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In het Centrum voor Tandheelkunde en Mondzorgkunde is een start gemaakt met de aanleg van een nieuwe leiding voor de aanvoer van water en met de aanleg van ontsmettende UV-installaties. Hiermee wordt het eerder ontstane verhoogde risico op legionellabesmetting teruggebracht tot de normale situatie. Naar verwachting worden de patiëntenzorg en het studentenonderwijs vanaf 4 juni aanstaande weer hervat. Voor zover bekend, zijn er geen aanwijzingen voor legionellabesmetting.

Vijf tot tien procent van de adolescenten heeft een sociale angststoornis. Onder jongeren is het een van de meest voorkomende psychische stoornissen. Eva de Hullu en Esther Sportel deden onder 1800 scholieren onderzoek naar faalangst en sociale angst. Vooral bij faalangst blijken een online training en een groepstraining goed aan te slaan. De Hullu en Sportel promoveren beide aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Twee hoogleraren van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, professor Laura Spierdijk en professor Sjoerd Beugelsdijk ontvangen beiden een Vidi-subsidie van NWO ter waarde van €800.000, zo is vandaag bekend geworden. NWO kent deze Vidi-beurzen toe aan onderzoekers die aantoonbaar vernieuwend onderzoek doen. Spierdijk’s onderzoek levert een bijdrage aan de discussie over de hervorming van de bankensector, en Beugelsdijk onderzoekt de relatie tussen cultuur en economie.

Moleculair bioloog dr. Hans Jonker van het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen ontvangt een Vidi-beurs ter waarde van €800.000 van NWO. NWO kent deze subsidie toe aan onderzoekers die hebben aangetoond vernieuwende ideeën te ontwikkelen. Jonker wordt met de beurs in staat gesteld om zijn onderzoeksgroep flink uit te breiden. Hij onderzoekt de rol van het hormoon FGF1 in de vethuishouding en in de ontwikkeling en de behandeling van type 2 diabetes.

Onderzoekers van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen zoeken in het kader van het project doorbreek-depressie naar nieuwe methoden om depressie te voorkomen, zoals therapie via de mobiele telefoon en internet.

Rector magnificus Elmer Sterken heeft dinsdagmiddag 22 mei op een drukbezochte bijeenkomst in restaurant Academia de uitslag van de Universitaire verkiezingen 2012 bekendgemaakt. De verkiezingen werden gehouden voor de studentgeledingen van de Universiteitsraad en de Faculteitsraden van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Met ingang van 1 september 2012 is de zetelverdeling van de studentpartijen in de U-raad als volgt: SOG 7 zetels, GSb 1 zetel en Lijst Calimero 4 zetels. SOG (Studentenorganisatie Groningen) wint een zetel ten op zichte van de verkiezingen in 2011. Die winst gaat ten koste van Lijst Calimero, dat daalt van 5 naar 4 zetels.

Ter gelegenheid van de opening van de tentoonstelling ‘Verbeeldingskracht. Over trauma, kunst en zoeken naar zin’ houden dr. Hanneke Muthert en dr. Hanneke Schaap-Jonker een duolezing. Beiden zijn verbonden aan de Faculteit Godgeleerdheid en Godsdienstwetenschap.

In de vroege ochtend van woensdag 6 juni 2012 vindt een bijzondere astronomische gebeurtenis plaats. De planeet Venus trekt als een zwarte erwt voor de Zon langs.

Getalenteerde leerlingen uit 5-vwo kunnen van 2 t/m 6 juli 2012 op de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen deelnemen aan de Zomercursus van het Junior Honours College. Het Junior Honours College is een initiatief van de RUG Scholierenacademie en het RUG Honours College. Het is de tweede keer dat de Zomercursus wordt georganiseerd, na een zeer succesvolle pilot-editie vorig jaar.

Recent is de legionellabacterie aangetroffen in de waterleiding het Centrum voor Tandheelkunde en Mondzorgkunde (CTM) van het UMCG.

The condition of the enzyme peroxiredoxin is part of a universal mechanism for the 24-hour rhythm in all forms of life. This is the first time that a day-night rhythm system has been discovered, which is present in practically all organisms. The discovery was made by researcher Maria Olmedo and Professor of Molecular Chronobiology Martha Merrow of the University of Groningen, together with scientists from Great Britain and the United States. The findings are published this week in the journal Nature.

Woensdag en donderdag 23 en 24 mei 2012 vindt een feestelijke editie van de Athenespelen plaats bij het Sportcentrum van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en de Hanzehogeschool Groningen. Het is de 25e keer dat de Spelen georganiseerd worden.

Today, the University of Groningen is launching a new online video magazine in English and Dutch – Unifocus. Every issue comprises three or four short videos with news and background information in the fields of research, teaching, student life and cooperation with the business world. Take a look a Unifocus.

Hearing researcher Dave Langers from the ENT department of UMCG managed to conduct a study of the brain’s sensitivity to pitch in people both with and without tinnitus. His research shows that sensitivity to pitch in tinnitus patients does not deviate demonstrably from that of people with normal hearing. This is a new concept that contradicts a number of existing ideas about sound processing in the brain, both in people with normal hearing and in tinnitus patients. It means that the cause of tinnitus is not what had been assumed up until now. Articles about Langer’s research are being published in this month’s editions of the scientific magazines Cerebral Cortex and Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.

Dhr. mr. T.H.J. (Tjibbe) Joustra is door de staatssecretaris Zijlstra van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap benoemd tot voorzitter van de Raad van Toezicht van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Hij zal die functie bekleden met ingang van 1 september 2012. Op die dag neemt hij het voorzitterschap over van mr. R.J. Hoekstra, wiens benoemingstermijn door de staatssecretaris is verlengd tot 1 september 2012.

Adequate protection of migratory birds needs a scientific basis. This will be provided from today by the new chair in migratory bird ecology held by Prof. Theunis Piersma at the University of Groningen. WWF-NL director Johan van de Gronden and Vogelbescherming [Netherlands Society for the Protection of Birds] director Fred Wouters signed a covenant on 14 May 2012 to enable this chair

Plastic zonnecellen kunnen net zo’n hoog rendement halen als ‘klassieke’ zonnecellen van silicium. Aan de hand van theoretische modellen hebben onderzoekers van de FOM-focusgroep aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, samen met een collega van de Universiteit van Denver, laten zien welke wegen naar de ‘Next Generation’ plastic zonnecellen kunnen leiden. Zij publiceerden de resultaten op 9 mei online in het tijdschrift Advanced Energy Materials.

On Wednesday May 9th Eric Mazur (Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University) presented a very inspiring lecture at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Every year between 33 and 66 road fatalities in the Netherlands can be attributed to the use of medication that affects driving performance. This has been revealed by a recent estimate by experts at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands Forensic Institute and the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research (Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Verkeersveiligheid). These experts were involved in the European DRUID1 research, to which 39 institutes from 17 European countries contributed. The estimates are based on the results of this research.

9 mei 2012, 3:00 - 4:00 PM. Special guest lecture at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (Bernouilliborg 105) by Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University.

Researchers at the University of Groningen have developed a reliable method to determine children’s interests with regard to their development. The method can be used in instances when placing a child in foster care is being considered, but also in asylum procedures. Orthopedagogy specialist Elianne Zijlstra: ‘The method clearly shows whether measures take children’s interests with regard to their development sufficiently into account. This is nearly always ignored in asylum procedures.’ Zijlstra will receive a PhD for her study on 14 May 2012.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has elected Cisca Wijmenga, professor of Human Genetics at the University Medical Center Groningen, a member of the Academy. The KNAW elects a maximum of 16 new members each year. This year 14 new members were elected, and they will be inaugurated on 10 September 2012 in the KNAW Trippenhuis.

Waar komt het tweede watertappunt in de stad Groningen? Wordt dat bij de Hanzehogeschool Groningen op het Zernike-complex, of naast de Universiteitsbibliotheek in de Broerstraat? Het woord is aan de studenten: zij bepalen waar het tappunt gerealiseerd wordt. Via Facebook barst de strijd los om de meest populaire locatie. Tot en met vrijdag 25 mei kunnen zij hun voorkeur kenbaar maken. Het tappunt met de meeste stemmen wint: daar plaatst Waterbedrijf Groningen begin juni een watertappunt.

De gegevens uit de Deense Sonttolregisters over de 18de eeuw zijn vanaf 16 mei online voor iedereen beschikbaar. Zij staan in de database ‘Sonttolregisters online’ op de website www.soundtoll.nl . Op 16 mei geven onderzoekers van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en Tresoar een demonstratie van de nieuwe gebruiksmogelijkheden die de site biedt aan professionele onderzoekers en amateurs. De registers bieden een schat aan informatie over scheepvaart en economie in eerdere eeuwen.

Calculating the golden mean is something economists in particular concentrate on. Biological evolutionary research is another area where the search is on for the situation where multiple opposing processes and criteria are in balance. Take, for instance, the optimum build of the panther: muscled for sprinting, but also light and limber enough to climb trees. When considering the evolution of bacteria, the ‘multi-criteria decision-making model’ of the Italian economist Pareto proves useful.

Chemists of the University of Groningen under the leadership of professor Ben L. Feringa have published new research on the molecular motor in Nature Chemistry. They worked in collaboration with a research group from the University of East Anglia led by Steve Meech. Their goal was to gain a better understanding of the molecule’s ultrafast dynamics during the rotation of the rotor.

Ondernemers waarderen locaties in centraal Nederland nog steeds het meest, maar de ‘waarderingsberg’ (met Utrecht als top) wordt stelselmatig lager. Dat komt aan de orde in het afscheidscollege van prof.dr. P.H. Pellenbarg, hoogleraar Economische Geografie, op 7 mei 2012. 

Amino acids are important substances for biological research and interesting building blocks for the production of chemicals and medicines. Researchers from the University of Groningen have adapted the enzyme methylaspartate ammonia-lyase by means of ‘targeted evolution’ in the laboratory. They were thus able to develop biocatalysts for the synthesis of new amino acids – a method that offers important advantages for the environment. The results were published online last weekend in the prominent scientific journal Nature Chemistry.

Het verhaal over de grutto in woord, beeld en muziek. Daarmee openen, in aanwezigheid van Koningin Beatrix, bioloog Theunis Piersma en musicus Sytze Pruiksma het jubileumcongres van het Wereld Natuur Fonds. Dit evenement vindt plaats op dinsdag 8 mei aanstaande op de SS Rotterdam in Rotterdam. ‘Met deze voorstelling hopen we de toeschouwers niet alleen in het hoofd te raken, maar vooral in het hart,’ aldus Piersma.

Het UMCG en de RUG organiseren samen met het Healthy Ageing Network Noord-Nederland (HANNN) het symposium: ‘Marktwerking in de gezondheidszorg, ons een zorg?!’. Graag nodigen wij u uit om het symposium bij te wonen.

Dinsdag 8 mei gaan de lijsttrekkers van de drie studentenfracties in de universiteitsraad met elkaar in debat in de Aula van de universiteit.

The University of Groningen and George Washington University are organizing a transatlantic conference on Global Online Freedom and Corporate Responsibility. The conference will take place in Washington and Brussels from 9 till 15 May 2012.

The Endocrine Society has selected the paper entitled Urine Steroid Metabolomics as a Biomarker Tool for Detecting Malignancy in Adrenal Tumors for the  International Award for Publishing Excellence in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM) in 2011.

