The evening's first award was the Education Award, which was presented to Associate Professor Anne Opsal for her efforts in developing district-friendly nursing programmes. According to the award committee, Opsal has taken active measures to ensure continuous development of both the study programme quality and the learning environment.
Ensuring the link between theory and practice
"Opsal is a very dedicated and well-regarded educator who has devoted significant effort to developing district-friendly nursing education. She has taken active measures to ensure that the nursing programme is always up to date, while also maintaining a strong link between theory and practice, also by working as a nurse in addition to her teaching responsibilities,” according to the award committee.
The Education Award is presented annually at the University of Agder and includes a grant of NOK 100,000 to support the winner’s continued efforts.
Reaching nationwide audience
This year's Language Award was given to the team behind Vitensporten, a popular science communication effort from the Department of Physical Education and Sport. In collaboration with the university’s communications division and the newspaper Fædrelandsvennen, Vitensporten regularly publishes articles on various topics in the field. Head of Department Sveinung Berntsen Stølevik received the award on behalf of the team.
Through the network of newspapers collaborating with Fædrelandsvennen, these contributions reach a wide audience, and around 125 articles have been published 679 times in nationwide newspapers to date.
"Through diligent and proactive communication of academic topics in mass media, Vitensporten is making an exemplary contribution to the development and maintenance of the Norwegian language," according to UiA's Language Policy Committee.
The award comes with a prize of NOK 50,000, which will be used to support continued efforts in science communication.