Magazine articles, August - December 2020

Culture as energy for the future

The population of the province of Groningen is shrinking faster than any other region in the Netherlands. For many years, people have been leaving the northern countryside behind, which has major consequences for the quality of life in villages. What can be done to preserve and even strengthen the resilience of those villages? It is precisely this question that Gwenda van de Vaart, assistant professor at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, is trying to answer. Read more

Diving into the rainbow

Sancia van der Meij grew up surrounded by the heaths and forests of Drenthe, but when she as an 18-year-old learnt to dive on coral reefs, she was committed. She would become a marine biologist. By studying tiny gall crabs, she is now exploring how invertebrates live together on species-rich coral reefs. She recently co-produced as scientific advisor on a book with photographer Alan Powderham on underwater life in the Coral Triangle in South-East Asia: At the Heart of the Coral Triangle – Celebrating Biodiversity, a ‘scientific coffee table book’.
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CogniGron is two years along the path towards ‘human’ computers

The computer: our traditional powerful machine is rapidly approaching its limits, so researchers at the UG’s CogniGron centre are working on developing the computer of the future. Two years into the project, Beatriz Noheda, director of CogniGron, takes stock. Although developing a new super-calculator is obviously a long-term project, CogniGron has already achieved a lot.
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Who will have their remains dissolved?

Natural burial grounds are on the rise in the Netherlands. But there are other ways in which to entrust yourself to eternity in an environmentally friendly manner. Brenda Mathijssen has recently been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for her research into green funeral practices. Whether we are considering a traditional funeral or the recently approved dissolving of bodily matter in an alkaline solution: sustainability is earning its place in the funeral business.
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‘Heritage is vulnerable in times of war, but it is also resilient’

Heritage is vulnerable in times of war and its destruction can sometimes form part of genocidal processes. The Nazi book burnings are a prime example of that. But too little is known about the resilience of heritage and the power that violence can give it. Martijn Eickhoff believes that the latter makes research into heritage all the more relevant.
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‘I want to understand how the mind works’

Marieke van Vugt once dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina. Now she is a cognitive scientist at the University of Groningen. But as she endeavours to understand the workings of the human mind, she still cannot live without ballet. Or Buddhism.
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Fair sharing in the new economy

Lending out tools through Peerby, renting out your home through Airbnb, lending out your scooter through Felyx – all these are examples of the sharing economy. We share our possessions so that we can produce less, which is good for the environment – and for your pocket. But the sharing economy also raises a lot of questions about rights, obligations and liability. UG legal expert Rosalie Koolhoven aims to shed light on these aspects.
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Archaeology across borders

He learnt the Low Saxon dialect himself. After all, he says, if you want to get into contact with farmers who live on the border of the Netherlands and Germany, you won’t get so far with polished Dutch. This typifies Henny Groenendijk, who, as Professor of Archaeology and Society, is not only interested in the earth’s secrets but also looks for connections with the people who live on it.
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Marketing: balancing data analytics and privacy

Data is the new oil fueling marketing activities. It helps to target the right customers at the right time with the right instrument. But recent privacy regulations limit its use. So, how do marketers make the most out of these data without breaking privacy rules? Jaap Wieringa, professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics, and his team give answer to this question by developing new marketing models that prove: targeted marketing is possible, even in the face of privacy concerns.
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Photo report: Wonders of the film archive

The University of Groningen’s film archive deserves a better name. At the archive, you can feast your eyes on row after row of film cans offering many hours’ worth of old and unique footage. But that’s not all: the archive also boasts camera and projection equipment used in the distant past, including magic lanterns, stereoscopes, cameras and projectors dating back approximately 100 years, as well as the editing table of filmmaker Bert Haanstra.
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More knowledge, less stigma

Chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, continually aching muscles – these are all examples of symptoms that apparently have no physical cause. As a result, the symptoms are often labelled ‘psychological’. Incorrectly so, says Professor of Psychosomatic Medicine Judith Rosmalen. She is studying the development, prevention and treatment of unexplained symptoms, and hopes to eradicate a number of deeply ingrained prejudices.
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‘The coronavirus pandemic will be disastrous for many households’

A lot of families and companies do not have enough savings to ride out the coronavirus pandemic. Economist Dirk Bezemer is a worried man. ‘Dramatic situations will develop when the government support packages are discontinued. If we don’t change our economy and financial system now, the multinationals will be protected while families on social assistance won’t.’
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Cities are in need of a makeover

Our cities are at a tipping point, states urban planner Ward Rauws: climate change, the loss of biodiversity and enormous energy consumption are forcing us to reconsider the design of our cities. The past shows us that this has happened before, for example during the rise of cities as centres of production in the industrial revolution, but also after World War Two when modern cities began to expand with the advent of cars, high-rise buildings and top-down spatial planning. In the next stage, suburban life was added to the mix. The way we use and design cities has fundamentally changed, time and time again.
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More sociable after a glass of beer? Is that even really true?

Marije aan het Rot goes in search of answers

People tend to believe that alcohol makes them more sociable, but is it the truth? Researcher and lecturer at the UG’s department of Psychology, Marije aan het Rot, plans to get to the bottom of it. The Knowledge Institute for Beer awarded the professor a €5,000 grant to help fund her research.
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COVID-19: a golden opportunity for the e-bike

In the words of Winston Churchill: ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’. This is a great starting place for promoting the use of electric bikes. Creatures of habit (such as humans) are more inclined to change their ways when the world is in turmoil. The inconvenience caused by the coronavirus pandemic could be the perfect incentive to switch to an e-bike.
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Revisiting the philosophical canon using Artificial Intelligence

The pressure to publish and red tape is increasingly forcing philosophy scholars to confine themselves to ‘a few great works by a few great authors’. And that can be quite problematic when your core objective is to engage in deep reflection, especially if you want to paint an accurate and complete picture of one of the most influential branches of philosophy in history: early modern natural philosophy. This prompted Dr Andrea Sangiacomo of the Faculty of Philosophy to enlist the help of the Data Science team at the Centre for Information Technology (CIT), which was able to generate refreshing insights using Artificial Intelligence.
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Agroecology, following the example of smallholders

The Worldwide Fund for Nature has established a chair in Groningen for Pablo Tittonell. This globe-trotting professor looks for solutions to global agricultural problems in ‘nature-driven farming’, otherwise known as agroecology. Having studied farms of all shapes and sizes, all around the world, he is particularly inspired by the methods of smallholders.
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Building energy plants that remove greenhouse gases

Making energy systems more efficient and sustainable has driven the career of Prof. P.V. Aravind. As a student, it led him to come to Europe to study for an MSc at the University of Oldenburg (Germany) and a PhD at Delft University of Technology, where he subsequently started his own research group. In September 2019, he moved to the University of Groningen to work, among other projects, on reversible fuel cells that can convert fuel into electricity and vice versa. ‘My dream is to create negative emission power plants and reversible fuel cells are helpful in many ways.’
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