Mosselen en Japanse oesters zijn belangrijk voor de biodiversiteit in de Waddenzee, als voedselbron, maar ook omdat ze een leefomgeving creëren voor veel andere soorten. In een studie die onlangs online verscheen in het internationale wetenschappelijke tijdschrift Ecosystems laten onderzoekers van het Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonderzoek (NIOZ) en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG) zien dat de invloed van droogvallende mossel- en oesterbanken op hun omgeving vele malen groter kan zijn dan hun eigenlijke omvang suggereert.

On Friday 27 April 2012, two people recommended by the University of Groningen were presented with a Royal Honour. Mr J.M.F. Borg was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau, while Professor G. Knigge became a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Wil jij je prestaties verbeteren met behulp van gen-doping? Je slaapritme optimaliseren? Je cellen beter laten functioneren met antioxidanten?  ENHANCE dan JE  lichaam, brein, cellen en techno-omgeving in de Science LinX expositie ENHANCE ME!?

Via the University of Groningen’s Science Support Desk, secondary school students presented their research at the ‘International Conference of Young Scientists’ (ICYS), held in Nijmegen on 16-23 April. They managed to win the silver medal awarded at the conference, in a world championship for profile assignments in which students from 21 countries participated. This year teams from China, Malaysia and South Korea participated for the first time ever.

The Supervisory Board of the University of Groningen has reappointed Prof. Sibrandus Poppema for a new four-year term as President of the Board of the University of Groningen as of 1 September 2012. The new term will run until 1 September 2016.

Cultuurhistorica Eva Rovers van de RUG heeft de Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Biografieprijs 2012 gewonnen. Ze won deze prijs met haar biografie over kunstverzamelaar Helene Kröller-Müller, de grondlegster van het gelijknamige museum in Otterlo. Rovers is in november 2010 gepromoveerd op deze biografie, aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Momenteel is zij verbonden aan het Biografie Instituut van de RUG en schrijft zij een biografie over Boudewijn Büch.

Alongside their regular job, regular citizens living in the countryside are remarkably likely to have an additional income stream. Municipalities do not need to lay down any regulations to keep such activities in check, according to social geographer Marianna Markantoni, who will be awarded a PhD on 3 May 2012.

Het hoofdprogramma van de eerste Groningse Nacht van de Filosofie, donderdag 26 april in ForumImages, is vanaf 20.00 uur ook via live streaming te volgen. Het programma, dat plaatsvindt in drie zalen, trekt bijna 400 bezoekers en is volledig uitverkocht.

Op dit moment vinden CAO-onderhandelingen plaats  tussen de universiteiten en de vakbonden. De bestedingsruimte binnen de CAO ligt vast. Er moeten dus lastige keuzes worden gemaakt. Om de partijen te helpen in de besluitvorming wordt steekproefgewijs een medewerkersonderzoek gehouden.

More self-reflection by pension fund boards reduces conflicts between the various interest groups within those boards. It also helps in resolving disputes. These are important conclusions in a survey of 313 pension fund boards by the University of Groningen.

PhD students in Groningen are increasingly satisfied with the conditions during their research period. This can be concluded from the outcomes of the PhD survey 2011, a university wide survey that was filled out by 42% of the PhD students.

A skin sensor that measures your physiology together with software that knows its way around your music library: together these produce a device that can steer the user’s mood right towards the mood in which he or she wishes to be. This is the result of research by Marjolein van der Zwaag, who will be awarded a PhD for this on 26 April 2012 at the University of Groningen. She developed this ‘affective music player’ on the basis of research into the link between music and mood, for example in car drivers. Such a player could potentially lead to less aggressive driving.

De Hanzehogeschool Groningen en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen zetten studenten en medewerkers in de schijnwerpers, die hun studie of dienstverband combineerden met een deelname aan de Olympische Spelen. Zij krijgen een ereplaats op de Olympische Wand die op vrijdag 20 april 2012 onthuld wordt in het Sportcentrum van de ACLO op het Zernikecomplex.

Our working memory can only contain one element at a time. If we have to remember more elements we store these in our long-term memory, with the consequence that the retrieval of this information takes more time and leads to more mistakes. This is what Jelmer Borst concludes in his research on multitasking. Borst will be awarded a PhD on 20 April 2012 by the University of Groningen.

Research on the area of agricultural land needed to produce our food reveals that technological improvements alone will not be sufficient to compensate for increasing population pressure and richer diets. Sanderine Nonhebel, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Groningen, has charted the global effects of changing dietary habits over the past 46 years. The results of the research were published on 16 April in the leading journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The European Commissioner for Trade, Karel de Gucht expressed his praise for a project by three economists from the University of  Groningen. Thanks to the research of Marcel Timmer, Bart Los and Erik Dietzenbacher it is possible to reliably measure international trade, which can be of great importance for (European) policy.

Op het CCC-symposium belichten nationale en internationale onderzoekers en ondernemers de nieuwste ontwikkelingen op het gebied van koolhydraattechnologie en koolhydraattoepassingen.

Prof. dr. Ed Noort, emeritus hoogleraar in de Israëlitische letterkunde, is gekozen tot v icepresident van de Europese Federatie van nationale Academies van Wetenschappen (ALLEA). Dat gebeurde vorige week tijdens de Algemene Vergadering in Rome.

Op dinsdag 17 april gaat de College Carrousel van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen van start. Zes dagen lang worden op vier locaties in Groningen in totaal 24 hoorcolleges en 165 werkcolleges gegeven aan ruim 3000 scholieren van 42 middelbare scholen.

Professor Sibrandes Poppema, President of the Board of the University of Groningen, has been nominated Honorary Consul of the Republic of Korea. Today, Thursday 12 April, the official inauguration by H.E. Key Cheol Lee, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, took place in the Academy Building of the University.

Sustainable projects are nothing new at the University of Groningen – most notably at the Zernike campus. The Health, Safety and Environment department, however, considered that smart sustainable ideas thought up by the very people working, studying, socializing and exercising at the University of Groningen and the UMCG would of course be the ones that would work well, provide the most satisfaction and garner the most support.

De Faculteit Godgeleerdheid en Godsdienstwetenschap van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen organiseert op 24 april 2012 een publieksavond met en rond de schrijver/dichter Willem Jan Otten.

On 2 April, representatives of the knowledge institutions, government and the business world signed the ‘Nederlands Kennis- en Innovatiecontract’ [Dutch knowledge and innovation contract] for the nine ‘top sectors’. NWO chair Jos Engelen and VSNU chair Sijbolt Noorda signed the agreement on behalf of the universities.

Soms is tijd allesbepalend als het gaat om kwaliteit van leven. Een bloedstolseltje in de hersenen dat niet tijdig behandeld wordt, kan leiden tot verlies van functies en zelfredzaamheid. UMCG-promovendus Maarten Lahr ontdekte dat meer herseninfarctpatiënten op tijd in het ziekenhuis arriveren wanneer de behandeling is gecentraliseerd in één ziekenhuis.

Op 4 april 2012 start in Groningen, Friesland en Drenthe het FoliumzuurExtra onderzoek. Deelname staat open voor alle vrouwen in deze regio die zwanger willen worden. Deze vrouwen krijgen via hun apotheek foliumzuurtabletten. Het wetenschappelijk team van FoliumzuurExtra onderzoekt de beschermende effecten van een hogere en langere dosering foliumzuur voor en tijdens de zwangerschap. FoliumzuurExtra is een onderzoek van o.a. EMGO+ Instituut van VUmc en EUROCAT van het UMCG

De voorjaarseditie van Broerstraat 5  [PDF], het alumniblad van de RUG, is verschenen. 

Great scholars such as Vossius, Barlaeus and Hugo de Groot thought he was money hungry and called him ‘as slow as a tortoise’. However, Willem Jansz Blaeu, known in particular for his Blaeu Atlases, was more than just a skilled cartographer and clever publisher. He was a liberal thinker. And the fact that he published such attractive editions is partly why he exerted such a great influence on the academic debate of the seventeenth century. This is shown by research for which Djoeke van Netten will be awarded a PhD on 12 April 2012 by the University of Groningen.

According to international students, the University of Groningen is the best university in the Netherlands. This can be concluded from the latest International Student Barometer, a worldwide survey of international student satisfaction from which the University of Groningen emerged as the university in the Netherlands they are most likely to recommend.

De opbrengst van de onroerendezaakbelasting (ozb) stijgt dit jaar met 4,0 procent. Dat is meer dan de 3,75 procent die als bovengrens was afgesproken. Maar huishoudens merken daar weinig van doordat de afvalstoffenheffing, vaak een hoger bedrag dan de ozb, daalt. Uiteindelijk betalen huishoudens gemiddeld 1,7 procent meer aan hun gemeente. Die stijging ligt ruim onder de inflatie (2,3 procent). Dit blijkt uit de Atlas van de Lokale Lasten die COELO vandaag presenteert. COELO (Centrum voor onderzoek van de economie van de lagere overheden) is een onderzoeksinstituut verbonden aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Els van den Berg, who hails from Zuidhorn, will be appointed as Lustrum Coordinator on 1 April 2012. She will coordinate the preparations for the University of Groningen’s 400th anniversary celebrations in 2014 and supervise the Lustrum Office (part of the Communications Department).

The competency battle between dentists and dental hygienists has risen to new heights now the latter are being trained to independently make diagnoses and perform simple dental operations. This is the conclusion of PhD research conducted by the Groningen dental hygiene lecturer Katarina Jerkovic.

An article was published in Nature Nanotechnology this week about quantum interference in molecular charge transport. Two of its authors were the Groningen chemists Prof. Kees Hummelen and Dr Hennie Valkenier, who received his PhD with honours, with Hummelen as supervisor. Hummelen is the driving force behind the department of Organic Chemistry, which instigated this research a few years ago. ‘Now things really get interesting, with this article being published’, he says. ‘The idea that we developed – and we’re just chemists – has now found strong experimental and theoretical support from physicists in Leiden and Denmark with whom we are collaborating.'

Electron waves can reinforce each other, but they can also cancel each other out. This is known as destructive interference. Earlier analysis of micro structures revealed that this can result in poorer conduction at low temperatures. Now a team including researchers from Leiden University and the University of Groningen have found experimental evidence that this effect can also occur at room temperature. The team took advantage of the fact that very small systems (such as molecules) behave quantum mechanically even at room temperature. The article was published in Nature Nanotechnology on 25 March 2012.

Human DNA has been perfectly adapted to its environment during millions of years of evolution. This optimal match between the human genome and its environment, including the human diet, enabled our Palaeolithic ancestors to age healthily. To gain insight in the composition of our Paleolithic diet UMCG researcher Remko Kuipers investigated the conditions of existence/the ecological niche of our ancestors, made a reconstruction of their diet and examined the diet of modern-day traditionally living East-African tribes.

Patients with diabetes run a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, renal failure and premature death, particularly if they have too much salt in their diet. Excessive salt intake also blocks the effect of drugs prescribed to regulate high blood pressure. These are among the results of a large-scale study of 1,177 patients with diabetic renal disease carried out by Hiddo Lambers Heerspink, clinical pharmacologist at UMCG.

People who need structure do not benefit from flexible working, known as ‘het nieuwe werken’, or new-style working, in Dutch. More responsibility, working from home and flexible working hours does not motivate people more, and neither does it make them more creative. These are the results of research for which psychologist Marjette Slijkhuis will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 29 March 2012. ‘Flexible working saves less than employers think it will.’

