Latest RUG news

Thursday 26 March saw the announcement that Jacquelien Scherpen, Professor of Systems and Control Engineering at the University of Groningen, has been appointed as the Captain of Science in the High-Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM) top sector. Prof. Jacquelien Scherpen succeeds Dave Blank, Professor Emeritus of Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, who has worked in the HTSM top sector since 2011.

At the presentation of the Aletta Jacob Prize 2020 on Friday 6 March, Rector Magnificus Cisca Wijmenga announced that the University of Groningen is creating an incentive fund for the creation of fifteen new chairs, exclusively intended for female scientists. The chairs are named after the figurehead of the UG: Aletta Jacobs.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded 32 experienced researchers a Vici grant worth € 1.5 million each. Three of the awardees are conducting research at the University of Groningen (UG), and two at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). The Vici grants will enable them to develop innovative lines of research for the next five years. Vici is one of the largest personal academic grants awarded in the Netherlands, and is aimed at experienced researchers who are free to put their own research project forward for funding.

Female songbirds can have troublesome love lives. In some species, such as the European pied flycatcher, the male birds try to hook up with an extra female bird once they’ve already found a mate. It was long believed that the female bird whose eggs hatched first did not suffer from her mate keeping a second family. After all, these males were already putting in the effort for their first broods. University of Groningen PhD student Koosje Lamers and Prof. Christiaan Both ‘reveal’ that female birds who share a mate with another female have a lower chance of survival, and that the risk of dying is increased by brooding early in the spring.

After two years of hard work, the Groningen Top Dutch Solar Racing team has arrived in Australia. The team consists of students of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, University of Groningen, and secondary vocational education (MBO) and is currently preparing for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia: a 3,000-kilometer journey across Australia in a solar-powered car.

Amina Helmi, UG professor of Astronomy specializing in Milky Way dynamics, structure and formation, will receive the Spinoza Prize on Wednesday 2 October. In addition to Helmi, another five top researchers receive the NWO Spinoza prize and the Stevin premium from Minister Van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science in The Hague. The premiums are the highest distinction in Dutch science.

After a decade of preparations, it’s finally time: on the evening of 20 September the German icebreaker Polarstern departs from the Norwegian port of Tromsø. Escorted by the Russian icebreaker Akademik Fedorov, she will set sail for the Central Arctic. On board researchers will investigate a region that is virtually inaccessible in winter, and which is crucial for the global climate. They will gather urgently needed data on the interactions between the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice, as well as on the ecosystem. Thanks to the collaboration between international experts, the one-year-long ice drift past the North Pole will take climate research to a completely new level.

The official opening of the 406th academic year of the University of Groningen takes place on the afternoon of Monday 2 September 2019 in the Martinikerk. Rector Magnificus Cisca Wijmenga will be leading this festive ceremony for the first time. The ceremony runs from 4 to 5.30 p.m. and will be held in English.

The University of Groningen (UG) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have decided to work together more closely in the area of nature-inclusive and circular agriculture, and the rural development associated with this, in the Northern Netherlands. To this end, UG President Jouke de Vries and WUR Rector Magnificus Arthur Mol signed a declaration of intent on Wednesday 17 July 2019.

On Friday 14 June, the University of Groningen will be awarding honorary doctorates to Prof. Titia de Lange and Dr Philipp Blom. This academic ceremony is part of the 81st lustrum that takes place from 5 to 15 June 2019. During the ceremony, Prof. Elmer Sterken, Rector for the past eight years, will hand over his rector chain to Prof. Cisca Wijmenga.