By  Nelly Sander, Dean’s Office, Technical Faculty of IT and Design. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication Photo: Xiangyun Du

The prestigious Leonardo da Vinci medal from the European Society for Engineering Education in Europe (SEFI) goes to Denmark this year, more specifically to Professor Anette Kolmos in the Department of Sustainability and Planning. It is the highest award given in Europe for work in Engineering Education. And it has been given to very few women.

In Denmark and internationally, you can hardly say Anette Kolmos without saying problem-based learning. And vice versa. Her receiving the Leonardo da Vinci Medal for her many years of work in problem-based learning is thus well-deserved. The area has been the cornerstone of her scientific career along with the establishment of research in the development of engineering programmes. She was one of the absolute prime forces behind Aalborg University in 2009 becoming home to Denmark's only UNESCO Center for Problem-Based Learning in Engineering and Sustainability – a centre that she has headed ever since.

She has thus played a very clear role for Denmark and Aalborg University in a UNESCO context, focusing on project- and problem-based learning in engineering and sustainability.

Anette Kolmos received the medal at a ceremony in Dublin on 13 September 2023, and it was of course with a big smile on her face:

The European Society for Engineering Education – SEFI – is the largest network of engineering education institutions and engineering education staff in Europe. SEFI is an international NGO (non-governmental organisation) that was established in Belgium in 1973.