The Isaac Roet Prize 2022 is awarded to Anna Bosshard to organise and evaluate repair workshops in Amsterdam that enable and motivate young residents to reduce their clothing consumption. 'By giving practical advice in a communal setting, we hope to empower participants that they (and others) don't need new clothes all the time.' The Isaac Roet Prize is awarded annually by the Amsterdam University Fund and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to a student or researcher whose project promotes the beliefs of Isaac Roet. These beliefs are the pursuit of a fair, just, safe and sustainable world.
'Fast fashion is exploding and comes with poor working conditions, increased GHG emissions, and degraded ecosystems. Policy, industry, and consumer efforts are needed for systemic change toward circular clothing consumption. One critical behavioural change is that people in high-income countries buy less clothing. Deliberate consumption reduction, or 'voluntary simiplicity', also has immediate benefits to consumers, like lower financial stress, more perceptions of being enough, and time for hobbies and friends', states Bosshard.
She will organise the repair workshops together with the United Repair Centre in Amsterdam of Makers Unite. Makers Unite is a creative agency that help fashion brands make clothing repair services a reality. They recently launched the United Repair Centre in Amsterdam that offers high-quality clothing repair and will also host clothing repair workshops for individuals to change their attitudes and behaviors. As social psychologist Bosshard will help them finding out whether these goals are being achieved and how best to design these sessions.
Award ceremony
During an award ceremony on 10 November we will issue the award to Anna Bosshard after which she will give a presentation about her project. During this event the winner of the Isaac Roet Prize 2021 will present the results of her project: Empowering youth building their neighbourhood. You are welcome to join!
About Isaac Roet
Isaac Roet was an alumnus of the Municipal University (Gemeente Universiteit), which was later to become the University of Amsterdam, and was a registered accountant as well as an inventor. On 3 June 1927, he recorded in his will that one-fifth of his estate should be used for a contest aimed at 'fostering world peace and a more efficient distribution'. Isaac was murdered in Auschwitz on 11 February 1944.
Isaac's will come into effect after the war and the municipality of Amsterdam received a sum of 10,000 guilders, on the condition that the university would allocate it to the prize. The estate was later transferred to the Amsterdam University Fund (AUF) and was converted into a separate fund: the Isaac Roet Fund. The Isaac Roet Prize was awarded for the first time in 1989, in the Peace Palace in The Hague.
Together with the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, the AUF endeavours to award the Isaac Roet Prize every year to a special project that contributes to a better world.
