Dr. Helen Toxopeus wins Agnites Vrolik Award
Dr. Helen Toxopeus is the proud winner of the fifth Agnites Vrolik Award. She received the award for her research demonstrating how innovation with nature can be achieved and financed in an urban context. The award ceremony took place on Thursday 12 February.
Helen Toxopeus' research projects are about the liveability of the city, more specifically about nature in the city. Urban green is traditionally seen as a cost item on the budget in the green department. Over the past decade, Toxopeus sees a shift taking place. “Nature is seen more as a strategic investment. Nature can be the answer to all kinds of socio-economic but also cultural issues. Thinking from the future is not a cost item anymore, but mostly a solution.”
Jury report
The jury cited several reasons for the award:
- Dr. Toxopeus' research offers an innovative and socially relevant answer to the urgent question of how rapidly densifying cities worldwide, under increasing climate pressure, can be designed to be healthy, safe and future-proof.
- Dr. Toxopeus has repositioned urban nature from a cost item to a strategic investment by pioneering internationally recognised research into the financing of urban nature-based solutions, providing insight into the economic, ecological and social benefits and their funding.
- She conducts high-quality transdisciplinary fundamental research, published in leading journals, with her influential study on EU taxonomy and investments in urban nature-based solutions having had a significant impact both scientifically and socially.
- As a bridge builder between science, policy and practice, Dr. Toxopeus translates her research into concrete policy instruments and action perspectives and connects public and private parties.
Dr. Helen Toxopeus studied International Economics and Business at the University of Groningen. She then worked at ABN AMRO. She obtained her doctorate on Financing sustainable innovation at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Within the Utrecht School of Economics, she has ties to the research group Strategy, Organisation and Entrepreneurship as an Associate Professor. Besides this, she is a board member at the Sustainable Finance Lab, a Dutch think tank for a sustainable financial sector which has ties to Utrecht University.
About the Agnites Vrolik Award
The Agnites Vrolik Award was established in 2017 by the Utrecht University Fund to show that the impact of UU research is important and deserves rewarding. The prize is awarded every two years and comes with a cash prize of €25,000 (intended for extracurricular research).
Dr. Agnites Vrolik studied mathematics and physics at UU and also obtained his PhD here, in 1836. From 1854 to 1858 he was Minister of Finance. He was the first chairman of the Utrecht University Fund.