Marina Pilz Da Cunha wins 2025 Marina van Damme scholarship

TU/e alumna Marina Pilz da Cunha was awarded a € 9.000, - grant. She will use that to further develop her ‘impressive development’ as the jury noted in their report.  

The jury verdict 

The Jury is unanimous in their motivation to grant Marina the Marina van Damme Grant 2025. Marina has followed her curiosity, drive and ambition to develop herself in a way that has combined her academic knowledge and skills to help others and society.  

The Jury really appreciates her intrinsic motivation and the structured approach to her professional development. The grant will enable her to continue this development.  

Smart labels  

Together with Yari Foelen, whom she met during her PhD, Marina is working on smart labels powered by color-changing ink technology. These labels provide an innovative and reliable way to monitor product expiration. Marina and Yari created start-up Useeble to further develop the labels, thereby also creating a project to further hone her skils. The jury agrees: “Her latest step shows that she is motivated to create something meaningful for the world and willing to take risks at this stage of her life.” 

Help save vaccines 

The € 9000, - will help her to turn their ideas into developments that will help the world, starting with the preservation of valuable vaccines. Currently, 50% of the doses are discarded because medical professionals cannot be certain that the vaccines have not been exposed to circumstances that render them useless, like extreme heat. “With the label technology, they will know for certain if a vaccine is still usable or not.” According to Marina.  

A beautiful surprise 

A few weeks before the public announcement of the winners, Marina received a call from the jury. Marina: “They told me that I was selected for the grant. That was a beautiful surprise. Those 9.000 Euros are very welcome. Our ideas and developments are gaining momentum, so it looks like great innovations are on their way! While using the labels may be easy, the technology behind it is complex, and we also need to protect our intellectual property. This money will help me turn my dreams, knowledge and experience into something that will benefit many.” 

A passion for science 

Useeble allows Marina to use everything she learned and combine her passion for science with her desire to make an impact as an inventor: “When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always: ‘an inventor.’ From an early age, I wanted to create and mimic what I saw in nature, turning ideas into inventions that could benefit society. "