Martin has a unique balance between innovation and service. He easily connects with educators at all levels and makes education truly accessible. MIRTE's strength lies in its layered structure: that is brilliantly conceived."
Martin ensures that his open-source robotics education programme MIRTE is accessible to all levels: children are introduced to robotics by dragging and combining cubes, students work with Python, and researchers use the Robot Operating System (ROS), the international standard in robotics research. The hardware is open source and modular. This allows a simple robot of a few dozen to grow into an advanced research robot.
MIRTE is now used in primary, secondary, high school and higher education, and even at international universities. In doing so, Martin literally puts robotics within reach of every learner.
This is what the jury says about Martin
"Beautiful how he brings robotics to all levels of education and provides appropriate solutions everywhere. What Martin does is extremely valuable, he builds not only technology, but also a community."
Menno de Waal - Booster of OERs in mbo
Menno de Waal, educational innovation adviser at Graafschap College and leader of digital learning resources at Npuls, receives the award for his tireless efforts to make open and digital learning resources available to all.
With his work at both Graafschap College and Npuls, Menno has made a national impact.
He initiated the portal tgo.mbo.edusources.nl, a platform where mbo institutions can share and reuse digital learning materials. He also played a key role in the development of the learning resources covenant, which lays down agreements on the use of open and paid learning resources in mbo.
This is what colleagues say about Menno
"With passion, perseverance and energy, Menno works on digital learning resources that are accessible to everyone. He is inspired, connecting with people at all levels - from teacher to administrator. Menno repeatedly demonstrates the added value of OERs for both students and instructors."
This is what the jury says about Menno
"Menno is not only an inspired booster, but also someone who anchors OERs in policy and practice. His impact is felt nationally. Menno stands out for the way he connects institutions and activates teachers. He shows how openness, cooperation and vision together can lead to structural change in secondary vocational education."
Rik Jager - Forerunner in developing a secure AI computing environment
Rik Jager, product owner at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and Universiteit van Amsterdam is the driving force behind the development of a shielded, secure AI chat environment within his institutions - an alternative to commercial solutions like ChatGPT.
This is what colleagues say about Rik
"Rik is at the centre of education. He knows all the pioneers. Talks to them, is always available, and facilitates pioneers. At the same time, Rik works closely with policy departments and administrators to arrive at structural solutions."
With the introduction of UvA AI Chat and HvA AI Chat, Rik has realised an infrastructure that gives institutions themselves as much control as possible over data and privacy. This technical separation between user interface and language models allows generative AI to be deployed as responsibly as possible in education and research.
The jury called Rik a pioneer
"What Rik has developed has national impact - truly innovative and current with an eye for privacy. Rik is enthusiastic with a clear vision, and has a lot of knowledge of developments in the market in the field of generative AI."