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Amsterdam Business School Amsterdam Business School

George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis Award

The George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis Award is a collaborative initiative between KPMG and Amsterdam Business School (ABS) and has been awarded annually since 2017.

The award is in honour of Dr George Molenkamp, a pioneer in business sustainability. Dr Molenkamp was a former Partner and Chairman of KPMG Sustainability Services and he was instrumental in developing the field of environmental and sustainability management and auditing. He also served as a professor at the University of Amsterdam, one of the many positions of responsibility he held in society and business. The George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis award includes a €1,000 prize sponsored by KPMG.

Merel Bonewit: Winner of the George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis Award 2024

Master's in Business Administration alumnus Merel Bonewit has won the George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis award 2024. The award was presented jointly by KPMG and the ABS for the 8th time during UvA in Carré on Friday, 27 September.

KPMG Supervisory Board member Kuldip Singh congratulates winner Merel Bonewit

Bonewit investigated the optimal locations of stroke centers by developing a model for both a high-income (Croatia) and a low-income country (Vietnam). Since strokes are the second-leading cause of death globally, the analysis has the potential to reduce the high mortality and disability rates by strokes.

Arno Kourula, professor of Business & Sustainability at the ABS and coordinator of the award committee: 'This thesis is scientifically very rigorous and practically very relevant. As such, it exemplifies the legacy of Dr George Molenkamp. Altogether this is an exemplary piece of research offering important novel insights into the field of sustainability.'

Bonewit’s thesis Optimizing Stroke Care Accessibility for At-Risk Populations was supervised by Prof. Dick den Hertog. In addition to the award, the winner also receives a €1,000 prize sponsored by KPMG. With her thesis, Bonewit has obtained her Master's in Data Science & Business Analytics.

The award committee consisted of Bernd Hendriksen (sustainability entrepreneur and lecturer at the ABS), Kuldip Singh (Member of the Supervisory Board, KPMG), Jerwin Tholen (Partner Sustainability, KPMG), and Yashi Tripathi (UvA Central Student Council, Organization & Finance Chair).

In addition to Merel Bonewit, 2 other finalists were considered for the award: Ngoc Ha Tran (Extreme Weather Events and Stock Returns in The Netherlands, supervised by Yasmine van der Straten) and Britt Volkers (The Impact of the Environmental Performance of Countries on the Likelihood of CHQ Relocations in Europe, supervised by Dr Jan Schmitt).

  • Prior winners of the George Molenkamp Sustainability Thesis Award

    Winner 2023
    Tessa Kraak: Green and Digital Attention as Mediators between Top Management Team Characteristics and Firm Performance: A Moderated Mediation Framework (supervisor Dr Taghi Ramezan Zadeh).  

    Finalists 2023
    Domenico Mannino: Impact Investors’ Decision-making Across Different Stages of Investment: An Explorative Investigation on Early-stage and Late-stage Impact Investors’ Pre-selection Investment Criteria (supervisor Ciro Esposito).

    Winner 2022
    Natalya Camilla Apopo: The covert role of accounting professionals in a jurisdictional expansion project (supervisor Prof. Brendan O’Dwyer).

    Finalists 2022
    Rick van Galen: Sexual Orientation Diversity as a Corporate Financial and Social Credibility Booster: How Anti-Discrimination Policy Changes Towards Sexual Orientation within the United States Influences Firm Performance and CSR Quality (supervisor Dr Vittoria Scalera).

    Marija Sinicaite: Corporate Culture and Green Innovation: An Empirical Study of Medical Technology Firms (supervisor Ciro Esposito).

    Winner 2021
    Willem Grefkens: Beauty and the Battered: How Aesthetic Appeal Influences Pro-Environmental Behaviour (supervisor: Dr Carina Thuerridl).

    Finalists 2021
    Laura Ghitoi: Refashioning the Fashion Industry: The Growing Digital Aftermarket and the Circularity within the Resale Revolution (supervisor: Dr Aldo do Carmo)

    Mana Reed Stutchbury: Racial Diversity in Brand Communications – The Effect of Racial Diversity on Intention To Engage And Engagement Valence on Social Media: The Role of Self-Referencing (supervisor: Dr Sadaf Mokarram Dorri)

    Winner 2020
    Giulia Casamatti: The Impact of Green Sustainability Strategies and Women Management Role on Corporate Financial Performance: the Italian Wine Industry (2019) (supervisor: Dr Federica Nieri).

    Finalists 2020
    Kathelin Doornhof: The Effects of Family Ownership on CSR Adoption: The Moderating Role of CSIR Involvement and Internationalization (supervisor: Dr Federica Nieri)

    Josefin Pellinger: Living Online: What’s the Price We’re Willing to Pay? (supervisor: Dr Andrea Weihrauch).

    Winner 2019
    Willem Davies: Legitimacy management within the international business environment: do EM-MNEs adopt a dual strategy as they try to overcome their liability of origin? (supervisor: Dr Federica Nieri).

    Finalists 2019
    Bart Verkaaik: The transition of financial audit professionals into sustainability audit professionals: The case of sustainability assurance in a Big 4 firm (supervisor: Prof. Brendan O’Dwyer).

    Tessa Werter: Does a firm’s corporate governance structure affect their corporate goodness? (supervisor: Dr Ilir Haxhi).

    Winner 2018
    Maren Heumann: Organisational justice as a mediator of the relationship between stakeholder culture and organisational citizenship behaviour (supervisor: Dr Flore Bridoux).

    Finalists 2018
    Aviv de Poel: Corporate political activity through social responsibility (supervisor: Dr Ilir Haxhi).

    Christian August Stang: Examining the income-SWB satiation point, and the potential moderating effect of income inequality (supervisor: Dr Richard Ronay).

    Winner 2017
    Suzan van Eijden: The roles of governments and NGOs in the resolution of conflicts between indigenous communities and MNEs (supervisor: Dr Ilir Haxhi).

    Finalists 2017
    Robin Britt Danielle Bouma: The influence of core-stigma on corporate social responsibility reporting (supervisor: Dr Hesam Fasaei).

    Cathelijn Lotte Raaijmakers: Internal and external environmental influences of sustainable international new venture internationalisation (supervisor: Dr Johan Lindeque).

  • Selection process and award committee

    In terms of the selection process, thesis supervisors nominate candidates which are judged for their contributions to sustainability, overall quality, practical relevance, and level of ambition. Prior award committee members have included Christof Bischofberger (Faculty Student Council, FEB/UvA), Sofiya Koba (Faculty Student Council, FEB/UvA), Berke Cavusoglu (Faculty Student Council, FEB/UvA), Arjan de Draaijer (Managing Partner, KPMG Sustainability), Bernd Hendriksen (Lecturer, Amsterdam Business School and sustainability entrepreneur), Arno Kourula (Professor of Business & Sustainability, Amsterdam Business School), Renad Mangoud (Central Student Council FEB Delegate & Treasurer), Jolande Sap (Supervisory Board, KPMG), and Melissa Wijngaarden (Faculty Student Council, FEB/UvA).

Further information

For more information about the theses or the award, please contact Arno Kourula:  A.E.Kourula@uva.nl.