Deltapremie award winner 2025: Abeje Mersha wants to grow and connect

When you visit the Smart Mechatronics and Robotics Research Group at Ariënsplein in  Enschede, you instantly feel welcome. If you’re lucky, you can join one of the many tours that Abeje Mersha and his teammates give week in, week out. Due to all the hustle and bustle, an online meeting is a better fit today. The screen turns on, and Abeje appears en profil. “Oh wait, wrong camera.” The picture suddenly jumps; technology never stands still at SMART.

“First, celebrate again with my whole team! ” Abeje shouts, shortly after being informed about winning the Deltapremie award. Is he already thinking about what all this is going to mean? “Well, I have a large research group, so ‘normal work’ will also continue. We need to get projects, work on societal challenges. Winning the Deltapremie award is also fun, and above all, it’s a great recognition.”

A magnet for talent.

You will now be an ambassador for applied research for two years. But weren’t you that already?

“The Deltapremie award actually reinforces my role. Yes, I am an ambassador, but that also applies to the entire research group. That’s why we literally asked at the presentation: will you help us continue our journey? We are already well underway, but we are always looking for people and organisations that can strengthen us.”

What are you looking forward to the most in the coming years?

“I want to show the value of applied research, also for education; we really need to emphasise this, since universities of applied sciences too often still regard research and education as two separate things. It is also very important to show what our benefits are for businesses. Last but not least: the value of applied research in relation to fundamental research at a university; I would also like to draw more attention to that. I want to emphasise the ‘full triangle’.”

How would you describe the value of the Deltapremie award?

“Okay, I'll do it in a speeded-up way... In the Netherlands, there are more than 770 professors of applied sciences, at almost 700 research groups. Each university of applied sciences may nominate one professor. Being nominated is already a recognition. It is a recognition of the sustainable change and impact that you make as a professor of applied sciences with your research group, together with students, lecturers and all partners in the network. Moreover, it is the highest award in applied research in the Netherlands. I may be the face of the SMART Research Group, but it's about all the things we've researched, made and achieved together in recent years. It is a team effort. ”

Does the Deltapremie award now provide you with a bigger stage?

“Not just externally. This also provides an extra internal stage at Saxion; it is an opportunity to work with other colleagues. I also want to show here what applied research means to us. I'm really excited about that.”

You talk a lot about impact. Do you have a concrete example?

“Impact is about sustainable change; it's not about all at once. Our impact is multifaceted, and, thanks to our regional partners, also significant. In general, it's about developing and sharing practical knowledge. Our primary focus is on robotics technology; mechatronics and artificial intelligence. Our applications let us focus on specific technologies: in the manufacturing industry, in agriculture, in the field of renewable energy; but also in healthcare services and for defence, you name it.”

And what should we think of even more specifically?

For example, a project regarding safety: a firefighting drone. For things like that, you work with public partners and SMEs. The fire service can use the drone we have developed for an initial verification, in a safe way. Our drone can fly quickly to a specific location, first of all to check if the report is correct. Then the drone can literally extinguish a small fire by shooting water at high pressure. It provides more efficiency and safety, and also cuts costs.”

The Deltapremie award includes prize money. What are you going to use that for?

“I'm going to use that for my ambassadorship, and for education, research and business. I not only want to strengthen the projects we are already working on, but also ensure there are new initiatives that other applied universities and professors can adopt at a later stage. That's something I think is important, because as a university of applied sciences, we also make an impact by creating synergy and mass, together with others.”

Do you mean through knowledge sharing?

“Yes, among other things, but it goes beyond that. We want to strengthen the position of applied research, nationally and internationally. We also want to commit to this through other platforms; for example, I am a fellow of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering and a member of the Royal Institute of Engineers. I also want to work on this along with Deltapremie award laureates from previous years. Together with them, I want to create a club for debate and opinions, among other things. But also for providing solicited and unsolicited advice. Something else that is also very important to me is contributing to quality; together with other partners, I want to create a ‘magnet for talent’.”

What is that, a magnet for talent?

“Think of outreach programmes, for example. Visiting primary schools and secondary schools. Encouraging children to be interested in technology from an early age. In doing so, I think it is important to reduce the distinction between research and education. Open days can also play a role in this. Research groups can be a good starting point for attracting more students, nationally and internationally; but also for making children and young people enthusiastic. Not as one-offs, but structurally, with an ongoing outreach programme.”

Why is the connection between higher professional education, university and secondary vocational education so important to you?

“I have a lot of contacts in university and secondary vocational education. All these forms of education are never about what is better or worse; we all complement one another. To make that better known to higher professional education, I want to work on a kind of mini-documentary, for example. Since many people don't yet know the options available to them. When they visit SMART, they are pleasantly surprised. At first, they sometimes even shout: “Hey, you do research here!? What is it about then? Oh, I didn't know it was so big!’”

Do you also want to attract new professional partners through the documentary?

Yes, that's important to us. There are different types of professional partners, and their needs are enormous. Sometimes you need people who can be deployed immediately, with the right competences; that's something for secondary vocational education. Sometimes you need other competences, for example at an abstract level; then you go to a university. We provide a combination of theory and practical aspects, which ensures people can work in a mission-driven way. Businesses need different competences for different phases. This means plenty of challenges for everyone. If we can respond to this together, it is much more efficient and sustainable. We need each other to make it all happen.”

You describe one of your ambitions as “creating an accelerated pathway for talent that wants to progress”. How do you want to approach this?

“Applied research has room for flexibility. For example, if a student currently wants to progress from secondary vocational (MBO) to higher professional education, then they have to take additional subjects anyway. What we, as a research group, could then do is define assignments for MBO students in a higher professional education environment. This would allow them to progress more quickly, without first having to take a foundation course or bridging programme.”

What if you're talking about university students?

“In the past, it was not so common for university students to graduate from a research group, for example. But recently, universities are increasingly seeing that we are also very good at supervising people at a higher level of abstraction. This provides a great opportunity for collaborations. We see a lot of students from the UT here, but also from Groningen and Wageningen. This includes bachelor's, master's and PhD students as well as visiting scholars; not only from the Netherlands, but also internationally. We offer challenging, impactful and flexible customised assignments, with an international perspective and regional roots for all types of education.”

Finally, I would like to return to the Abeje standing in front of a school class. So what do you say to those kids?

“It's really great to be in front of a class like that. Children are honest, even when it comes to their questions; they think outside the box. At first, I show them some robots and let them play with them. Once they come into contact with that technology, the rest goes without saying. We don't even have to tell them literally about climate change or the energy transition. Children are curious; they come up with their questions naturally. That's how you already connect, and you also create trust.”

Photography: Thomas Busschers