Prof. Ferdinand Grozema is the Board Member of NWO ENW Domain and the Professor in ultrafast spectroscopy at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). He studied chemistry at the University of Groningen, graduating in 1998 in Computational Organic Chemistry under supervision of Dr. Piet Th. Van Duijnen. He obtained his PhD degree at the Delft University of Technology in 2003 under supervision of Prof. Laurens D.A. Siebbeles and Dr. John M. Warman on a thesis describing a combined experimental and theoretical study of charge transport along conjugated molecular wires. In 2007/2008 he was a visiting scholar at Northwestern University in Evanston, USA in the group of Prof. Mark A. Ratner where he focused on the theoretical description of charge transfer in DNA.
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Prof. Jacob Jolij is the Head Research and Impact of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL). He leads a team managing a wide range of dossiers, including scientific integrity, PhD policy, public engagement, and marketing of research results. He collaborates with diverse stakeholders, from scientists and university administrators to entrepreneurs, civil servants, and politicians. The challenge in uniting diverse stakeholders is to build mutual understanding and develop solutions to elevate science and innovation in the Netherlands. With over 20 years of experience as a scientist and science communicator, he brings an in-depth understanding of the sector to tackle this challenge. Beyond his work at UNL, Prof. Jolij continues to write and speak on topics such as the philosophy and psychology of consciousness, and the relation between science and the philosophy of life. His book “What is Consciousness Anyway?” was published by Nieuw Amsterdam in 2020.
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Lionne Koens MSc is a Researcher at the Rathenau Institute, which conducts research, informs policy and organizes debates on socially relevant aspects of science, technology and innovation. This includes the effects of new technological developments, the interaction between science, society, policy, and the organization of the knowledge ecosystem. Her expertise is in both qualitative and quantitative studies, with a focus of the quantitative analysis of the Dutch science system. She has contributed to several studies such as the researcher and teacher motivation survey, the ‘balans van de wetenschap’ and the analysis of government funding for R&D.
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Prof. Cheryl de Boer is the Strategic Director of the University of Twente’s Climate Centre, committed to advancing transdisciplinary solutions to the climate crisis. She led the coordinating team that established the Climate Centre in 2023, with the goal to strengthen climate-related research, education, and valorisation. Prof. de Boer’s responsibilities include advancing collaboration between teachers and researchers from different faculties, guiding the Geo-Techno-Socio approach for transdisciplinary contributions, and developing strategic educational activities to address student demands related to the climate crisis.