Collaboration between care organizations, educational organizations and other organizations is only successful if they need each other to achieve a common goal. If they put aside their own interests and take the time to get to know each other, even very different organizations can successfully set up a project. Other than within a single organization, it is important in such a network that the different layers, from front-line workers to managers, keep in touch with each other. ‘You must never collaborate for collaboration’s sake’, researcher Jelly Zuidersma concludes. She will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 29 March 2012.

From a young age, dairy cows react differently from each other to stimuli from their surroundings. An animal’s temperament determines how it reacts in stressful situations, but may also influence its general health. In the future, temperament could be bred as a selective trait to improve the robustness and wellbeing of dairy cows. This is the conclusion reached by zootechnician Kees van Reenen, who will receive a PhD from the University of Groningen on 30 March 2012.

Although spring is in the air, the blue tit keeps a cool head when it comes to choosing a mate and courtship. Elske Schut has discovered that for the female blue tit the number of immune system genes (known as MHC1 genes) her chosen mate possesses is very important. Schut has also demonstrated that blue tits continue to copulate during the laying season, which is uncommon in songbirds. This urge to mate does not seem to be a case of blind passion either. Schut will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 23 March 2012.

In de gisteren verschenen Keuzegids Deeltijd & Duaal 2012 wordt de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen met verschillende opleidingen positief beoordeeld. De RUG staat op de derde plaats met alle deeltijdstudies. Theologie staat op de 1e plaats in de categorie wo theologie; godsdienstwetenschappen op de 1e plaats in de categorie religiestudies; wijsbegeerte op de 2e plaats in de categorie wo wijsbegeerte en geschiedenis op een gedeelde 3e plaats in de categorie wo geschiedenis.

A great deal is still unknown about the causes of depression – some blame it on biology, others on the environment. However, it is highly likely that both have a role to play and that they also enhance each other. Researcher Dr Marije aan het Rot of the University of Groningen received a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to investigate the influence of both biological and environmental factors in the genesis of depression.

Four and five-year-olds are very capable of learning English. This is the outcome of a study into the effectiveness of early foreign language teaching (vvto – vroeg vreemdetalenonderwijs ) in primary school and the influence this has on Dutch language skills of pupils. The research, which began in 2009 at the request of Minister of Education, Culture and Science Marja van Bijsterveldt, shows that pupils reach a higher level of English while retaining their Dutch capability. The department of Applied Linguistics of the University of Groningen is conducting the research project entitled ‘The Foreign Languages in Primary School Project’ (FLiPP) together with Utrecht University and the ‘European Platform – Internationalising Education’.

Influential authors fashioned a pessimistic take on society in Dutch literature between 1990 and 2005, in which the ‘West’ and ‘Islam’ almost automatically collide. In their work and in their columns, interviews and other contributions to the public debate, they sketch a seemingly unbridgeable divide between Muslims and non-Muslims. Literary scholar Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar comes to these conclusions in his thesis, for which he will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 22 March 2012.

Minister Schultz van Haegen spreekt over ‘Planologie in beweging – een nieuwe kijk op ruimte, regels en rollen’. Zij is hoofdspreker van de 5de Planologielezing van de Rijkuniversiteit Groningen.

Mw. dr. Els Borst ontving dondermiddag 8 maart 2012 de Aletta Jacobs Prijs uit handen van rector magnificus Elmer Sterken van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Borst krijgt de prijs vanwege de menslievende en genuanceerde wijze waarop zij medisch-ethische kwesties in het publieke debat op een grensverleggende wijze aan de orde heeft gesteld en voor hetgeen zij daarmee heeft bereikt. Haar werk kan worden gezien als een verlengstuk van de kwesties waar Aletta Jacobs zich in haar tijd voor inzette.

Astronomers at the Kapteyn Institute of the University of Groningen will conduct research in the coming years into the evolution of galaxies in the thinly populated parts of the universe. To this end, they will use images of the Hercules cluster made by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) of the ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.

The brains of hibernating animals undergo wide temperature variations and periods of energy deficiency. Neurobiologist Ate Boerema has shown that changes occurring in the brains of hibernating Syrian hamsters as a result of energy deficiency are very similar to the brain damage in Alzheimer’s sufferers. The Syrian hamster is therefore a reliable model for studying brain changes relating to Alzheimer’s disease. Boerema will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 16 March 2012.

Leerlingen in het voortgezet onderwijs hebben moeite met het toepassen van hun wiskundekennis bij andere vakken. Een probleem dat volgens wiskundeleraar en vakdidacticus Gerrit Roorda op te lossen is door een beter overleg tussen vaksecties. Roorda promoveert 9 maart 2012 aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

The fact that scrub jays continually move their food from one hiding place to another (known as recaching) does not necessarily imply subtle social intelligence on their part – it could simply be due to stress. PhD student Elske van der Vaart discovered this, together with her supervisors Charlotte Hemelrijk and Rineke Verbrugge, with the aid of a computer model. Their study was published on 1 March 2012 in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. Science journalist Michael Balter also writes about their research in the 1 March 2012 issue of Science.

How can a soil bacterium like Bacillus subtilis stay alive in constantly changing circumstances (dry, warm, hot and cold)? Scientists from seven European countries and Australia have exposed Bacillus subtilis to 104 different conditions, and charted how the organism reacts with gene regulation, protein production and conversion products. For the first time, all the levels of regulation in a bacterium have been studied together. The researchers have published their results today in two articles in the leading scientific journal Science.

Het European Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA) van het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, en het Nederlands Kanker Instituut (NKI), ontvangen gezamenlijk 18 miljoen euro subsidie voor de bouw van een nationale onderzoeksfaciliteit voor onderzoek naar kanker en veroudering in muismodellen.

Whether or not a Parkinson’s patient will develop crippling side effects from using the drug levodopa is predicted by a certain variant of a nerve cell receptor. Groningen and Russian pharmacologists made this discovery and will publish their results in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

Participants proved to benefit from a group rehabilitation programme aimed at improving participation of visually impaired elderly. The ‘VIPP’ (Visually Impaired elderly Persons Participating; Actief Meedoen) programme that human movement scientist Manna Alma developed in collaboration with Koninklijke Visio (Royal Dutch Visio, Centre of Expertise for blind and partially sighted people) trains participants in practical and problem-solving skills and physical fitness. The first evaluation shows that they benefit from the programme. Alma will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen for her research on 7 March 2012.

Teenagers who feel rejected by their parents are more likely to seek affection from a boyfriend or girlfriend. They begin dating earlier than teenagers who have a warm relationship with their parents. Teenagers with divorced parents also begin looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend sooner,  according to research by sociologist Katya Ivanova. She will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 5 March 2012.

A number of years ago, Groningen physicists from the Centre for Isotope Research sprayed a snow layer in Greenland that has gradually come to lie deeper in subsequent years. Research on the diffusion of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes to neighbouring layers appears to open up new opportunities for climate research.

De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) heeft in het programma Investeringen NWO-middelgroot landelijk 28 subsidies toegekend voor de aanschaf van apparatuur en het opzetten van dataverzamelingen. De totale investering bedraagt 9,9 miljoen euro. Van de 28 subsidies gaan er zes naar de RUG en het UMCG.

From 1 March 2012, the University of Groningen will be blocking BitTorrent data traffic for all student flats connected to the University network. This is in response to a large number of complaints that the University has received from American copyright agencies about distributing copyrighted material via its network.

This week, scientists from the universities of Groningen (the Netherlands), Cambridge (UK) and Mons (Belgium) published an article in an online Science publication on the physics behind functionality of plastic solar cells.  They have discovered a crucial step in the charge transfer process that explains why this transfer is only partially efficient. This new knowledge paves the way to higher electricity yields of this sustainable source of energy.

Between Saturday 25 February and Sunday 4 March 2012, work will be carried on the railway between: Groningen and Assen; Groningen, Bad Nieuweschans and Leer; Groningen and Veendam.

Onderzoekers van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, de Stichting FOM en het Europese samenwerkingsverband ConceptGraphene hebben ontdekt dat de groei van grafeen op siliciumcarbide een veel langere opslagtijd van magnetische informatie oplevert. Zij ontdekten dit tijdens hun onderzoek naar het transport van magnetische informatie in grafeen, het koolstof kristalrooster van één atoom dik, met als doel een materiaal te vinden waarmee op grotere schaal magnetische informatie kan worden verwerkt. Dit is nodig voor gebruik in toepassingen zoals bijvoorbeeld de kwantumcomputer. Zij publiceerden hun resultaten op 20 februari in Nanoletters.

Op 4 juni 2012 organiseert NWO in samenwerking met de Vereniging van Wetenschapsjournalisten in Nederland (VWN) en de Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten (NVJ) wederom het jaarlijkse evenement Bessensap. Journalisten, voorlichters en mediagenieke onderzoekers komen samen onder het motto: ’Wetenschap ontmoet pers’, in het Museon te Den Haag.

De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen is op zoek naar het beste profielwerkstuk van scholieren uit havo 5 en vwo 6, en roept docenten en scholieren op om voor 1 maart 2012 hun werkstukken in te sturen.

Researchers from the University of Groningen and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) have developed a technique to simply measure the magnetic moment of electrons (the spin) using non-magnetic contacts. They demonstrated the technique in graphene, a layer of carbon one atom thick. The use of non-magnetic contacts could yield simpler designs for nano-devices that use spin current. Such equipment is currently used in hard discs to make these faster and more efficient. The researchers published their results on 12 February 2012 online in the renowned journal Nature Physics.

Some 50 feral cats are running around the Schiermonnikoog National Park, a recent study by the University of Groningen shows. These feral cats mainly live on field mice, rabbits, hares and birds. The cat population does not appear to have increased very much since the cull in the early 1990s ended.
Feral cats are not dependent on humans. They live ‘in the wild’, where they scavenge for their food and rear their litters of young.

Irene Tieleman and her group focus on the relationship between birds’ physiological characteristics (such as energy consumption, immune system and stress hormones), their behaviour and life history (clutch size and lifespan) and the way these factors interact with their surroundings (e.g. risk of disease in certain areas). Field research is conducted in Arctic and temperate areas, as well as in the tropics and the desert. Tieleman acquired substantial funding for her research and is a Rosalind Franklin Fellow at the University of Groningen.

Eigenaar-bewoners zijn aan bijkomende woonlasten op jaarbasis gemiddeld 193 euro (5,0 procent) meer kwijt dan een jaar geleden. Dat komt vooral doordat de energieprijs en het eigenwoningforfait zijn gestegen. De overdrachtsbelasting en de opstalverzekering kosten de burger minder dan vorig jaar. Dit blijkt uit de Woonlastenmonitor 2012, die is opgesteld door het Centrum voor Onderzoek van de Economie van de Lagere Overheden (COELO) van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

The UMCG/University of Groningen and FrieslandCampina dairy foods are going to develop food products which should combat low-grade infections in the human body. Low-grade infections are the result of the wrong diet for years on end. The infections can lead to many chronic disorders and typically Western diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease.

On Friday 17 February, over 5000 secondary school students will visit the Open Day on Location at the University of Groningen, where they will be offered a thorough introduction to up to four degree programmes. To participate in the Open Day, registration via www.rug.nl/studiekiezers is required.

