2023 ESVDC AWARD
The ESVDC was particularly proud to present its 2023 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Ronald Sultana, who is a Professor of Educational Sociology and Comparative Education at the University of Malta, and head of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research (EMCER).
Professor Sultana is the author or editor of 40 volumes and has published over 120 papers. He has been an advisor to several international agencies including UNESCO and UNICEF. His work relates to educational innovation and the linkages between education and work, including career guidance. In 2020 Laval University (Quebec) awarded Professor Sultana with a Doctorate Honoris Causa in recognition of his “exemplary and outstanding achievement and influence in one of the disciplinary fields taught at Laval”.
2022 ESVDC AWARD
The ESVDC was particularly proud to present its 2022 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Hazel Ried, who is an emeritus professor the Faculty of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
Professor Hazel Reid worked as the Head of Research in the Faculty of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. Her research focused on the area of career and guidance theory and practice, with a particular interest in narrative career counselling and clinical supervision. She also supervised and continues to examine students undertaking Doctoral research, with a particular expertise in interpretive, biographical and narrative research methodologies. She is the editor/author of a number of books and publications, notably An Introduction to Career Counselling and Coaching, published by Sage in 2016. Hazel is a Heritage Fellow of the UK Career Development Institute, and was awarded the Rodney Cox Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Hazel was, until recently, a board member of the ESVDC and also of the Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe (NICE academy). In 2021 she was made an Honorary Founder of NICE, in recognition of lifetime contributions to academic training in career guidance and counselling in Europe.
2021 ESVDC AWARD
The ESVDC was particularly proud to present its 2021 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Mark Watson, who is an emeritus professor at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa.
Professor Watson is a highly recognized scholar both in South Africa and internationally. In South Africa, he has made a significant contribution to the profession of career development, namely through the co-edition of the first textbook on career psychology in the South African context, the development of professional standards for career practitioners in his country, and his involvement in several panels and committees within the National Research Foundation. Professor Mark Watson is also internationally acknowledged as a cutting-edge leader in our discipline. He was rated by the National Research Foundation of South Africa as an internationally acclaimed researcher. His worldwide contribution is evidenced by his appointments as an Honorary Associate at the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, England, and as an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia. Another indicator of his reputation is his role as co-editor of the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, his numerous publications, and the invitations for keynote presentations at scientific conferences to share his critical view on the application of western theory and practice in non-western countries.
2020 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its 2020 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Mary McMahon, from the University of Queensland.
Professor Mary McMahon teaches career development theory, career guidance and counselling, narrative career counselling, and supervision and mentoring. She has been a Research Associate at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, and a Research Fellow at The University of Warwick, UK. She is developer and co-author of the internationally recognized Systems Theory Framework of Career Development (STF), which takes a holistic “individual in context” view of career development. This has led to the development of My System of Career Influences (MSCI), in collaboration with Professor Wendy Patton. Professor McMahon had and still has an important activity as a researcher, which led her to (co-)author about 200 publications. She is internationally acknowledged as a cutting-edge leader in our discipline. She is in high demand within our field, and she is considered as a role model in Asian and African countries. Her research, work and publication record are entirely consistent with the aims of the ESVDC; they illustrate how successful she has been in stimulating international collaborations in research and development in the fields of vocational guidance and career counseling.
2019 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its 2019 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Jean-Pierre Dauwalder, from the University of Lausanne.
Jean-Pierre Dauwalder is an emeritus professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, president of Swiss Federal Authority for Professions in Psychology (PSYKO), and was the president of the European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC).
He worked as a clinical psychologist and researcher at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Lausanne from 1974 to 1978. He was the head of the Department of Research and Teaching in Social Psychiatry at the University of Bern from 1979 to 1991. He was a full professor for counseling and vocational psychology at the University of Lausanne from 1991 to 2010. He organized international conferences in behavior modification, health psychology, vocational guidance, and self-organization and was a member of many editorial boards. His publication list includes more than 130 articles, books, and chapters. In 2010 he received the Award of the IAAP (Division of Counseling Psychology) in Melbourne. In 2013 he was honored with the first Julius-Suter Medal for applied psychology, in Switzerland.
2018 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its 2018 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Christiane Schiersmann, from the University of Heidelberg.
Professor Christiane Schiersmann is a full Professor for Adult Education and counselling at the Institute of Educational Science, University of Heidelberg. Founding member and vice president of the European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling since 2011. Founding member and vice president of the German national guidance forum (nfb) since 2006. Expert member of the innovation circle for further education of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (since 2006).
Fields of research and teaching: Counselling related to the working world, basic research on counselling theories, organizational development and counselling, continuing education.
2017 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its 2017 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Raoul Van Esbroeck, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).
Professor Raoul Van Esbroeck is a Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Psychology and Education of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium) in Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance.
He has published a large number of articles, book chapters, and books in several languages. He was an active member of the European Forum for Student Guidance (FEDORA) for 10 years. He is a board member of IAEVG. He has served as the Editor of the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance from 1999 to the end of 2010. Dr. Van Esbroeck received for his international contributions in 2008 from the Society of Counselling Psychology (Division 17 of the American Psychological Association) the award for “Distinguished Contribution to the International Advancement of the Counseling Profession” and in 2010 the “NCDA International Award”.
2016 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its 2016 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Alicja Kargulowa, from the University of Lower Silesia.
