From making taxation understandable to exploring the memories of older people with dementia and a virtual journey through a cave: three VUB laureates are being recognised this year for their science communication. Saloua Berdai Chaouni and the duo Elvira Crois and Free De Backer are receiving a Science Communication Annual Award. Michel Maus will receive the Science Communication Career Award 2026.
The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) and the Young Academy annually present the awards to scientists who are committed to making research accessible to a broad audience. The Career Award recognises long-term commitment throughout a scientific career, while the Annual Awards honour researchers for concrete science communication initiatives.
Older people with dementia and a migration background
Saloua Berdai Chaouni receives an Annual Award for When the past is there and here!, a participatory action research project on older people with a migration background and dementia. Older people, informal carers and professional care providers worked together as co-researchers. The project brings together heritage, migration and care by drawing on the often-forgotten collective memory of labour migrants to promote more inclusive dementia care.
At its core is reminiscence, a care method in which objects, smells and other sensory stimuli are used to evoke memories. When the past is there and here! makes this method more inclusive by also giving migration histories and the associated memories and experiences a place within it. The results were translated into accessible tools for informal carers and care professionals, including a podcast. According to the jury, the project shines a light on a group that has long remained underrepresented in both research and care.
Saloua Berdai Chaouni
“Good dementia care starts with listening to the person,” says Berdai Chaouni. “That also includes someone’s migration history, memories and cultural background.” This principle is closely linked to her research. She obtained her PhD in Adult Educational Sciences at the VUB and also has a background in biomedical and gerontological sciences. Her research focuses, among other things, on older people with a migration background and inclusive elderly and dementia care. She is currently an FWO postdoctoral researcher at the VUB’s Society and Ageing Research Lab.
When the past is there and here! directly links that research to everyday care practice. By giving a place not only to the personal memories of older people, but also to the shared past of labour migrants within reminiscence care, the project aims to help informal carers and professional care providers better connect with the lived reality of the people they care for.
Free De Backer
Between science, art and heritage
Elvira Crois and Free De Backer receive an Annual Award for Cave Comic & Cave Walk, a transdisciplinary science communication project in which geologists, archaeologists, artists, a VR developer and arts educators collaborate. Through a mini comic and an immersive VR experience, visitors gain access to underground heritage sites that normally remain largely hidden. “Science communication is not only about providing explanations for us,” say Crois and De Backer. “We want to spark people’s curiosity and invite them to create their own meaning from scientific insights. By connecting science with art and interactive technology, visitors can not only learn about geological and archaeological knowledge, but also experience it.”
Elvira Crois
Crois is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the Brussels Research Centre on Innovation in Learning and Diversity (BILD). Her research focuses, among other things, on participatory art, experiential ways of learning and transdisciplinary collaboration around climate issues. De Backer is an associate professor in the Educational Sciences programme at the VUB and researches arts and cultural education, cultural participation and participatory art.
This shared interest in participation and learning through art formed the starting point for Cave Comic & Cave Walk. “Our role as educational researchers is not only about communicating research,” say Crois and De Backer. “We also see ourselves as mediators between scientific and artistic practices. By bringing researchers and artists together, new ways emerge in which people can experience and understand science.”
Michel Maus receives Career Award
VUB professor Michel Maus receives the Career Award for his many years of efforts to make taxation understandable for a broad audience. He is affiliated with the VUB’s Department of Public Law and specialises, among other things, in tax law, tax procedures, personal income tax, criminal tax law and inheritance tax.
The jury describes Maus as a pioneer who helped put public communication about taxation on the map. For more than twenty years, he has sought to translate complex tax issues for a broad audience. A striking example is the Tax Marathon, in which citizens’ tax questions are answered. Michel Maus aims to reduce the distance between taxation and the citizen. People have a right to understandable information about something that has a direct impact on their lives. In doing so, he brings a field that is usually perceived as technical and complex to a much wider audience.
In recent years, the Career Award has gone to, among others, philosopher Ignaas Devisch, virologist Marc Van Ranst and urologist Piet Hoebeke.
Vote for your favourite science communicator of 2026
The three VUB laureates will be honoured together with the other winners during the award ceremony on 16 November 2026 at the Palace of the Academies in Brussels. During the event, it will also be announced which of the Annual Award winners will receive the Young Promise in Science Communication Award. The two VUB researchers are also in the running.
Vote here (in Dutch)