Arjan van der Schaft receives IEEE Control Systems Award

Arjan van der Schaft, Emeritus Professor of Applied Analysis at the University of Groningen, will receive the 2027 IEEE Roger W. Brockett Control Systems Award. The award is sponsored by the IEEE Control Systems Society and recognises outstanding contributions to control systems engineering, science and technology. As the 2027 recipient, Van der Schaft will receive a medal, a certificate and an honorarium of USD 10,000.

The award citation recognises Van der Schaft ‘for contributions to robust and geometric nonlinear control, hybrid systems, and control of physical systems’. He is the first Dutch recipient of the award and the second researcher associated with the University of Groningen to receive it. The award will be presented during the IEEE Technical Field Awards Luncheon on 5 May 2027 in New York City, as part of IEEE Honors Week. Furthermore, special attention will be paid to it during the award ceremony of the yearly IEEE Conference on Decision and Control in Lisbon in December 2027.

Advancing the theory of control

Control theory is concerned with influencing the behaviour of systems that change over time.  Applications pervade throughout the engineering and physical sciences.

A central contribution of Van der Schaft’s research is the development of geometric methods for nonlinear control.
Together with his long-time collaborator Bernhard Maschke, he developed the theory of port-Hamiltonian systems. This provides a framework for modelling and controlling complex multiphysics systems by describing and shaping their energy flows and interconnections.

Part of a Groningen tradition

Van der Schaft is the first Dutch recipient of the award. He is also the second researcher associated with the University of Groningen to receive it, following Jan C. Willems in 1998. Willems was Van der Schaft’s Master’s and PhD thesis supervisor and established a strong tradition in systems and control research at the University of Groningen.

‘I feel fortunate to be part of this special line of heritage at the University of Groningen, started by Jan Willems,’ says Van der Schaft.

The University is now an international player in systems and control, with research groups from different disciplines working together through the Jan C. Willems Center for Systems and Control.

‘For me, the essence of my work has always been the development of theory by translating engineering motivation into the right level of mathematical abstraction,’ Van der Schaft explains. ‘To receive this award from IEEE demonstrates the relevance of this approach.’

IEEE Control Systems Society

The IEEE Roger W. Brockett Control Systems Award recognises outstanding contributions to control systems engineering, science and technology. It is funded by the IEEE Control Systems Society, the international professional organisation for the control systems community.

More information

• Profile page Arjan van der Schaft

• Link to press release IEEE