On Thursday the 21^st of February Lien Vossaert and Catherine Bulkaert were declared winners of the Schelstraete Delacourt Associates Talent Award 2013, the 13^th edition of the event. Every year, this award celebrates the best thesis in the field of human resources management and organisational development.

Lien Vossaert won the award for the best Dutch dissertation on ‘Ideëen die het verschil maken: De relatie tussen zelf-regulatie en creatieve prestaties bij projectwerk.’ Lien graduated in Business Psychology from Ghent University and is currently completing a master’s degree in General Management at the Vlerick Business School. Catherine Bulkaert of Liege University was awarded the prize for her thesis in French on ‘La prise de décision en sélection professionelle et ses facteurs d’influence’.

Nine universities and colleges collaborated in the Schelstraete Delacourt Associates Talent Award. Each of the educational institutions put forward a candidate with his or her thesis to take part in the competition. The institutions concerned were Universiteit Antwerpen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universiteit Gent, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Hogeschool Gent, Université Catholique de Louvain and Université Libre de Bruxelles.

The nine theses were assessed by a panel consisting of a representative of each college or university, plus HR professionals from the worlds of business and journalism. Jan Van Hootegem, Group HR Director at Vandemoortele, headed the Dutch-speaking jury, while Pierre Bracconier, VP Employee HR Services at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, did the honours on the French-speaking side.

Lien Vossaert, will be mentored for a year by Nick Leenaert, Talent Director at Unilin. Joëlle Fabri, Human Resources Director at Orangina Schweppes, will act as mentor for Catherine Bulkaert. Therefore, the two winners will immediately get the chance of practical business experience with the support of seasoned HR professionals.

Driving force Frank Schelstraete of Schelstraete Delacourt Associates, the Executive Search company that focuses on senior profiles, says that he is very pleased with the dynamic that has developed between the academic and business worlds through the Talent Award. “First and foremost, we wanted to promote dialogue within the HR community.” The Talent Award ceremony took place in the prestigious setting of the De Warande business club in Brussels.

21 February 2013