At the EWUU Community Day 2025, the EWUU Impact Award was presented to the team behind the project “Off the Grid: Gamification”. The award was granted to Maarten Löffler (UU), Lenora Ditzler (WUR), and Tommaso Magrini (TU/e) for their innovative approach to making complex optimisation challenges tangible and engaging for a broad audience.
About the project
This award-winning initiative uses a playful, interactive game to immerse participants in real-world optimisation scenarios. Players are encouraged to reflect on goals and strategies drawn from disciplines such as engineering, agriculture and physics. Through hands-on, co-creative gameplay, participants actively engage with abstract challenges in a way that fosters equal knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary insight.
Why this project stood out
The jury praised the project’s clear objectives and strong alignment with public engagement. Its scalable design allows for adaptation across various outreach settings. The involvement of students from the Game Technology programme highlights the potential of combining education and research in creative formats. The team’s willingness to involve a professional game designer also demonstrates a realistic and committed approach to maximising impact.
De jury consisted oft: Stephanie Helfferich, project manager Public Engagement at Utrecht University, Mareike Smolka, Assistant Professor at Wageningen University & Research and board member at the Centre for Unusual Collaborations, and Helma van Luttikhuizen, project manager Community Building & Impact at the EWUU alliance.
Looking ahead
The project is set to be completed within a year (by 30 April 2026), with results to be presented at the EWUU Annual Conference on 16 April 2026 in Eindhoven.
We warmly congratulate the “Off the Grid” team on this well-deserved recognition, and we look forward to seeing the impact of their work — both within and beyond academia.
Fotocredit: Gabriela Guzmán Sanabria.