It’s a bit of a miracle: brain activity related to language comprehension can be measured as extremely weak electrical signals on the scalp. If the sentence ‘On his sandwich, Jan was having…’ is finished off with the word ‘socks’, this leads to the reader having an N400, a negative peak in the signal that occurs 400 milliseconds after the reader registers the word ‘socks’. Most researchers think that this N400 is a measure of the ease with which a sentence is understood. Harm Brouwer, however, manages to prove this wrong in an article in Brain Research, which is almost certain to result in at least five language comprehension models being discarded.

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), elevated blood pressure in the lungs, is a rare but serious disorder of the blood vessels in the lungs. Although it usually affects adults, it may also develop in childhood. The symptoms in children with PAH are different from those in adults. Children are more likely to suffer brief and sudden periods of unconsciousness than adults. There is also evidence of a characteristic pattern of associated illnesses, including congenital heart defects and other genetic disorders. These are among the findings of a registration study carried out by Professor Rolf Berger from the Paediatric Cardiology department of the Beatrix Children’s Hospital UMCG. Berger concludes that information obtained from research performed in adults with PAH should not be used for diagnosing and treating children with the same condition, without further consideration. The results of the study were recently published in The Lancet.

Researchers from the University of Groningen have developed a nanoscale cooling element that can be switched on and off magnetically. The functioning of the elements is based on the magnetic moment of the electrons (the spin). These easily controllable nanoscale cooling elements could provide a solution for the growing problem of heat production in increasingly smaller electronic components.

Bas Eenhoorn, burgemeester van Alphen aan den Rijn, spreekt maandag 13 februari de 4de planologielezing uit.

Further information about the research can be found in:

M.S. Bügel, P.C. Verhoef, T. Hoving-Wesselius, T. Wiesel, E.de Haan, J.T.Bouma, L.Teunter and T. Alleman (2012), Dutch Customer Performance Index 2012: Univé levert beste klantprestaties. Tijdschrift voor Marketing, February 2012.
(See: http://www.rug.nl/feb/nieuws/archief/2011/120119DCPI2012.pdf [PDF])

P.C. Verhoef, T. Hoving-Wesselius, M.S. Bügel and T. Wiesel (2012), Verbeterde klantprestaties van banken, Economische Statistische Berichten, 3 February 2012

Website: www.dcpi.nl

Laura Batstra van de Faculteit Gedrags- en Maatschappijwetenschappen is de winnaar van de Docent van het Jaarprijs 2011. De Publieksprijs en de Webprijs werden gewonnen door Francesco Picchioni  van de Faculteit Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen.

Researchcentrum SPRINT heeft een subsidie van 1.5 miljoen euro van Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland (SNN) toegekend gekregen. Met deze subsidie zal SPRINT binnenkort 16 nieuwe projecten starten, die allemaal gericht zijn op het bevorderen van de mobiliteit van ouderen. SPRINT, op 29 juni 2011 geopend, krijgt hiermee een vliegende start.

Gastrointestinal problems such as stitches, diarrhoea and stomach-ache are well known to recreational runners. Rinze ter Steege, who is training to become a gastroenterologist/hepatologist at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and Medisch Spectrum Twente, has investigated the prevalence of these problems. He will be awarded a PhD for his research by the University of Groningen on 8 February 2012.

Although Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is faced with a number of challenges,  its personnel policy is both professional and idealistic, according to research by University of Groningen sociologist Valeska Korff. She will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 9 February 2012.

Three top researchers from Groningen are to be given EUR 1.5 million each to carry out research over the next five years. They have been awarded a Vici grant under the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Vici is one of the largest personal scientific grants in the Netherlands.

In groep 1 en 2 van de basisschool kunnen kinderen sneller en beter leren rekenen met een meer systematisch opgebouwd onderwijsprogramma. Voor oudere kinderen biedt een rekenaanbod met systematisch gebruik van visuele hulpmiddelen, zoals blokjes en kralenkettingen, veel voordelen. Dit blijkt uit de studie van NWO-onderzoekers Egbert Harskamp en Annemieke Jacobse, beiden werkzaam aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

On Thursday 2 February 2012, Education Day is set to take place. The day will begin with a seminar on education which will cover such subjects as the new role of the Boards of Examiners, how to foster talent, broad Bachelor’s degree programmes and IT in teaching. The University of Groningen Lecturer of the Year Award 2011 will take place after the seminar.

Voor het eerst is aangetoond dat overgewicht in combinatie met roken tijdens de zwangerschap een extra verhoogd risico op hartafwijkingen bij het ongeboren kind geeft, in vergelijking tot beide factoren afzonderlijk. Arts-onderzoeker Marlies Baardman van de afdeling Genetica van het UMCG heeft dit vastgesteld met behulp van de database van Eurocat Noord Nederland. Zij voerde het onderzoek uit in een samenwerkingsverband van de afdelingen Genetica, Kindercardiologie en Epidemiologie van het UMCG. De resultaten zijn deze week gepubliceerd in het wetenschappelijk tijdschrift Heart.

A good night’s sleep is hard to come by in our current 24-hour society. However, a lack of sleep can have a very damaging effect on the brain. The Groningen neurobiologist Peter Meerlo and his colleague Arianna Novati have shown that the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in learning, memory and emotions, even shrinks in rats with chronic sleep deprivation.

On Tuesday 31 January 2012, the University of Groningen Humanities Computing degree programme will celebrate its 25th anniversary. The celebrations will be marked by a symposium and two inaugural lectures by professors in humanities computing at the University, who will discuss how computers understand language.

Making a distinction between ‘good’ subcutaneous abdominal fat and ‘bad’ visceral abdominal fat, which sits under the abdominal muscles and surrounds the organs, is important when determining the risks of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. To this end, the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) has developed and validated a new ultrasound technique. The technique is cheaper and less burdensome than CT or MRI scans, which are often used for the same purpose. Researcher Emanuella de Lucia Rolfe has demonstrated that measuring abdominal fat with ultrasound gives reliable results in babies, children and adults. De Lucia Rolfe will be awarded a PhD on 30 January 2012 by the University of Groningen for her research.

Animals have smart strategies to defend themselves against predators. Poison frogs are good examples: with bright colours they warn predators that they are distasteful. But why are some poison frogs blue, and others red or yellow?  Research by Martine Maan (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Molly Cummings (University of Texas at Austin, USA) provides an answer to this question: colours can predict very accurately how toxic a poison frog is.

Researchers from the Johann Bernoulli Institute, University of Groningen,  and from the Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Birmingham/UK, have developed a novel urine test for the diagnosis of adrenal cancer. This breakthrough is reported in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Astronomers at the University of Groningen Kapteyn Institute have succeeded for the first time in calculating the weight distribution of dark matter on an extremely small scale, based on observations. In an article in Nature this week they describe how a depiction of a galaxy was analysed using a gravitational lens. ‘This analysis provides a unique way to test theories on dark matter’, says research leader Prof. Léon Koopmans.

The speed you drive at is often presented as purely a conscious and purposeful choice. However recent research from the University of Groningen published in the journal PLoS ONE suggests that speed choice is not purely conscious, for instance, emotions you may not even know you are having, may impact on the speed at which you drive.

A thin veneer, known as a facing, could help people with old, discoloured fillings in their front teeth and be an alternative for a crown. Marco Gresnigt, dentist-researcher at the UMCG, has demonstrated this in research which has revealed that it is possible to fit a facing after preparation of the old filling, thus negating the need for a crown. Gresnigt will be awarded a PhD for his research on 18 January 2012 by the University of Groningen.

De grote gemeenten verhogen hun woonlasten dit jaar met gemiddeld 2,3 procent, weinig meer dan de inflatie (2 procent). Dit blijkt uit het rapport Kerngegevens belastingen grote gemeenten 2012, dat is opgesteld door het Centrum voor Onderzoek van de Economie van de Lagere Overheden (COELO) van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Het UMCG start in samenwerking met vier andere ziekenhuizen in Nederland een onderzoek naar de beschermende werking van vitamine D én zoutbeperking bij nierpatiënten. De verwachting is dat de toevoeging van deze combinatie aan de standaardbehandeling met medicijnen zal leiden tot minder nierschade.

Met de benoeming van drie internationale toponderzoekers op het gebied van veroudering heeft het European Research Institute on the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA) van het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen zijn selectie van topwetenschappers bijna rond. Ook werd in de afgelopen maanden door ERIBA-onderzoekers in totaal €5 miljoen aan subsidie verworven. Hiermee gaan zij fundamenteel onderzoek doen naar verouderingsprocessen en de ziekten die daarmee gepaard gaan.

De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen biedt voor het zevende achtereenvolgende jaar leerlingen uit 6 VWO met wiskunde A, wiskunde B, wiskunde C, natuurkunde, scheikunde, economie, management en organisatie of biologieeen examentraining aan.

The lecture by the renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on 12 January can also be watched in three lecture halls at the University of Groningen. Tickets for the lecture ‘Darwin’s Five Bridges’ in the Nieuwe Kerk are sold out.

Researchers from the University of Bath and the University of Groningen have established a mathematical model that goes some way to explain the very strange mating behaviour of the tiny Penduline tit. This misbehaving European bird has a unique attitude to relationships, often resulting in fertilised eggs being abandoned and partners being ‘divorced’.

Sara Schaafsma studied Papuans to discover why after years of evolution left-handedness can still occur despite being related to certain health problems. She concludes that the prevailing hypothesis that left-handedness continues to exist because it is advantageous in a fight is incorrect. Good health care seems to be a more likely reason for its continued existence. Schaafsma will defend her thesis on 6 January 2012 at the University of Groningen.

On December 9 2011, the Wim Nieuwpoort Award 2011 was granted to Prof. Hans De Raedt (Computational Physics — Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials) for the proposal ‘Massively Parallel Quantum Dynamics Simulator’. The Wim Nieuwpoort award is meant for Dutch research teams that have demonstrated to be able to efficiently run scientific applications on a significant part of a large Dutch national HPC system.

In 2014 the University of Groningen will celebrate its 4th centenary. The University will celebrate its 400th anniversary (80th lustrum) between 15 May and 15 June 2014 together with the entire University community and everyone else with a warm spot in their heart for the institution. The anniversary theme will be: 4∞. Or read otherwise: ‘For Infinity’.

Guidelines for University of Groningen students and staff regarding Japan, December 2011

International migration statistics are less trustworthy than thought – many more people than we think are emigrating, according to research by Joop de Beer. This means the working population is smaller than thought. De Beer has been awarded a PhD on 15 December 2011 by the Faculty of Spatial Sciences.

The American Physical Society (APS) has appointed Prof. Beatriz Noheda ‘Fellow of the American Physical Society’.

Prof. Ben Feringa has been awarded the Van ’t Hoff medal 2011. The medal is awarded once every ten years by the University of Amsterdam for work in the field of chemistry.

Patients with chronic kidney disease who react well to antihypertensive medication benefit from limiting their salt intake. The less salt they eat, the better able they are to prevent advancing renal function loss. The chances of becoming dependent on dialysis in the long term are thus reduced.

Volgens Intermediair behoort de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen tot de beste werkgevers van Nederland. In het Intermediair Beste Werkgevers Onderzoek 2011 staat de RUG op de 38e plaats. Net als vorig jaar is de RUG de enige onderwijsinstelling in de lijst van beste 49 werkgevers. 

