The Jury

An international jury has been set up consisting of recognised experts from research or practice within the core themes for the Bevica Scholarship Programme: Universal design, Leave No One Behind, inclusion, disability, and the Sustainable Development Goals.


Chairman of the jury

Thomas Sinkjær
Chairman of the Jury

Dr.med. and PhD, Chairman of Bevica Fonden Board

Professor at the Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University

Secretary General of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Thomas Sinkjær is a scientist within neurosciences and technology with a focus on understanding how the brain controls our movements and how new technology can improve mobility impairments. Besides his many academic accolades, Thomas Sinkjær brings important knowledge to the Bevica Scholarship Programme from his posts in public and private research foundations. He has been the Director of the Danish National Research Foundation, the Research Director of the Villum Foundation, and the Lundbeck Foundation. Furthermore, he is a member of the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy, providing advice to the Danish Government on Danish research, both politically, strategically, and practically speaking.

Anna Königseder

Anna Königseder
Member of the jury

Director, Business Partnerships & Operations, Zero Project

Anna Königseder is the Zero Project’s Director of Business Partnerships and Operations. In this role she oversees our business outreach efforts and the development of international business partnerships. Growing up with a brother with down syndrome, she was fuelled with a passion for disability inclusion from a very early age.

Thus, after working for ten years in the private and industrial sector in Austria and internationally, Anna joined the Zero Project in 2019. As the team’s key lead on process management, she is also responsible for all operational matters, as well as the digitization effort underway at the Zero Project. Apart from that, she is also in charge of managing and coordinating all business sector related activities that bolster the Zero Project Network.

Anna Königseder graduated from the University of Vienna with a Master’s degree in Translation, and holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from the Université Paris Nanterre.

Rama Gheerawo

Rama Gheerawo
Member of the jury

Director, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art

Rama is an international figure within design, and author of the book, Creative Leadership: Born from Design. He won a Design Week ‘Hall of Fame’ award in 2019 and was named a Leader by Creative Review in 2018 and 2022. He addresses diversity across age, ability, gender and race. He is a serial innovator in the field of Universal Design having led over 100 international projects with government, business, academia and the third sector. He champions Creative Leadership, training thousands of people including over 750 civil servants. He holds visiting professorships and advisory roles globally for business, new ventures, universities, awards and initiatives including D&AD, The Valuable 500, the RSA Decolonizing panel, and the Global Disability Innovation Hub. His first solo book, ‘Creative Leadership: Born from Design’ launched in March 2022 and is available globally.

LinkedIn, Instagram: @RamaGheerawo

Photo: Ezzidin Alwan

Jens Christian Wandel

Jens Wandel
Member of the jury

Acting Executive Director, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Prior to his current position Jens Wandel was the UN Secretary-General Designate for the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund and Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Reforms. Before this he was Director of the UN Development Programme Bureau for Management Services. 

Jens Wandel has extensive experience working with international organizations with a focus on management, adaptive change and sustainable development, as well as vast knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Leave No one Behind agenda.

A Danish national, he holds a master’s degree in political science and government from Aarhus University in Denmark.

 

Jasmien Herssens

Jasmien Herssens
Member of the jury

Inclusive designer, educator, architect, researcher, and entrepreneur

Jasmien Herssens (PhD) has over 15 years of expertise in inclusive designing and engages as board member in different bodies that address inclusion, diversity and belonging. Jasmien holds a vast position at Hasselt University and took a career break in 2019 after she herself became a user expert in disabilities. This experience convinced her even more to put inclusion at the heart of her life. Empowering people by means of an inclusive environment is her motivation.

Currently, she owns her own business that facilitates inclusion and diversity by means of design and innovation strategies. For her work and attitude, she received several awards: the Cera Senior Award for Engineers with a heart for people, the Cambridge Best Paper Award, the Include013 conference Award, the National award for museums in Australia, the gold award in Universal Design at IAUD.

Per Koren Solvang
Member of the jury

Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University

Per Koren Solvang holds a PhD in sociology and is currently Professor of Rehabilitation at Department of Rehabilitation Science and Health Technology, Oslo Metropolitan University. His previous post (2001–2005) was as Professor of Sociology at University of Bergen.

Solvang has published studies on a wide variety of themes related to disability and rehabilitation. Among these are strategies applied by professionals assisting disabled people, how accident injured people manage their new life, accessibility for disabled people in the urban landscape, and user participation in research.

 

Photo: Bent René Synnevåg

Camilla Ryhl

Camilla Ryhl
Jury Secretary

Research Director at the Bevica Fonden and Head of Universal Design Hub

Camilla Ryhl holds a Master’s and a Ph.D. degree (2003) in Architecture from the Royal Academy, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. She has since then specialised in universal design and sensory qualities of architecture, as well as interpretation and implementation of Universal design as a multidisciplinary principle.  

She has 20+ years’ experience as a researcher and a teacher, e.g. as Senior Researcher and Head of Universal Design research group at BUILD Aalborg University (2006-2019), at UC Berkeley (2003-2006), where she was also a Fulbright Scholar (2000-2001) and as Professor in Universal design at Bergen School of Architecture (2010-2016).

She is regarded as a leading Nordic expert in the field of Universal Design, and is an active teacher, disseminator, and expert internationally as well as in a Nordic context.