Patti Valkenburg, Professor of Youth and Media at the University of Amsterdam, and a member of the NIAS Scholarship Committee, is one of the three recipients of the Spinoza Prize 2011 of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The prize carries an amount of € 2.5 million and is the highest award in Dutch academia. Patti Valkenburg has developed a unique inter-disciplinary research field on the boundaries between education, psychology and communication science. She is one of the most cited communication scientists in Europe. Her research centre CCAM, Center for Research on Children, Adolescents, and the Media, is the largest of its kind in the world. The official presentation of the monetary prize and the Spinoza statuette will take place in autumn 2011.
Patti Valkenburg was also awarded the Dr. Hendrik Muller Prize for Behavioural Sciences of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of her pioneering research on the influence of the media on children’s imagination. The prize carries an amount of € 25,000 and will be handed over to her on 12 September 2011 in Amsterdam.