The Association of Regional Water Authorities is considering changing the way water authorities levy taxes. The plan is intended to be implemented as of 1 January 2013. The charges will then fall even more on the shoulders of house owners. Landowners (farmers) will benefit. This has been revealed by an analysis conducted by COELO published in Weekblad Fiscaal Recht, a weekly for accountants and tax officials. COELO (the Centre for Research on Local Government Economics) is a research institute linked to the University of Groningen.

The Supervisory Board of the University of Groningen has appointed Jan de Jeu as a member of the Board of the University. De Jeu is currently a partner in the management advisory firm Twynstra Gudde. He will join the staff of the University of Groningen on 1 January 2012.

De hoogte van de bloedspiegels van de eiwitten BNP en NT-proBNP zijn sterke voorspellers voor het optreden van complicaties als gevolg van hart- en vaatziekten op langere termijn. De biomarkers BNP en NT-proBNP worden door de hartspier gemaakt onder invloed van overbelasting en doorbloedingsstoornissen. Deze biomarkers zijn op eenvoudige manier te meten in het bloed. Dit blijkt uit het promotieonderzoek van cardioloog Gerard Linssen waarop hij 28 november 2011 promoveert aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. 

Correct handwriting identification can be very important in a court case to determine who is the writer of, for example, a handwritten threatening letter or a possibly forged suicide note. Handwriting biometrics is the technology where computers analyse handwriting. Axel Brink has developed a new computer technology (Quill) to verify and identify handwriting. He will be awarded a PhD for his research by the University of Groningen on 2 December 2011.

Groningen will gain a unique teaching, research and innovation institute on the theme of energy. The Energy Academy Europe (EAE) is the initiative of the University of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen. The starting gun was fired for the EAE on Wednesday 23 November at the closing of the Energy Delta Convention, an international congress held in Groningen from 21 to 23 November.

A short training course in a traffic simulator lasting approximately an hour enhances the way that young drivers recognize and respond to hazardous traffic situations. This is the main finding from research conducted by Willem Vlakveld of the Dutch national road safety research institute (SWOV). He will be awarded a PhD on 30 November 2011 by the University Medical Center Groningen. He will be awarded a PhD in Medical Sciences. His promotors are prof. W.H. Brouwer, prof. D.L. Fisher and prof. K.A. Brookhuis.

The internationally renowned evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins will visit the Faculty of Mathematics & Natural Sciences on 12 and 13 January 2012 to perform the opening ceremony for the new Life Sciences Building. On Thursday 12 January Dawkins will give a public lecture in the Nieuwe Kerk. Friday 13 January he will first debate with a select group of biology students and then officially open the new Life Sciences building, the Linnaeusborg.

The metal-on-metal hip prosthesis has no advantages over the metal-on-plastic system. This is remarkable, as it was developed specifically as an alternative to the metal-on-plastic type, which is not very wear-resistant. The metal-on-metal prosthesis also has a negative effect on bone quality, as it gives off metal ions. Orthopaedic surgeon Wierd Zijlstra made these findings in the course of research he conducted at the Martini Hospital and the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). Zijlstra will be awarded his PhD on 23 November 2011 by the University of Groningen.

Van 15 tot en met 18 november vindt het voorlichtingsevenement Master your talent plaats aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. De masteropleidingen van de RUG presenteren zich aan de belangstellenden. Dat doen ze op hun eigen locatie, in hun eigen gebouwen. Docenten, studieadviseurs en studenten vertellen over de inhoud van de masterprogramma’s. Alumni laten zien welke mogelijkheden er zijn na het afstuderen.

De onderzoeksgroep van prof.dr. Theunis Piersma heeft een zogeheten TOP-subsidie van NWO gekregen voor de ontwikkeling en toepassing van individuele volgsystemen voor trekvogels op alle tijd- en ruimteschalen.

De TOP-subsidie bedraagt € 722.000 en is bestemd voor onderzoek aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en bij het NIOZ Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonderzoek.

Most Dutch and German civil court judges support European integration. They accept EU expectations regarding their role as decentralized judges and they have faith in the European Court of Justice. Their perception of European law is based mainly on the problems and possibilities they are confronted with in their judicial work. These are the findings of a study by Tobias Nowak, Marc Hertogh and Mark Wissink of the University of Groningen and fellow academic Fabian Amtenbrink of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The social relationships that a prisoner detained under hospital order enters into can help predict the chance that he will reoffend. This has been revealed by research conducted by sociologist Ruud van der Horst for which he will be awarded a PhD on 7 November 2011 by the University of Groningen.

Pre-schoolers become more aware of complex emotions like shyness and jealousy if teachers read with them rather than to them when reading picture books aloud. This has been revealed by research by Aletta Kwant, who will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 10 November 2011. Kwant developed a specific reading-aloud programme and investigated which picture books were most suitable for the social-emotional development of preschoolers. 

Prof. Sibrand Poppema, President of the Board of the University of Groningen, signed a renewed cooperation agreement with Rector Nikolay Kroachev of St Petersburg State University on 21 October, in the company of Prime Minster Mark Rutte.

During the visit by a University of Groningen delegation to Russia, President of the Board of the University, Prof. Sibrand Poppema, signed a Memorandum on Cooperation with the Skolkovo Foundation.

Het meerjarige programma Cultuur in de Spiegel dat de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen samen met SLO en een twaalftal scholen uitvoert, loopt voorspoedig. Het doel van het project is een theoretisch kader en een raamleerplan te ontwikkelen voor cultuuronderwijs gericht op leerlingen van 4 tot 18 jaar. De ambitie is docenten en scholen een handvat te leveren waarmee zij een doorlopende leerlijn cultuureducatie kunnen ontwikkelen die aansluit bij hun visie en afgestemd is op hun leerlingen.

Circussensatie The 7 Fingers, het wereldberoemde dansgezelschap La La La Human Steps en Nederlandse premières van Québécoise speelfilms. Dit zijn enkele highlights die te zien zijn tijdens het Québec Festival, van vrijdag 4 t/m zondag 13 november 2011. Voor dit festival hebben De Oosterpoort & de Stadsschouwburg Groningen, het Groninger Forum en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen de handen ineengeslagen.

Het gaat niet alleen om hoe je zingt, maar ook om waar je zingt. Dat samen bepaalt je boodschap en je kwaliteit als zanger, en dus als man. Dat geldt in ieder geval voor vrijgezelle nachtegalen, en daarmee waarschijnlijk voor meer communicerende dieren.

Zaterdag 29 oktober 2011 viert Nederland de zevende Nacht van de Nacht. Met de Nacht van de Nacht vragen De Natuur- en Milieufederaties en Natuur & Milieu aandacht voor de schoonheid en het belang van donkere nachten. Het sterrenkundige Kapteyn Instituut van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen steunt de Nacht van de Nacht met een publieksavond in de Blaauw Sterrenwacht.

De financieel onbezorgde oude dag is een illusie. Dat was het altijd al, maar nu lijkt het door te dringen tot het grote publiek èn tot de pensioenfondsen zelf,' zegt prof. dr. Bert Scholtens van de faculteit Economie en Bedrijfskunde. 'Als we niks doen gaan met name de oude fondsen snel ten onder.'

A University of Groningen delegation led by Prof. Sibrand Poppema is visiting Russia this week. On Wednesday 19 October Poppema signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Moscow State University Lomonosov

The system effects resulting from banks’ behaviour during the credit crisis are much greater than expected. The financial world has underestimated the risk to the system of these effects, which are also known as second-round effects. Economist Jan Willem van den End came to this conclusion in PhD research which investigated how banks and governments acted during the crisis. Van den End is a senior economist at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

Only 46 percent of teachers in secondary education feel satisfied, involved and competent when teaching. Nearly 20 percent of teachers are only somewhat satisfied and do not feel very involved with their profession. This has been revealed by research conducted by Esther Canrinus, for which she will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 27 October 2011.

Thijs van der Hulst, professor of extragalactic radio astronomy at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute of the University of Groningen, has been awarded a prestigious Advanced Investigator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC Advanced Grant programme supports excellent established researchers with pioneering research projects. Van der Hulst has won a grant of EUR 2.5 million for the five-year project ‘The HI Story of Galaxy Evolution in the Nearby Universe’.

 

Piezoelectric materials have the potential to play a great role in society by harvesting the energy that is wasted ubiquitously as vibrations (from cars, house appliances, industrial machine) and transforming it into electricity. But in order to fulfil our dream of paving roads, railways and homes with piezoelectrics, these materials have to be made lighter, thinner and less toxic than the ones available today. An important step into this direction has been achieved by a team led by Beatriz Noheda. The results have been published in Nature Materials.

Een jaar na het slaan van de eerste paal voor de bouw van ERIBA, mag het nieuwe Groningse onderzoeksinstituut zich verheugen in een grote belangstelling van onderzoekers uit de hele wereld. In het European Institute on the Biology of Ageing van het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen gaan wetenschappers fundamenteel onderzoek doen naar verouderingsprocessen en de ziekten die daarmee gepaard gaan.

As part of the Green Deal, the Cabinet has made funds available for the Energy Academy.  The Minister of Economic Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, has allocated EUR 6 million to the Energy Academy (higher education) and the Energy College (MBO, senior secondary vocational education), to fund programmes on sustainable energy. Together they will be training highly skilled experts and researchers at all levels.

On Wednesday 28 September, the Groningen Centre of Energy Law (GCEL) celebrated its fifth anniversary with the conference ‘Five Years of Energy Law in Groningen – Academics meet Practice’. The GCEL was praised by keynote speaker Philip Lowe, Director-General for Energy of the European Commission, and Prof. Sibrand Poppema, President of the Board of the University of Groningen.

Seeing an illustration of something sweet, while eating food with a sweet taste-aroma combination makes that food taste even sweeter. This result means that by showing illustrations a sweet food product can give a greater sweetness experience, even if it actually contains less sugar. This has been revealed by a study conducted by brain researcher Marije van Beilen of the University Medical Center Groningen. She will publish an article on her research 29 September 2011 in the scientific magazine PLoS One.

Approximately 10-15% of young people suffer unexplained somatic symptoms that have a great impact on their lives. Researcher Karin Janssens from the University Medical Center Groningen has explored the possible causes of these symptoms. Janssens’ research shows that unexplained somatic symptoms in adolescents are related to biological processes (physical reaction to stress, puberty), psychological risk factors (anxiety, depression and stress during a stress test) and social risk factors (over-protective parents, missing school). Janssens used data collected from 2,230 adolescents as part of the long-term TRAILS research. She will be awarded a PhD for her research findings on 5 October 2011 at the University of Groningen.

When presenting its new budget (miljoenennota), the Dutch Cabinet claimed it will strengthen the economy and aid business. ‘My calculations show, however, that the tax burden for businesses will increase’, says Professor Flip de Kam. ‘This is aggravated by the fact that the Cabinet is attempting to stick to the coalition agreement, which entails cuts in education and infrastructure. Yet these are the very drivers of potential growth.’

A new operating technique involving a tumour-specific fluorescent dye and a hypersensitive camera system has been used for the first time in the world by the University Medical Center Groningen to treat women with ovarian cancer. This type of cancer is often only discovered at a very late stage and as a result has a very poor prognosis. The new operating technique makes the tumour tissue light up. For the first time ever it has been proven that cancerous tissue can indeed be detected using a tumour-specific dye. According to UMCG surgeon Dr Go van Dam, the use of tumour-specific fluorescent dyes is an entirely new approach to cancer treatment, which could lead to better tumour detection and excision when dealing with ovarian cancer and breast cancer, and other types as well. The findings are being published today in leading journal Nature Medicine.

