Diederik Roest succeeds Daniel Boer as new scientific director Van Swinderen Institute

Per 1 October 2025, the Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity has a new scientific director. Prof. Diederik Roest succeeds Prof. Daniël Boer, who ends his second term of three years after leading the institute from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2025.

Under Daniël's leadership, the VSI successfully went through the SEP audit, the staff increased from 11 to 15 members, 40 PhD candidates of the VSI defended their thesis (approximately 6% Cum Laude) and the VSI further established its role as a university partner of Nikhef, most notably as leader of the NL-eEDM programme.

Of course, there also have been (and are) challenging times and tasks. Think of: governmental budget cuts, the hard work to secure funding, the moving into the new Feringa Building and its hick-ups, and the ongoing efforts for showing the beauty and importance of fundamental research.

Almost simultaneously, per 1 September, the VSI got a new education director: Prof. Steven Hoekstra succeeded Prof. Diederik Roest at the end of his term. During his years as director - especially challenging at the onset of the new faculty educational organization - Diederik very well managed the educational tasks of the VSI staff and assured the involvement of the PhD candidates in teaching.

Thanks to Daniël's and Diederik’s dedication and commitment, the VSI continues to be a healthy institute with an inspiring research culture for its staff and PhD candidates and a good teaching and learning environment, raising a new generation of physicists.