Catharina Pijls Dissertation Prize for Floor van den Brand

Floor van den Brand has won the Catharina Pijls Dissertation Prize for her ‘excellent research in the field of health sciences’.

Floor obtained her doctorate cum laude from Maastricht University in October 2020 for research into the effect of financial rewards on smoking cessation. All nine studies in the dissertation have been published in leading scientific journals, including a publication in The Lancet Public Health. Van den Brand’s smoking cessation intervention is already cited in the Netherlands National Prevention Agreement as ‘an effective intervention that can contribute to making organisations smoke-free, offering effective quit-smoking support, and reducing the number of smokers in Dutch society’.

Candidates for the Catharina Pijls Dissertation Prize are nominated by professors from all Dutch faculties of Medicine and Social Sciences. The nominations are assessed on their multidisciplinary character, scientific quality, scientific innovation and social relevance, plus the candidate’s achievements beyond the dissertation. The 10,000-euro prize is awarded biennially.

Picture: Joey Roberts

What makes Floors thesis so good? Read the interview with her for Observant. Read Floors thesis 'Financial incentives for smoking cessation'.