Award

In line with Dennie Lockefeer's vision, the funding makes it possible to award a prize each year for the best thesis on a subject related to inland navigation. The prize was created to motivate young people to conduct research in the field of inland shipping. The prize is awarded to a dissertation of high scientific value. According to Dennie Lockefeer's view, the committee also considers the social and economic relevance of the research in its assessment.

​In 2020, laureate Sana Somers won the first Dennie Lockefeer thesis prize with her master's thesis, "Floating storage of oil and oil-related products in the ARA region". 

In 2021, the Dennie Lockefeer thesis prize was awarded for the second time. Dieter Havermans impressed the committee with his thesis on the potential of electric batteries in inland shipping. The physical award ceremony of the 2020 and 2021 thesis prizes took place on the 9^th of July 2021 at Van Moer Logistics. In this way, the jury wants to recognise the contents of the master's theses and the enthusiasm of Sana and Dieter for the sector. 

In 2022, the steering committee awarded three prizes according to the partner packages. The golden prize went to Cato Van Straeten. Cato set up a legal framework for a vessel train in Northwestern Europe, focusing on contractual liability and insurance. The silver prize went to Lauren Cooreman, who studied the potential of waterways as an alternative to the truck to supply raw materials for concrete processing companies. Robbe De Wit won the bronze prize with his master's thesis on alternative fuels in inland shipping. The award ceremony took place on the 26^th of April 2022 at golden partner DP World Antwerp.

Check out some beautiful images of the award ceremonies in 2021 and the award ceremony in 2022 on our LinkedIn page! Do you want to know more about the different theses? The laureates made a short video (in Dutch) explaining what they studied with their master's theses and what the prize meant to them. The videos can be found on the LinkedIn page of the Dennie Lockefeer chair or via the following links:

• video Sana Somers 
• video Dieter Havermans
  
• ​video Robbe De Wit​
• ​video Lauren Cooreman​
• ​video Cato Van Straeten​

Dennie Lockefeer Chair meets CORE-UAntwerp

On the 6th of April 2022, thesis award winner - Dieter Havermans - visited the CORE-UAntwerp, together with Van Moer Logistics nv and the promoters of the Chair. CORE is the Center For Oncological Research. Their mission is to advance cancer treatment and to improve patient quality of life through the development of more efficient detection methods and new revolutionary therapies.

Dieter donated part of his prize money to CORE, a research project that is close to his heart. Besides this donation, Dieter, together with his colleagues at SANY Group NV, organised a fund-raising campaign and donated an additional amount to the center.

Thank you very much for these warm gifts!