The Sepp Heim Award was established by ISPO at the ISPO World Congress 2019 to honor Mr. Sepp Heim for his lifetime of significant contributions to ISPO as well as the development of mobility devices (prosthetics, orthotics, and wheelchairs) education and services in less resourced settings. The Sepp Heim Award replaced the Yeongchi Wu International Education Award.
The award is granted to an individual/s or institution/organization that has made a major contribution to mobility device education and/or improving mobility devices service in less resourced settings.
In doing so, the nominee should have a positive impact on the lives of persons with disabilities living in less resourced settings through improving availability, accessibility, affordability, quality, and sustainability of mobility device services.
The winner will receive:
Award Certificate;
$1000.00 USD
Complimentary registration to the ISPO World Congress for the recipient or a representative if the award is attributed to an institution/organization.
Nomination Procedure and Criteria: Nominations can be submitted by any ISPO member who considers the nominee meets the criteria and spirit of the award. Nominations received will be reviewed, scored, and selected by the Sepp Heim Award Committee on the following criteria:
Nominee (individual(s) or institution) must have contributed significantly to the improvement of the “availability-accessibility-affordability-quality” of mobility device services for persons with disabilities in less resourced settings while ensuring their sustainability.
The areas of “availability-accessibility-affordability-quality” improvement can be related to (a) creative support for the development of appropriate and sustainable clinical services, (b) the education and training of mobility device related professionals aligned with national and/or international standards , (c) development of appropriate, ecologically-sound technologies and/or approaches in services provision and (d) additionally other areas that have impacted the “availability-accessibility-affordability-quality”.
The impact of the nominee’s contribution should be validated by demonstrating they have significantly contributed in one (or if possible, more) of the following areas:
improved the quality and functional outcome of services
ensured provision of services affordable to end-users
facilitated knowledge and technology transfer to service providers to improve the availability and accessibility of services to end-users; and/or
demonstrated a move towards creating a sustainable service provision ecosystem by adapting environmentally friendly approaches to reduce waste creation and energy-usage.
Information for submitting a nomination: Nominations are submitted online and must be supported by the following documentation:
A 2-page document supporting the nomination (explaining what has been done by the nominee to contribute significantly to the improvement of the “availability-accessibility-affordability-quality” of services for persons with disabilities in less-resourced settings while ensuring their sustainability);
Supporting letter(s);
Full CV of the nominee for an individual, or information of the institution/organization; &