The jury of the Mensa Fonds Awards
The Mensa Fonds Awards are presented by a very involved, diverse and independent jury.
The winner of the Mensa Fonds Impact Award is selected by the jury. For the Excellence Award anyone can nominate candidates, the jury selects three entries and chooses the winner. The winner of the Popular Award is chosen by the public from the three nominations that the jury selects from all the nominations. Everybody can vote on one of the (two or) three candidates, there is a 3 to 4 weeks voting period.
The members of the jury for the Mensa Fonds Award are:
Angela Riddering, jury chair
‘There is still so much talent that can be used’ Angela Riddering is former chair and co-founder of the Mensa Fonds. ‘There is so much unused talent among the highly gifted people. Such a shame! With the Mensa Fonds Awards we demonstrate how it IS possible to unlock and use highly gifted talent. That benefits the entire society. Talent development is also a common thread in her work. Angela works as an interim manager for the government. She does this by using more trust and fewer rules. Trust gives people the space to show and develop their talents. More about Angela can be found at www.angelariddering.nl
Fleur Besters
More or less by accident, I started an initiative in 2015 to offer young people with a passion for technology a nice place, so that their talent can be given free rein. A thinker who wants to learn to weld and a doer who discovers that there is also room for him or her in a robot team: it is about feeling welcome somewhere and being offered the opportunity to participate. In the meantime, a beautiful, social community of technicians of all ages has emerged in the Eindhoven region, to which I, as a driving force, am constantly able to connect with new people, companies and schools. These Tech Playgrounds won a Mensa Fonds Award in 2019. An unexpected recognition for the fact that you should not think in boxes, but rather through collaboration, just doing and believing in everyone’s talent, beautiful things can arise. It is wonderful to now be able to give other initiatives that appreciation as a jury member, and immediately proof that the Mensa Fonds also dares to think and do outside its own ‘box’.
Willy de Heer
Willy de Heer is an independent researcher and enthusiastic connector. Willy obtained her PhD in 2017 on the education of pupils who learn (very) easily by nature and as a result experience problems in education. Her research shows that these students face similar problems as (very) slow learners. That is why Willy founded the ANBI (not-for-profit) foundation “Knowledge Center for Easy Learners” in 2018, of which she is also chair. Since July 2020, she has also been chairing “Taskforce Development-oriented Education”. Although she obtained her doctorate from the perspective of children’s rights at the Faculty of Law/Leiden University, Willy’s roots lie in education, public administration and healthcare. She has completed courses and worked in these three areas. .
Mark Wiebes
I am married to Marijtje Mulder and we have four children. Through hassle at the boys’ schools, we discovered their and our talents. I work at the National Police as an Innovation Manager and that gives me the great opportunity to delve into many things. In addition to devising and applying new working methods and technologies that help the Police move forward, I pay a lot of attention to ethics in police work. That is important when you are dealing with powerful technology at an organization that is mandated to do a lot! Furthermore, I would like to contribute to the Police being more hospitable to gifted people: we really need them. I think the nice thing about this jury is that it values the positive, constructive aspects of giftedness. I hope for great nominations!
Mohamed Baba
Since March 1, 2020, Mohamed Baba has been chairman of the board of housing corporation “Haag Wonen”. Before Mohamed became chairman of the board of “Haag Wonen”, he was a member of the board of the Rotterdam housing corporation “Woonbron”. Mohamed is also Alliance Leader Housing and Living Environment for The Hague Southwest and within the Executive Board of “De Vernieuwde Stad” (a national platform of metropolitan corporations) responsible for the Housing Market portfolio. Since 2018, he has also been chairman of the association “Social Landlords Haaglanden (SVH)”, in which 15 corporations in the Haaglanden region work together. Mohamed also fulfills several social secondary functions.
Vision on Awards
The Mensa Fonds Awards show that the diversity in nominations from everyone who feels involved in the theme of giftedness is great. The jury has the nice task of making an annual selection and proposing nominees.
This is the method: The jury selects nominees from all the nominations, using the criteria drawn up in 2019 when the Awards program was revised:
To what extent does the person / organization make the importance of high general intelligence visible for society;
Does the person / organization show, or has developed best practices to optimally utilize very high intelligence;
The person / organization contributes to a positive image of giftedness and the social opportunities.
The distinctive character of the contribution is considered for all candidates, so that we stimulate diversity. There is also attention for the reach of an initiative and the social impact – how many people benefit from this? The jury also pays attention to accessibility, is it accessible to everyone, regardless of the size of your wallet. Diversity is another factor: do initiatives reach people from all walks of life? The jury is guided by the above criteria during the first selection. This results in a ‘long list’. We then review the total palette of nominees and whether this provides a balanced picture of the best and most inspiring things happening in the field of giftedness at the moment. We also pay attention to the geographical distribution, gender and whether, in addition to education and young people, there are also nominees who pay attention to the adult gifted person.
The result of all these careful considerations is the list of unanimously chosen nominees.