The Jury

• Dr.med. and PhD, Chairman of Bevica Fonden Board
• Professor at the Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University

Thomas Sinkjær is a scientist within neurosciences and technology with a focus on understanding how the brain controls our movements and how new technology can improve mobility impairments. Besides his many academic accolades, Thomas Sinkjær brings important knowledge to the Bevica Scholarship Programme from his posts in public and private research foundations. He has been the Director of the Danish National Research Foundation, the Research Director of the Villum Foundation, and the Lundbeck Foundation. Furthermore, he is a member of the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy, providing advice to the Danish Government on Danish research, both politically, strategically, and practically speaking.

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• Professor, University og Copenhagen

Ulrika K. Stigsdotter is a professor in landscape architecture with special responsibilities within health design at the University of Copenhagen.

She is head of an interdisciplinary research group focusing on the interplay between humans, nature, health and design.

Stigsdotter is also responsible for the Nature, Health and Design Laboratory, which includes the Nacadia® therapy garden, the Health Forest Octovia® and Move Green (established in 2021).

• Director, Business Partnerships & Operations, Zero Project

Anna Königseder is the Zero Project’s Director of Business Partnerships and Operations. In this role she oversees our business outreach efforts and the development of international business partnerships. Growing up with a brother with down syndrome, she was fuelled with a passion for disability inclusion from a very early age. Thus, after working for ten years in the private and industrial sector in Austria and internationally, Anna joined the Zero Project in 2019. As the team’s key lead on process management, she is also responsible for all operational matters, as well as the digitization effort underway at the Zero Project. Apart from that, she is also in charge of managing and coordinating all business sector related activities that bolster the Zero Project Network. Anna Königseder graduated from the University of Vienna with a Master’s degree in Translation, and holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from the Université Paris Nanterre.

• Inclusive designer, educator, architect, researcher, and entrepreneur

Jasmien Herssens (PhD) has over 15 years of expertise in inclusive designing and engages as board member in different bodies that address inclusion, diversity and belonging. Jasmien holds a vast position at Hasselt University and took a career break in 2019 after she herself became a user expert in disabilities. This experience convinced her even more to put inclusion at the heart of her life. Empowering people by means of an inclusive environment is her motivation.

Currently, she owns her own business that facilitates inclusion and diversity by means of design and innovation strategies. For her work and attitude, she received several awards: the Cera Senior Award for Engineers with a heart for people, the Cambridge Best Paper Award, the Include013 conference Award, the National award for museums in Australia, the gold award in Universal Design at IAUD.

• Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University

Per Koren Solvang holds a PhD in sociology and is currently Professor of Rehabilitation at Department of Rehabilitation Science and Health Technology, Oslo Metropolitan University. His previous post (2001–2005) was as Professor of Sociology at University of Bergen.

Solvang has published studies on a wide variety of themes related to disability and rehabilitation. Among these are strategies applied by professionals assisting disabled people, how accident injured people manage their new life, accessibility for disabled people in the urban landscape, and user participation in research.

Photo: Bent René Synnevåg

• Deputy Resident Representative – Operations | UnitedNations Development Programme (UNDP) Kenya

Lars Tushuizen is a seasoned international development leader with over 20 years of experience driving strategic programme delivery, operational transformation, and system-wide reform across the United Nations development system. He currently serves as Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP Kenya, where he leads the alignment of country Programme priorities, including climate resilience, digital governance, and public infrastructure, with operational excellence and resource optimization and is deeply committed to promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workforce, advocating for equitable opportunities and accessible work environments as integral components of sustainable development.

Previously, Lars served as Chief of the Country Business Strategy Branch at the UN Development Cooperation Office (DCO) in New York. There, he led a global advisory team that designed and implemented business models and system-wide efficiency reforms across 131 UN country teams, contributing to over $400 million in annual cost savings and significantly enhancing collaboration across UN entities, the private sector, and academic institutions.

Lars brings a strategic, partnership-oriented approach to leadership, with a strong focus on innovation, accountability, and results. He is particularly passionate about the growing role of the private sector in sustainable development and the potential of cross-sector collaboration to deliver meaningful, lasting impact.

• Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design

Valerie Fletcher has been executive director since1998 of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD), an international designand education not-for-profit whose mission centers on the role of design insocial equity across the spectrum of ability, age and culture.   IHCD is a deep content expert inaccessibility and Inclusive Design.  Sheoversees consulting design services in eight portfolios, participatory researchand educational initiatives.

Fletcher writes,lectures, and works internationally. She generates opportunities for IHCD andhas broad oversight of all consulting and design services.  She earned a master’s degree in Ethics andPublic Policy from the Harvard Divinity School.

She’s Councilor for theInternational Association for Universal Design (IAUD) in Japan and a member ofthe Board of Trustees of the Boston Architectural College. The Boston Societyof Architects awarded her the Women in Design award in 2005. The Helen HamlynResearch Centre at the Royal College of Art in London named her InclusiveDesign Champion 2022. She served on the 2026 jury for International Union ofArchitects (UIA) Friendly and Inclusive Spaces Awards.

• Research Director at the Bevica Fonden and Head of Universal Design Hub

Camilla Ryhl holds a Master’s and a Ph.D. degree (2003) in Architecture from the Royal Academy, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. She has since then specialised in universal design and sensory qualities of architecture, as well as interpretation and implementation of Universal design as a multidisciplinary principle.  

She has 20+ years’ experience as a researcher and a teacher, e.g. as Senior Researcher and Head of Universal Design research group at BUILD Aalborg University (2006-2019), at UC Berkeley (2003-2006), where she was also a Fulbright Scholar (2000-2001) and as Professor in Universal design at Bergen School of Architecture (2010-2016).

She is regarded as a leading Nordic expert in the field of Universal Design, and is an active teacher, disseminator, and expert internationally as well as in a Nordic context.