Ensign (LTZ 3 (TD)) Sietske Vredeveldt has won the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Van Hengel-Spengler Award 2016 for her research into improving the shock absorbing capacities of chairs on board Fast Raiding Interception and Special Forces Craft (FRISC).
In her research, Vredeveldt comes to the conclusion that the chairs currently used on board FRISC can be improved in several ways. The jury found she conducted her research accurately and consistently while correctly applying existing theory. According to the jury, she managed to conduct a very complete investigation in a short time, the results of which can also be used for other applications.
A FRISC as used by the Royal Netherlands Navy (by Dutch Ministry of Defense).
Presenter of the evening Jort Kelder asked Vredeveldt whether her research would also be used by other navies, to which she jokingly replied 'I hope not', indicating she would rather keep this cutting edge research to aid her 'own men and women'.
Other Nominees
In total, the jury had nominated three research projects for this year’s edition of the award. The other two nominees were:
- Ensign (LTZ 3 (TD)) Louis Elling – Research into whether the Interacting Multiple Model – Extended Kalman Filter (IMM-EKF) can be applied in tracking systems
- Roderik Vogels MSc – Research into predicting the roll motion of submarines sailing on the surface
The award was presented at the Maritime Awards Gala, which took place 31 October at Studio 21 in Hilversum in the presence of well over 800 maritime professionals.