Maandag 19 september 2011 gaat de Zout Express, een initiatief van AkzoNobel, Dagblad van het Noorden, Leeuwarder Courant en de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, van start bij de Koningin Beatrixschool te Meppel. De belangstelling voor de vierde editie van de Zout Express was wederom groot. In de komende weken brengt de educatieve truck een bezoek aan méér dan vijftig basisscholen in Groningen, Friesland en Drenthe.

Most professionals working in diabetes care use the HbA1c level to decide whether they should advise their patients to change treatment or not. Ms Erna Lenters-Westra, a researcher working at the clinical chemical laboratory of the Isala Klinieken in Zwolle, has shown that most of the small, easy-to-use instruments for measuring HbA1c blood levels are not sufficiently accurate. If these instruments are used to diagnose diabetes, this may lead to either overestimation or underestimation of the number of people with the disease as well as the degree of dysregulation in these patients. Lenters-Westra will be awarded a PhD (21 September 2011) by the University of Groningen for her research.

Research conducted in Groningen has yielded a technique that makes it possible to have drugs delivered directly to the colon. This may lead to more effective treatment of bowel diseases such as colitis ulcerosa and Crohn’s disease, and the technique could also help to combat overweight. What’s more, drugs that now must be injected could be administered as a pill. On 23 September 2011, pharmacist Reinout Schellekens will be awarded a PhD for his research by the University of Groningen.

On 1 September 2011, Jeroen Smit was appointed professor of Journalism at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen.

Researchers at the University of Groningen and the University of Alberta have investigated which factors are involved in the differences in pronunciation between standard Dutch and hundreds of Dutch dialects.

As of November 2011, Duisenberg school of finance and the University of Groningen will jointly offer the Executive Master of Business Valuation degree programme. The university has been offering this programme for two years, and merger and acquisition experts already acknowledge this as the leading programme in the sector. With this cooperation, the programme will be strongly embedded in the financial sector.

De Faculteit Godgeleerdheid en Godsdienstwetenschap van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen krijgt bijzonder hoogleraren die alle modaliteiten en organisaties uit de volle breedte van de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland (PKN) vertegenwoordigen.

The University of Groningen has climbed from 120th to 115th place in the QS World University Ranking. The successor of the Times Higher Education ranking – QS and THES split up two years ago – announced the 2011 results this week. ‘Our aim now is to enter the top 100 of the most important university ranking lists next year’, says Sibrand Poppema, President of the Board of the University of Groningen.

Rhodococcus equi bacteria can cause a lethal form of equine pneumonia in foals. Despite the seriousness of the disease (known as ‘rattles’), until now there was no vaccine available. Researchers at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB) of the University of Groningen have now succeeded in developing a highly promising candidate vaccine. They recently published their research in PLoS Pathogens.

Mixing ethnic minority and indigenous schoolchildren does not benefit their learning performance, says the Cabinet. Projects designed to stimulate mixed schools will thus no longer be supported. This is a missed chance, research by sociologist Tobias Stark demonstrates. At mixed schools, pupils develop a positive attitude towards other ethnic groups. ‘Although the learning performance might remain the same, mixed schools definitely promote integration’, according to Stark. He will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 8 September 2011.

On Thursday 1 September 2011, Secretary of State Zijlstra of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) will open the Tsinghua-Groningen Joint Research Centre for China-EU Relations in the Chinese capital Beijing. The centre is a cooperation between the University of Groningen and Tsinghua University in Beijing. Students of International Relations from China will follow courses there about Europe and conduct research on the relationship between China and the European Union.

The CONSENT project, co-ordinated by the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, seeks to examine how consumer behaviour and commercial practices are changing the role of consent in the processing of personal data. The CONSENT project has launched an online survey across all of Europe to collect the views of internet users. Responses to this survey will be studied and feedback obtained will be taken into consideration when preparing policy briefs for the European Commission.

The Aletta Jacobs Prize 2012 of the University of Groningen will be presented to Dr Els Borst. Els Borst is being awarded the prize in recognition of the nuanced way she has initiated public debate on medical-ethical issues and what she has achieved as a result. Her work can be seen as an extension of the issues in which Aletta Jacobs was involved in her time. The Aletta Jacobs Prize will be presented on 8 March 2012.

We are a step closer to solving one of the most important scientific challenges issued by Science in 2005. The Groningen chemist Prof. Ben Feringa and his team have succeeded in assembling a nano system and then disassembling it using light. Control of this principle is important for targeted administration of drugs, among other things. A publication in Nature Nanotechnology has been online since 14 August.

Science LinX, het science center van de faculteit Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen van de RUG, staat op theaterfestival Noorderzon. In het science paviljoen Qu3, een kubus van duizend kubieke meter, hebben kunst en wetenschap een spannende ontmoeting. Qu3 is een samenwerking van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen,  de Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Groningse scholen en ROC’s en toont Groningen als echte City of Talent. Qu3 staat nu voor het tweede jaar op Noorderzon, vorig jaar was het al een van de drukst bezochte bijdragen.

At Thursday August 18th 2011, eight knowledge institutes in The Netherlands launch their climate research partnership in the form of ICOS-nl. The launch will take place at the KNMI measurement mast in Cabauw.

Jet Langerak, vierdejaars student sociologie, is de nieuwe huisdichter van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Zij volgt Joost Oomen op en is de twaalfde huisdichter van de RUG op een rij.

In het najaar van 2011 is Annejet van der Zijl gastschrijver aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Faculteit der Letteren. Zij verzorgt dan een aantal openbare lezingen en een reeks werkcolleges voor studenten van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen met als thema ‘Schrijven is verleiden’. Van der Zijl is vooral bekend van haar literaire werken 'Anna', de biografie van Annie M.G. Schmidt en Sonny Boy.

The University of Groningen was successful in two elements of the Erasmus Mundus programme: acquiring a European label for Joint Master and Joint Doctorate programmes (known as Action 1) and in the section for global mobility grants from the European Commission for students, PhD students, postdocs and staff (known as Action 2).

At the 2011 annual EurOMA conference – Europe’s leading conference on operations management – two PhD students of the Faculty of Economics and Business were honored. Both PhD students are part of the research programme OPERA (Operations Management and Operations Research).

Mark van Loon uit Roosendaal, Yutao Gui uit Best, Joris Coenen uit Hedel, Nastasha Wijers uit Heerhugowaard en Henk Alkema uit Schijndel horen bij de beste natuurkundeleerlingen van de wereld. Zij gingen afgelopen week de strijd aan met 393 internationale deelnemers van de Internationale Natuurkunde Olympiade in Bangkok. De deelnemers uit 84 verschillende landen waren geselecteerd via de nationale Natuurkunde Olympiades, die in Nederland dit jaar bij de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen plaatsvond.

On Thursday 29 September, Nobel laureate Al Gore will be opening the EBF Conference, the annual conference of the Economics and Business Faculty Society of the University of Groningen, in the Martiniplaza. The former Vice President of the United States will give a lecture that day on climate change, sustainability and responsible leadership. The EBF is delighted to invite representatives of the business world to register for the conference and attend Gore’s lecture.

Prof. D.J. Slotboom and Prof. A.M. van Oijen of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Prof. J.J. Schuringa and Dr E.A.A. Nollen of the University Medical Center Groningen will each be awarded a EUR 1.5 million European ERC grant for their research. The ERC grants are intended to further reinforce outstanding research teams.

Prof.dr. Durk Wiersma ontving 7 juli 2011 een Koninklijke Onderscheiding bij zijn afscheid als hoogleraar. Wiersma was bijzonder hoogleraar in de klinische epidemiologie van psychiatrische stoornissen bij de Faculteit Medische Wetenschappen/ Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen. Hij is benoemd tot Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau.

De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) heeft drie jonge, veelbelovende RUG-onderzoekers financiering uit het programma Rubicon toegekend. Met Rubicon geeft NWO pas gepromoveerde Nederlandse wetenschappers de kans om onderzoekservaring op te doen in het buitenland. Ook haalt NWO met Rubicon talent uit het buitenland naar Nederland. Zo kan NWO de internationale mobiliteit van wetenschappelijk talent stimuleren. In totaal krijgen 28 jonge onderzoekers een Rubicon.

Een grootscheepse genetische studie naar het ontstaan van de ziekte van Dupuytren toont aan dat genetische factoren een belangrijke rol spelen bij het ontstaan van de ziekte. Negen genen geassocieerd met de ziekte zijn in kaart gebracht. Deze ontdekking verschaft nieuw inzicht in het ontstaan van de ziekte. Dit onderzoek is het eerste waarmee de genen-databank LifeLines van het UMCG haar waarde aantoont. De onderzoeksresultaten zijn vandaag gepubliceerd in de New England Journal of Medicine. Promovendus Guido Dolmans verrichtte het onderzoek onder leiding van plastisch chirurg Paul Werker en genetica Cisca Wijmenga uit het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen, en geneticus Roel Ophoff uit UMCU samen met plastisch chirurgen van zes ziekenhuizen in Nederland.

Social skills programmes meant to curb aggressive children’s behaviour in special primary Cluster 4 education do not always have the intended effect. In some cases schools are unable to provide the programmes adequately, but another reason is that their effect may be undone by group processes in the class. It is often incorrectly assumed that all children for whom the programme is intended will benefit from an identical approach to their aggressive behaviour. This is the result of research conducted by Marieke Visser, who will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 14 July 2011.

Robbert Maseland, assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) of the University of Groningen, has won the Gratama Science Award 2011.

Today, Prof. Sibrand Poppema, President of the University of Groningen, and Mr Bert Verveld, Secretary General, opened the 2011 Arab European University Association Presidents’ Meeting. The conference started with interesting and challenging lectures in the Academy Building of the University of Groningen. ‘We work together to the benefit of our people and especially the younger generation’, said Prof Sultan Abu Orabi, secretary general of AEUA. ‘I think the doors to opportunities are wide open, but we must cooperate more effectively to walk through these doors.’

From 3 to 5 July 2011, the University of Groningen will welcome some 75 Arab and European university presidents who will be attending the President’s Meeting of the Arab European University Association (AEUA).

In Firdgum (Friesland) zijn archeologen van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen momenteel bezig met een opgraving in de dorpsterp. Over een lengte van 160 meter is een doorsnede door de terp blootgelegd. De opgraving is tijdens een open dag op zaterdag 2 juli 2011 te bewonderen.

Op verzoek van het Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties - Wonen, Wijken en Integratie stelde het instituut voor Integratie en Sociale Weerbaarheid (ISW) het praktijkhandboek ‘Weten wat werkt?’ op.

Prof. Matthias Heinemann of the Department of Molecular Systems Biology has been granted a Young Professor Award by the chemical concern DuPont. He will receive 75,000 dollar for his research.

Gossip is an important indicator of workplace relationships. Lea Ellwardt’s research shows that it can lead to close ties between employees of an organization and can even lead to the development of friendships. Ellwardt will defend her thesis at the University of Groningen on 30 June 2011.

