The KNCV Golden Master Award honours the best research project of a master student at a Dutch chemistry study. The prize consists of an award, a certificate and € 1000 in cash. In addition, there are two second prizes of € 250 and a certificate.

Marie Brands has been nominated for her master research project 'Selective electrochemical oxidation or biomass-derived substrates to value-added products', carried out in collaboration with chemical company Avantium. It is an exploration of producing formic acid from biomass via electrolysis. Brands looked at ethylene glycol, glycerol and glucose as exemplary molecules and mapped their oxidation on a nickel-based electrode. In 2018, Brands graduated at the University of Amsterdam with the distinction cum laude.