On graduating from the Higher School of Education in Gdańsk in 1962 with an M.A. degree in pedagogy, she took up employment at a counselling centre. As a counselling practitioner, she enrolled in a Ph.D. programme at the University of Gdańsk (1972-1975), combining work and research. Having earned the doctoral degree with a dissertation on the operations and mechanisms of the counselling centre she had worked for, she got an appointment at the University of Wroclaw, where she continued her research on counselling and obtained the doctor habilitatuts degree in 1986 and full professorship in 1999. She performed various functions in the University’s management bodies. She was a member of the Senate commission for young scholars’ development and represented the Council of the Faculty of Historical and Pedagogical Sciences in the University Senate. In collaboration with other Polish universities and research centres, she organised a cycle of nationwide scientific seminars devoted to Counselling in the Contemporary World (1979-1995) and worked on a theory of counselling – counsellogy – that germinated there. She devised and developed also a curriculum for “Counselling” – a new study major within Pedagogy, training counsellors and guidance counsellors. As a Vice-Head for Science at the Institute of Pedagogy, she launched and supervised a doctoral programme in education and psychology and the Interpersonal Contacts School, a post-graduate programme for pedagogy and psychology graduates. In 1999, She relocated to the newly founded University of Zielona Góra, where she was Head of the Counsellogy Section and launched a major in Counselling, offered to the students of Pedagogy and training future counsellors. Currently, I am Professor at the University of Lower Silesia. In her research she has always focused on counselling in a broad sense of the term, including theoretical, methodological and empirical facets of counselling conceived as a social practice. She has published six books and about 100 articles and edited eight volumes addressing these issues. She has supervised multiple M.A. theses and eight Ph.D. dissertations. Her former Ph.D. students are now university lecturers. She is a member of PTP (Polish Pedagogical Association), WTN (Wroclaw Scientific Society), IAEVG/AIOSP and a founding member of NTP (Counsellogical Association) and the ESVDC. She is Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual Studia.
2015 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its third Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Maria Eduarda Duarte, from University of Lisbon.
Maria Eduarda Duarte has the capacity to interact and cooperate in cross-cultural contexts, both on the research side and on searching for effective strategies in achieving goals characterized by high and shared social relevance. And this has been a long-lasting effort, starting during the times in which with Donald Super she contributed to stimulate in Europe the debate on values and continuing nowadays, with the generosity which characterizes her, with her engagement to disseminate Life Design vision in South American countries and to improve the quality of career counselling services by providing her support to research groups and educational projects in those countries. With this award, we want to thank Maria Eduarda Duarte for her achievements as a “servant leader” in our scientific community.
Maria Eduarda Duarte’s research and teaching interests include career psychology theory and research, with special emphasis on issues relevant to adults and the world of work. She participated in many national and international research projects.
2014 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its third Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Mark Savickas, Chair Emeritus of Behavioral Sciences at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.
Mark Savickas is among the three to five leading scientists in the field of career counseling since the origin of this discipline. He is worldly recognized for his major scientific contribution, his manifold stimulating ideas, theoretical constructs, procedures, and instruments. Taking further Donald Super’s ideas on lifelong career development, he innovated and created new ideas investigating life-themes, using narratives and storytelling, understanding life designing and career adaptability into an innovative career construction theory. He has been for years a very efficient mentor for the development of life-design and career counseling in Europe and has generously given to us the motivation and courage to further develop our own identity and assertiveness in Europe. He was distinguished many times: John L. Holland Award in 1994; Eminent Career Award from the National Career Development Association in 1996; Leona Tyler Award in 2011, and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the University of Pretoria (South Africa). This award is a warm sign of our profound gratitude and acknowledgment to Mark Savickas and his generous involvement in our scientific community.
2013 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its second Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Salvatore Soresi from the Department of Psychology at the University of Padova, Italy.
Salvatore Soresi definitely marked the field of life design and career counseling in Europe by his everlasting humanistic engagement for the inclusion of all people into worklife and society. Including parents and teachers through preventive interventions for educational and vocational guidance for young people, as well as actively promoting deinstitutionalization and integration of disabled persons motivated years of his research. He significantly contributed to the development of our field by strong evidence-based research and as a founder of the ‘Italian Journal of Vocational Psychology’ and editor of two book series. His work was recognized by the ‘High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic ‘ for his Magellan Project for the vocational guidance for high school students. Together with his team at the University of Padova he recently organized a whole series of outstanding International Conferences, enabling many fruitful exchanges with the leading experts in our field and stimulating exciting international research collaborations.
2012 ESVDC AWARD
The European Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counseling (ESVDC) was particularly proud to present its first Award for Distinguished Contributions to Vocational Designing and Career Counseling to Professor Jean Guichard from the National Conservatory of Arts and Professions (CNAM) in Paris, France.
Jean Guichard significantly contributed to the emergence of a new identity of vocational and career counsellors all over Europe. He not only educated younger colleagues and researchers in French-speaking countries, but is now frequently invited to other countries all over the world as a teacher and an expert. Through his research and teachings, he most positively influenced the image of European vocational and career counseling in the United States, Canada, South America, and Africa. For his leadership and influence for the advancement of our discipline and his innovative contributions to academic research in our field, Jean Guichard was awarded by honorary doctorates from the University of East Finland, the University of Lisbon in Portugal, and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Furthermore, he will be honored by the prestigious UNESCO Chair of Lifelong Guidance and Counseling at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. His kindness, honesty, respectful and caretaking attention to others let him be the best ambassador and an outstanding representative of ESVDC.