Oud-minister Maria van der Hoeven bracht vandaag een werkbezoek aan de RUG. De aankomend directeur van het Internationaal Energie Agentschap (IEA) sprak op uitnodiging van GasTerra over de toekomst van onderwijs en onderzoek op het gebied van energie. Prof.dr. Sibrand Poppema, voorzitter van het College van Bestuur van de universiteit, gaf tijdens de bijeenkomst een uitgebreide toelichting op de noordelijke ambitie om een Energy Academy op te richten.

The inclusion of Parimaribo’s inner city on the UNESCO world heritage list has not contributed to unifying the ethnic communities. The claim by the UN organization that the architectural colonial heritage in the Surinamese capital is of ‘outstanding universal value’ is unfounded as several communities do not feel at all involved with the old colonial constructions. This has been revealed by research conducted by social geographer Eugenio van Maanen.

Ab Klink en Naema Tahir zijn enkele van de sprekers tijdens het symposium ‘Religie, burgerschap en integratie’ van het Instituut voor Integratie en Sociale Weerbaarheid (ISW). Als dagvoorzitter treedt op prof.drs. Jacques Wallage, bijzonder hoogleraar Integratie en Openbaar Bestuur aan de RUG en voorzitter van de Raad voor het Openbaar Bestuur. Het symposium vindt plaats op woensdag 22 juni 2011, van 12.00-17.00 uur in Het kasteel, Melkweg 1, Groningen.

The University of Groningen lipdub Mr Blue Sky, made in and around the University Library, is now online.

Deze week ontvingen prof.dr. Pieter Sauer, hoogleraar Kindergeneeskunde, en prof.dr. Rob Schaub, hoogleraar Tandheelkundige zorgverlening, een Koninklijke Onderscheiding.

The University Services Department (FB) has been preparing for the asbestos clean-up operation at the Physics and Chemistry building Nijenborgh 4, at the request of the Board of the University of Groningen. An integral modernization plan for Nijenborgh 4 is now being developed more quickly, where the entire building will be stripped and renovated and all asbestos will be removed.

Gerard Heymans (1857-1930), the father of Dutch psychology, was too far ahead of his time, with his use of empirical methods and statistics, to gain recognition in Europe, although his work was valued in the United States. Hence it is no coincidence that the first scholarly biography to be devoted to Heymans had to wait eighty years after his death. Heymans started out as a philosopher but found that psychology was the subject where he could really apply his ideas. Kars Dekker will be awarded a PhD for this belated biography on 23 June 2011.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has given the Album Amicorum, the graduation present for Master’s students and PhD students of the University of Groningen, a Silver Award. CASE – which has its head office in the USA – is regarded as the world’s most important organization of professionals concerned with alumni policy and fundraising in Higher Education.

Op 18 juni spreken aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen inwoners van de stad Groningen zich uit over lokale democratie en referenda. Honderd tot tweehonderd Groningers zullen op die dag discussiëren over de werking van de democratie in hun stad. De discussiebijeenkomst is een initiatief van RUG-onderzoeker Marc Pauly, die via de methode van ‘deliberatieve peiling’ onderzoek doet naar burgerparticipatie. De bijeenkomst vindt plaats in het Academiegebouw.

Filosofe en publiciste Stine Jensen is door de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen verkozen tot Alumnus van het Jaar 2011. Op vrijdag 1 juli wordt de prijs uitgereikt tijdens de Zomerceremonie in het Academiegebouw van de RUG.

Ruim twee procent van de Nederlanders is bekend met een schildklieraandoening en wordt hiervoor ook behandeld. Daarnaast blijkt ongeveer één procent van de Nederlanders een verlaagde schildklierfunctie te hebben zonder dit te weten. Dit laatste aantal is veel groter dan tot nu toe werd aangenomen. Dit blijkt uit recente gegevens van het grote LifeLines-onderzoek, waarin het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen de gezondheid van in totaal 165.000 inwoners van Noord-Nederland volgt. Enkele endocrinologen van het UMCG presenteerden deze week voor het eerst de resultaten van hun onderzoek op het jaarlijkse Endocrine Society Congres in Boston.

It is with great sadness that the University of Groningen has to announce that on 27 May 2011, the Vice President of the Board of the University Professor K. Duppen passed away in his home town of Kropswolde at the age of 58. Only recently, poor health forced Koos Duppen to resign his duties at the University. On Wednesday 18 May 2011, he was decorated as Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau on account of his services to the University and society.

Diabetes type 2 en gewrichtsreuma komen vaker voor bij mensen met tandvleesontsteking dan bij mensen met gezond tandvlees. Bovendien is er een verband tussen de ernst van tandvleesontsteking en de ernst van beide ziektes. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek van arts én tandarts Willem Nesse van het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen. Hij heeft voor zijn onderzoek een nieuwe maat ontwikkeld voor ontstoken tandvlees. Deze geeft nauwkeurig inzicht in de hoeveelheid ontstoken weefsel en de daaraan gekoppelde ontstekingslast voor het gehele lichaam. Op 30 mei 2011 promoveert Nesse op de resultaten van zijn onderzoek aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Het bedrijf Aprycus bv gaat de capaciteitsuitbreiding van het Target-project verzorgen. Via een Europese aanbesteding is de opdracht aan Aprycus gegund tot levering van opslagsystemen, servers en netwerkapparatuur. Target is het grootste publiek-private ICT-project in Nederland. De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen is penvoerder van dit samenwerkingsproject.

Patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are currently treated based on pulmonary function measurements. However, although pulmonary function determines the gravity of the disease, it bears little relation to the number of complaints experienced by COPD patients. According to research by UMCG PhD candidate Janwillem Kocks, measuring these complaints and patients’ health status with a questionnaire proves useful in guiding COPD treatment in daily practice. The questionnaire is also able to accurately predict how the disease will develop during a hospital stay. Kocks will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 1 June 2011.

Peroxisomes are cell organelles that can cause disease and ageing processes if they do not function properly. For the first time ever, University of Groningen researchers have demonstrated that peroxisomes can be created by two independent processes, one of which serves as a kind of ‘backup’. The study was published in the 23 May issue of the authoritative Journal of Cell Biology.

On Monday 23 May 2011, Professor D.E.H. (Dick) de Boer was presented with a Royal Honour by Peter Rehwinkel, Mayor of Groningen. De Boer is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Groningen and director of the Netherlands Research School for Medieval Studies. In addition, he is chair of the Institute for the History of the Netherlands. The honour - Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau - has been presented to mark his retirement. 

Rector Magnificus Elmer Sterken heeft op een drukbezochte bijeenkomst in restaurant Academia de  uitslag van de Universitaire verkiezingen 2011 (studenten en medewerkers) bekendgemaakt.

Op maandag 23 mei 2011 om 16.15 uur houdt prof.dr. Dick E.H. de Boer in de Aula van het Academiegebouw zijn afscheidscollege als hoogleraar middeleeuwse geschiedenis aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, onder de titel ‘Een Boekje open over de Middeleeuwen’. Voorafgaand vindt een afscheidssymposium plaats. Aan het eind van de plechtigheid presenteert De Boer - als een symbolisch afscheidscadeau aan de Groningse samenleving - zijn boek Emo’s Reis. Een historisch culturele ontdekkingstocht door Europa in 1212.

In het Universiteitsmuseum Groningen is vanaf 27 mei 2011  tot en met 23 januari 2012 ‘Beyond the stars – Reis naar de oneindige ruimte’ te bezoeken. Hoogtepunten van deze tentoonstelling zijn de vele spectaculaire foto’s van objecten binnen en buiten ons Melkwegstelsel. Dankzij ultramoderne satellieten en telescopen kan de bezoeker kijken naar exoplaneten, supernova’s en geheimzinnige sterrenstelsels.

On 1 June 2011, University of Groningen professor of Organic Chemistry and Academy Professor Ben Feringa will be appointed Vice President of the prestigious Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( KNAW ).

‘Hoewel geluidsoverlast dodelijk kan zijn, is de huidige wetgeving geluidhinder geen garantie tegen geluidsoverlast,’ betoogt Tjeerd Andringa, onderzoeker aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.’ Met collega Jolie Lanser onderzoekt hij door middel van een online-enquête wat wel en niet wordt ervaren als geluidsoverlast en waarom. Iedereen die in het dagelijks leven gehinderd wordt door geluidsoverlast, kan deelnemen aan het onderzoek via www.soundannoyance.com/onderzoek.html.

The Board of Technology Foundation STW has approved five new research programmes, including the ONTIME programme led by Professor Martha Merrow, chronobiologist at the University of Groningen. Her research explores ways of repairing disturbances in our biological clock.

RTV-Noord, zaterdag 14 mei. Ieder mens maakt fouten. Dat kan grote consequenties te hebben, maar het hoeft niet altijd erg te zijn.

Approximately one in ten children between 7 and 8 years old hear voices. Psychologist Agna Bartels from the University Medical Center Groningen has concluded that this has little impact on most children and that the phenomenon usually disappears of its own accord. She has shown that a number of factors, such as traumatic experiences, can cause children to keep hearing voices or result in delusional behaviour. This is a risk factor for developing psychological problems in later life. Bartels will be awarded a PhD for her research at the University of Groningen on 18 May 2011.

Every year, some 320 women in the Netherlands are diagnosed with vulvar carcinoma (in other words, cancer of the labia). In an effort to improve the treatment on offer, Maaike Oonk, gynaecologist at the University Medical Center Groningen, has been exploring new methods that will make it easier to establish whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the groin (metastasis). A fairly minor procedure, whereby which the sentinel lymph node is removed and examined, has proved successful. If no metastases are found in the sentinel lymph node, the other lymph nodes do not need to be removed. This results in far fewer complications than in the past. This examination has changed the standard treatment for women with vulvar cancer across the globe. On 18 May 2011, Oonk will be awarded a PhD for her research at the University of Groningen.

In 1994 the French speleologist Jean-Marie Chauvet discovered a hidden chamber in a cave near Vallon-Pont d’Arc (Ardèche) whose walls were covered with drawings of animals. Splendid prehistoric cave paintings, the dating of which led to heated debate among archaeologists.

Professor of Molecular Genetics Oscar Kuipers has been awarded the title of ‘Simon Stevin Master 2011’ by the Technical Sciences Foundation (STW). Kuipers will receive a grant of  EUR 500,000 to spend on research as he sees fit.

The ability to regulate their own learning process may be the key factor in whether young footballers ultimately reach the top. The amount they learn during training sessions seems to be at least as important as the number of hours they train. Players from the highest level of Dutch football proved to be the most adept at regulating what they learn. Having a target and a plan as to how to achieve it appears to be the determining factor. These are the findings of research carried out by Tynke Toering, movement scientist at the UMCG/University of Groningen. She will be conferred with a PhD on 11 May 2011 for her research at the University of Groningen.

The quality of chemistry research in the Netherlands is very high and it makes a major contribution at an international level to chemistry-related knowledge. Internationally speaking, a number of research programmes are even frontrunners in their field. These are the conclusions of a visitation committee from quality assessor QANU, which reviewed 58 research programmes at seven Dutch universities.

Leerlingen uit het voortgezet onderwijs hebben via het Bètasteunpunt van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen hun onderzoek gepresenteerd op de ‘International Conference of Young Scientists’ in Moskou, Rusland. Zij hebben een gouden, zilveren en bronzen medaille in de wacht gesleept op de conferentie, waaraan 18 verschillende landen deelnamen.

