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Golden Spatula 2022

Winner of the Golden Spatula 2022

Mark Veen

Shining light on tomato attractiveness

This year, the KNCV Golden Spatula selection committee chose Mark Veen's thesis, written as part of his bachelor's degree in biotechnology at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, as the winner of the 2022 Golden Spatula.

Mark examined how light spectrum influences metabolites in young tomato plants and how spider mites respond to this. This main question is neatly substantiated with background information, and the research plan ultimately contains five sub-questions that provide insight into this. The results found should help to increase crop resistance in greenhouse cultivation.

Mark wrote an excellent report with good figures, graphs, and images with clear descriptions. The experimental work is well described in detail. In addition, the work yielded useful results, and thanks to the study design with different light sources and different analyses, Mark was also able to explain his observations in the discussion.

His supervisors were impressed by his report. It is remarkable that a student was able to research and process so much in just five months. He did everything himself, and his supervisors at WUR were very impressed. He is not only a very good analyst, but also a good scientist.

Based on the above facts, the selection committee has concluded that Mark Veen is an excellent candidate and we declare him the winner of the Golden Spatula 2022.

The second prize has been awarded to:

Roy Duinmaijer - Hogeschool Utrecht
Research into measuring a gradient of porosity and grain diameter across the height of a pellet reactor