Charles Bolender Award

The Charles Bolender Award is an annual educational award and was presented for the first time during the 11th European Orthodontic Teachers’ Forum in Stockholm, Sweden, June 12th 2016.

It is an annual award to the value of 2000 Euros conferred by the Council of the European Orthodontic Teachers Committee and awarded at the European Orthodontic Teacher’s Forum each year. It is awarded for a teacher or teachers, involved with Orthodontic education, who have been identified with specific educational skills enhancing the delivery of specialist orthodontic knowledge to enhance the delivery of patient care. In the event of more than one recipient being identified the award will be distributed between the recipients.

The funds are provided equally by the European Orthodontic Society and the European Federation of Orthodontic Specialist Associations.

Professor Charles Bolender from France was the founder of the European Federation of Orthodontic Specialist Associations in 1977 and a great teacher in the orthodontic field. Charles BOLENDER

In 2023, the 6th Charles Bolender Award was awarded to Lecturer Gerald Torgensen from the Department of Maxillofacial radiology, Oslo University (Norway). He gave a presentation entitled "Happy teacher, happier strudents: Boosting learning outcomes in theoretical subjects with a dash of entertainment and a pinch of AI magic" during the 17th European Orthodontic Teachers Forum in Oslo, Norway (June 2023).

In 2022, the 5th Charles Bolender Award was awarded to Professor Magnus Hultin Umea University (Sweden). He gave a presentation entitled "Assessing competence with high stakes exams" during the 16th European Orthodontic Teachers Forum in Limassol, Cyprus (June 2022).

In 2021, the 4th Charles Bolender Award was shared between Professor Jan Elen KU Leuven (Belgium) and Professor Birgitte Schoenmakers KU Leuven (Belgium). They each gave a presentation and chaired the breakout group discussion on the topic of ‘’Adult learning in orthodontics: Blended learning approach’’ during the 15th European Orthodontic Teachers Forum in a virtual setting (June 2021).

In 2019, the 3rd Charles Bolender Award was shared between Professor David Rice, University of Helsinki (Finland) and Professor Timo Peltomäki, University of Tampere (Finland). They gave a workshop, entitled ‘’Communication between postgraduate schools in Europe’’ during the 14th European Orthodontic Teachers Forum in Nice (June 2019).

In 2018, the 2nd Charles Bolender Award was given to Professor Lia Fluit, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen (The Netherlands). She gave a workshop, entitled ‘’Inter Professional Collaboration and Education during the 13th European Orthodontic Teachers Forum in Edinburgh (June 2018).

In 2016, the 1st Charles Bolender Award was given to Ben Lommelen, MSc, who is an executive trainer for workplace learning at the Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven (Belgium) and a freelance people skills trainer. He gave a workshop, entitled ‘’Teach the Teacher: Fostering Resident Authonomy by Adopting a Coaching Approach to Teaching’’ during the 11th European Orthodontic Teachers Forum in Stockholm (June 2016).