On Fridaymorning 29 April 2011, seven University of Groningen nominees received a Royal Decoration. Prof. F.T. Oldenhuis has been appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Prof. G.J.E. Ashworth, Prof. G.C.G. Dehue, Prof. H.L.M. Hermans and Prof. L. Hacquebord have been appointed Officers in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Prof. P.G.M. Luiten and Prof. J.M. van der Hulst have been appointed Knights in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Music is not only able to affect your mood – listening to particularly happy or sad music can even change the way we perceive the world, according to researchers from the University of Groningen in the academic journal PLoS ONE.

Het Universitair Onderwijscentrum van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen biedt voor het zesde achtereenvolgende jaar leerlingen uit 6 VWO een examentraining aan. In drie dagen worden leerlingen klaargestoomd voor het betreffende VWO examen. Afgelopen weekend hebben ruim 100 leerlingen de eerste trainingsdagen gevolgd. In totaal zijn al bijna 550 inschrijvingen binnen gekomen en zijn de beschikbare plaatsen nagenoeg vol.

Uit het onderzoek 'Brain drain of brain gain? Hoger opgeleiden in grote steden in Nederland' in opdracht van Nicis Institute blijkt dat de brain drain een hardnekkig misverstand is. Volgens dit onderzoek blijven in de HBO-/WO-studie steden meer academici en hoogopgeleide jongeren 'hangen' dan er vertrekken.

Curaçao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but has independent legislation that forbids abortion. In 1999, a policy of tolerance was introduced regarding performing abortions. In order to stimulate discussion on the reproductive and sexual health of Curaçao women, GP Adriana Boersma conducted research on abortion and women’s views of it. She will be awarded a PhD for her research by the University of Groningen on 18 April, 2011.

When queried by people from their home countries, international students are very positive about the University of Groningen. In a survey, in which 1500 international University of Groningen students (Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD and exchange students) participated, the University of Groningen received the highest ‘recommendation marks’ of all Dutch universities.

Op woensdag 13 april organiseert het Studenten Milieu Overleg Groningen (SMOG) een vuilnisactie om studenten bewust te maken van de grote hoeveelheid afval die ze produceren. Het SMOG zal studenten bij de ingang van de universiteitsbibliotheek (UB)  verrassen met al het vuilnis dat in de zeven voorafgaande dagen in de UB is weggegooid of blijven slingeren.

De Faculteit Godgeleerdheid en Godsdienstwetenschap houdt op zaterdag 16 april van 12.00 – 16.15 uur een  open dag, met als thema Kerk tussen instituut en beweging. De Open dag vindt plaats aan de Oude Boteringestraat 38 te Groningen. De aanleiding voor deze dag is het besluit van de Protestantse Theologische Universiteit (PThU) zich te vestigen in Groningen en Amsterdam. Deze middag is bedoeld voor een breed publiek. In het bijzonder zijn aspirant-studenten, hun ouders en vertegenwoordigers van kerkelijke organisaties van harte welkom. 

Epke Zonderland heeft zondag in Berlijn bij de Europese Kampioenschappen turnen de titel op rekstok veroverd. De student geneeskunde won daarnaast zilver op het onderdeel brug.

All over the world, parents and children have the same conflicts about choice of partner. Parents want a son- or daughter-in-law from a good family, with the same cultural and religious background. Children prefer to find a partner who’s attractive, smells nice and has a sense of humour. This has been revealed by research conducted by psychologist Shelli Dubbs. She will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 11 April.

Rubbish on the streets makes people think in stereotypes and can even lead to discrimination. This is because in an untidy environment people have a greater need for structure, state the behavioural scientists Diederik Stapel of Tilburg University and Siegwart Lindenberg of the University of Groningen, both members of the Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER). The professors demonstrated this in a series of experiments, the results of which were published on 8 April in the scientific journal Science.

In pregnant women, taking omega-3 fish oil fatty acid supplements does not seem to have any effect on infant brain development. Researcher Saskia van Goor of the University Medical Centre Groningen did, however, find that the ratio between different fatty acids in the diet of pregnant women is important for early brain development. Van Goor will be awarded a PhD for her research by the University of Groningen on 13 April 2011.

Onterecht gebruik van antidepressiva door patiënten die onder behandeling zijn van hun huisarts komt verrassend weinig voor. Slechts 5,4% van de huisartspatiënten die antidepressiva gebruiken, doet dat zonder indicatie volgens de geldende richtlijn voor huisartsen. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek van huisarts Ellen Piek, die verbonden is aan de afdeling Huisartsgeneeskunde van het Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen. Zij publiceert over haar onderzoek in het wetenschappelijk magazine PLoS ONE van 31 maart 2011.

Woensdag 6 april organiseert de faculteit Godgeleerdheid en Godsdienstwetenschappen een studiedag over vrouwen op de kansel. Doel is te onderzoeken wat het uitmaakt of de dominee een man of een vrouw is.

Individual advice on lifestyle and three years of counselling by a nurse practitioner have a positive effect: people are able to stabilize their weight and their fasting blood sugar levels show improvement. This is a significant indication of improvement in their health. The Groningen Overweight and Lifestyle (GOAL) study is the first large-scale high-quality lifestyle intervention in this field in the Netherlands. Researcher Nancy ter Bogt from the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) carried out the study in association with the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). On 30 March 2011 she will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen for her research.

Donderdag 10 maart 2011 wordt de website zorgvoorpsyche.nl gelanceerd. Een site waarop alle kennis bijeen is gebracht over de grilligheid van de meest voorkomende psychische klachten, zoals depressie, angststoornissen en eetstoornissen en psychologische behandelmethoden.

The offspring of older great tit females are much less successful than those of younger mothers. Things mainly go wrong in the later stages of the upbringing, concludes evolutionary biologist Sandra Bouwhuis. For great tit females, it turns out to be a good idea to invest in generating offspring in the first years of life. Bouwhuis will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 18 March 2011 for her research into the ageing of great tits.

People with a passive personality run a higher risk of obesity and related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, biologist Gretha Boersma has discovered. But there is also good news: ‘They can often be easier to treat than proactive personalities, who may develop obesity less quickly, but are less open to “life-style” interventions.’ Boersma will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 7 March 2011.

Six Groningen researchers will receive grants totalling EUR 2.4 million from NWO for new equipment. At national level, NWO has awarded EUR 12.2 million in grants to 32 researchers.

Studenten van het Comité Gronings Ontzet van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen lanceren woensdag 23 februari dè stemwijzer over het hoger onderwijs: www.stemvoordetoekomst.nl. Studenten en iedereen die onderwijs belangrijk vind, kan met deze stemwijzer de onderwijsprogramma’s van de partijen naast elkaar leggen.

FOM has awarded EUR 5 million to set up a focus group for solar cell research, located at the the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, a top research institute at the Groningen Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The research should result in ‘plastic’ solar cells ready for large-scale production and application in 2020.

Van zaterdag 19 februari tot en met vrijdag 15 april 2011 vindt in de Universiteitsbibliotheek Groningen een tentoonstelling plaats van voorwerpen uit de rijke collecties van het Universiteitsmuseum, de Bibliotheek RUG en het Groninger Museum. Deze voorwerpen geven een overzicht van het gebruik van het Latijn in de academische wereld. Aanleiding voor deze tentoonstelling is de herinvoering van het Latijn op de afstudeerbul voor studenten van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Too many people with mental disorders receive psychiatric treatment, although being in care organized by their family doctor would be much better. A distinction must be made between patients with severe mental problems that require proper treatment and patients suffering from similar symptoms. Professor Peter Verhaak argued this in his inaugural lecture (February 15, 2011) as Professor of General Practice Medicine at the University Medical Center Groningen/University of Groningen. ‘Not everyone who is feeling down is suffering from severe depression’, according to Verhaak.

On Wednesday 16 February, the Information Science department of the University of Groningen will be organizing a symposium about Watson, IBM’s supercomputer. That evening, the computer will be competing in the quiz show Jeopardy! in the United States against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, the two best human players ever.

The Nicolaas Mulerius Stipendium for 2011 has been awarded to Dr Sabrina Corbellini, Rosalind Franklin Fellow at the Faculty of Arts. Every five years, the University of Groningen awards the Nicolaas Mulerius Stipendium, a grant worth €25,000, to a researcher who has demonstrated outstanding achievements.

The Groningen chemists Prof. Ben Feringa and Dr Jiaobing Wang have discovered a way to use a molecular motor as a catalytic system for enantiomer-selective synthesis reactions. The system can produce various forms of chiral molecules at will. The research was published last week in the academic journal Science.

Staff at various forensic psychiatric institutions should assess each other’s individual treatment programmes every year. TBS (treatment under a hospital order) programmes are only checked once every six years. A second opinion would improve the quality of the treatment and prevent stagnation. Prof. Ko Hummelen, professor by special appointment in forensic psychiatry at the University of Groningen, states this in his inaugural lecture: ‘Over grenzen en open windows’.

On 3 February 2011, the University of Groningen Lecturer of the Year 2010 will be chosen.

An international team of astronomers, including Groningen professor Amina Helmi, have discovered a new stellar stream in the Milky Way. The ‘Aquarius stream’ has been named after the Aquarius constellation in which it lies.

The greater the influence of parents in choosing their children’s partner, the more the children will ‘guard’ their mate. Guarding one’s partner is less common in western society than in Muslim cultures, for example, or in India and China. These are among the findings of research carried out by University of Groningen Professor of Evolutionary Social Psychology Bram Buunk, which are to appear in the leading journal Personal Relationships later this week.

In 80% of cases, patients with asthma are treated by their GP. A newly developed questionnaire will help GPs to measure the severity of and changes in hyper-reactivity of the airways in asthma patients. Implementation of this questionnaire in a new form of care chain between the GP and the lung specialist at the hospital will enable the GP to continue to be the main coordinator in the treatment of patients with chronic pulmonary diseases. GP Roland Riemersma from Appingedam has developed and validated the new questionnaire in cooperation with the department of General Practice Medicine and the GRIAC (Groningen Research Institute of Asthma and COPD) of the UMCG/University of Groningen. Riemersma will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen for this research on 24 January 2011.

Fluorescence imaging, where fluorescent dyes are used in cancer operations, is a new technique that can be used in treating various types of cancer. As the tumour tissue lights up, surgeons are better able to see which tissue still contains cancer cells. This is the result of research conducted by medical researcher Lucy Crane of the University Medical Center Groningen. She will be awarded a PhD on 26 January 2011 by the University of Groningen.

The Board of the University of Groningen calls on all students to demonstrate in The Hague on Friday 21 January. The success of the demonstration will depend on the number of participants. The Board of the University hopes that 3,000 participants will attend from Groningen.

Living abroad for your work can put enormous strain on your relationship. What expats and their partners go through can be compared with having your first child. Expat couples should therefore prepare well for missions abroad. Companies can also play a role in this. This has been revealed by research conducted by behavioural scientist Kim van Erp, who will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 20 January 2011.

Op woensdag 12 januari 2011 krijgt het Universiteitsmuseum Groningen een aquarel overhandigd uit 1918 van Jan Wiegers, een van de oprichters van De Ploeg.

The smallest branches of the breast feathers of male birds of paradise are boomerang-shaped. This special shape enables the birds to change the colour of their breasts lightning fast, Groningen professor of biophysics Doekele Stavenga has discovered. Birds of paradise use this technique to impress females. The results of the research were published in December by the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.