Post by University of Groningen

We are proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Ben Feringa Impact Award: Oleksandra Ivashchenko and Thijs van der Laan. Congratulations! 🎉 Ivaschenko (UMCG) won the award in the researcher category for her project “Revolutionizing Pediatric and Prenatal Cancer Imaging: 90% Dose Reduction with Total-Body PET/CT” that focuses on making PET/CT imaging safer for children with cancer and other serious diseases. The jury praises Sasha Ivashchenko's ability to clearly articulate why her method outperforms existing practices. Van der Laan (Faculty of Science and Engineering - University of Groningen) was presented with the award in the student category for his project “AI-phasia: Next-Word Prediction for Pauses and Paraphasias in Agrammatic Anomic Aphasic Speech Using Unidirectional Large Language Models” that focuses on AI-assisted communication for people with aphasia. The jury is impressed by how the positive impact of AI is illustrated, demonstrating just how innovative and valuable this technology can be. The prize money for the student category is financed by the Ubbo Emmius Fonds. The jury consisted of Francesco Picchioni, Bettina van Hoven, Lana Fahham, Joost van Egmond and Nienke Homan. Would you like to know more about the recipients and the award itself? Click the link below 👇 https://lnkd.in/eA2ejkWh Photo by Pjotr Wiese 📸 #BFIA #BenFeringaImpactAward #2026 #AI #artificialintelligence #cancer #imaging #rijksuniversiteitgroningen #universityofgroningen