Winners of the Best Practice in Teaching & Learning Award 2026 announced

This year’s Education Festival kicked off by announcing and honouring the winners of the Best Practice in Teaching & Learning Award. The aim of this award is to highlight innovative teaching initiatives that engage students and align with the University of Groningen’s educational themes. All eleven faculties nominate a course and the lecturer(s) responsible. The winners were presented with the Best Practice Award by Rector Jacquelien Scherpen.

Winner of the Best Practice Award 2026: Interprofessional education (IPE) Ward of the Faculty of Medical Sciences

The Teaching team of Marco Versluis and Heleen Helmholt from the Faculty of Medical Sciences was awarded the first place for the Interprofessional Education (IPE) unit in clinical education. The aim of this innovative teaching approach is to show the benefits of bringing together various relevant disciplines within healthcare in the context of patient care. This is achieved by having nursing, medicine and midwifery students work together within interdisciplinary clinical care.

The team used interactive ‘working conferences’ to develop this course module in collaboration with nurses, midwives and doctors. This Best Practice demonstrates the successful integration of interdisciplinary and evidence-based education.

The teaching team received €5,000 to further invest in educational innovations.

Runners-up: the Faculty of Law & the Faculty of Science and Engineering

The jury has named Michael Lerch and Clemens Mayer from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Maria Lorena Flórez Rojas from the Faculty of Law, as runners-up. Both entries incorporate gamification and serious game elements.

Michael Lerch and Clemens Mayer’s course, titled ‘Yes, Chemistry is for me!’, was designed to foster a sense of belonging among STEM students and to encourage their engagement. Firstly, diverse, often overlooked, scientific role models are integrated in all aspects of the programme. Secondly, students are offered an engaging task in which they design chemistry puzzles collectively. These puzzles ultimately form part of an escape game. Underlying Lerch and Mayer’s instructional design is the assumption that the need for belonging and engagement with one’s studies promote academic success.

Maria Lorena Flórez Rojas from the Faculty of Law has developed her Best Practice to enable her students to combine theory and practice through a serious game titled ‘You Are Hired!’. In her course, students can develop skills in communication, teamwork and problem-solving by working on a practical case study. Students are ‘hired’ as consultants by private and public, international and Dutch tech companies. The aim is for them to take on different roles, conduct analyses, devise strategies and propose tailor-made solutions to the various stakeholders. Badges and leaderboards form part of gamification elements designed to reward effort and reinforce key learning objectives. The initiative enables students to work in a professional environment that strengthens inclusivity, dialogue and mutual respect.

Both the nominees from the Faculty of Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Law each received €2,500 to invest in educational innovations within their respective practices.

It was also announced that Maria Lorena Flórez Rojas’s Best Practice has been nominated on behalf of the University of Groningen for the ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Award 2026. This gives Flórez Rojas the opportunity to attend the ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Conference 2026. This prize is awarded annually to a course or educational programme that has implemented innovative teaching and learning practices in line with the educational focus of the ENLIGHT network.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for their outstanding contributions to teaching and learning!