Jouke de Vries: ‘The University will have to be flexible’

At the end of 2024, President of the Board Jouke de Vries reflects on the past year. He discusses his personal highs and lows and looks ahead to the future of the University in the midst of financially challenging times. De Vries: ‘Being a president is great job. You are faced with a lot of challenges. These problems can sometimes be very complicated, and I am very pleased when we can all come up with solutions and get things done.’

(The end-of-year interview was recorded in Dutch; a written transcript of the conversation in English can be read here . The interview took place on 4 December, before the government made its final decision on the national educational budget.)

Peaceful holidays

In the end-of-year interview, De Vries, on behalf of the Board of the University, wishes all students and staff a happy holiday season. ‘I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break during which students and staff can unwind—mental health is very important. I wish everyone peaceful holidays, and I hope our students and staff will enjoy a great new year in 2025, both at home and at the University of Groningen.’

Annual review

Throughout 2024 the University of Groningen celebrated numerous events. Researchers were awarded grants for their work, earned recognition by winning a national award, and teamed up with societal partners to work on innovative projects. And of course, on top of that, the UG celebrated its 410th anniversary! Below is a selection from the many times the UG made the news this year.    

Launch of the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Transition at Campus Fryslân

Campus Fryslân launched the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Transition. The new centre aims to make the sustainable agriculture transition a success and accelerate it. Read more

Action agenda for Lifelong Learning

The knowledge institutions from the Northern Netherlands presented the Lifelong Learning action agenda. The action agenda sets out how they intend to prepare the regional labour market for the future in the coming years. Read more

Growth Fund Project for Green Steel launched

As a partner in the ‘Growing with Green Steel’ project, the UG is contributing to a new, greener life cycle for Dutch steel. The project, which received a grant of more than €100 million from the National Growth Fund, can now get underway. Read more

Board game Streektaalstrijd introduced

PhD students Raoul Buurke, Hedwig Sekeres, and Lourens Visser created a board game: Streektaalstrijd [Regional Language Battle]. Players can conquer the language area of their opponent by answering questions about linguistics and regional languages. Read more

Vici grants for four researchers

Nathalie Katsonis, Edwin Otten, Alexandra Zhernakova, and Tjisse van der Heide each received a Vici grant of up to €1.5 million. This will enable them to develop an innovative line of research for five years. Read more

Ammodo Science Award for tuberculosis vaccine

For their pioneering research on tuberculosis, Prof. Adri Minnaard, and colleagues from the universities of Utrecht and Harvard received the Ammodo Science Award for ground-breaking research.The €1.6 million will enable them to develop tests and vaccines against tuberculosis. Read more

‘Everyone knows we exist as Wubbo Ockels School’

The Wubbo Ockels School for Energy and Climate celebrated its one-year anniversary on 28 March. Director Lorenzo Squintani looked back on the School’s first year. Read more

Kirsten van den Bosch wins Best Practice Award

Kirsten van den Bosch and her team won the Best Practice Award at the Education Festival. Their course unit, Academic Learning Communities, connects students with organizations so they can jointly solve real-life problems. This allows students to engage with topical issues early on in their studies. Read more

Successful Science with Impact event for researchers

Business Generator Groningen and the UMCG Innovation Center jointly organized Science with Impact: an event for researchers who are looking to translate their research into an innovative product. Read more

410th anniversary in pictures

In May, the UG celebrated its 410th anniversary. As part of the celebrations, honorary doctorates were awarded to Dr Kate Crawford, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Gerrit Hiemstra, and Prof. Mariana Mazzucato. Look at the photo report and read more.

Raffaella Carloni and Jonas Göbel winners of Ben Feringa Impact Award 2024

Researcher Raffaella Carloni and student Jonas Göbel won the Ben Feringa Impact Award. Carloni won the award for her research on the development of above-knee prostheses, Göbel for his internship research Geospatial Data in International Development, the Case of Malawi. Read more

30 million for research into social cohesion

The SOCION consortium, in which social scientists and humanities scholars from five knowledge institutions conduct research on social cohesion, has been awarded a €30 million Summit Grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Lead applicant Rafael Wittek (Sociology): ‘Thanks to the grant, we can shed a new light on how social cohesion can be achieved in these challenging times.’ Read more

UG frontrunner in green labs movement

Ben Feringa and his colleagues submitted an article to the Royal Society of Chemistry Sustainability Journal in which they propose ways to increase laboratory sustainability and advise other researchers. The authors show that small steps can lead to significant improvements. Read more

Students investigate possibilities of self-driving car

A group of thirteen students of the UG, Hanze UAS, and Noorderpoort competed together in the RDW Self Driving Challenge. The challenge aims to gain knowledge about the complicated technology involved in automated decision-making in self-driving cars. Read more

Researchers explain right to demonstrate to all

What exactly does the right to demonstrate entail? What are the government and protesters allowed or not allowed to do? Demonstration expert Berend Roorda and his colleagues have released all the knowledge and regulations on a new website that is accessible by everyone. Read more

Impact in the Science Shops

Impact is becoming increasingly important within the academic world. The Science Shops have been doing their bit for years. ‘We make the University easily accessible to all, and this allows us to address problems that we would otherwise overlook.’ Read more

Heineken Young Scientists Award for Casper van der Kooi

Casper van der Kooi received the Heineken Young Scientists Award. He researches how flowers and animals get their colours and how those colours are used to attract pollinators or mates. According to the jury, his work is scientifically advanced and of great societal value. Read more

Practising with VR preschool class wins Dutch Education Award

The ‘De Klas op Orde met Virtual Reality’ [Order in the classroom with virtual reality] project of Jolien Mouw and her colleagues won the Dutch Education Award 2024—the highest award in secondary vocational and higher education. In the project, primary school teacher training students, both from universities and universities of applied sciences, are able to practise in a simulated preschool classroom using virtual reality. Read more

Stef van Grieken elected Alumnus of the Year

Stef van Grieken, tech entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of Cradle, has been elected Alumnus of the Year 2024. ‘Van Grieken shows us that you can also do very useful things with AI, even when its use is complex and sometimes controversial in our society,’ according to the jury. Read more

Start EngD programmes in Autonomous Systems and Sustainable Process Design

In September, the Engineering Doctorate (EngD) programmes in Autonomous Systems and Sustainable Process Design started at the UG. These two-year post-Master’s degree programmes focus on training engineers to come up with innovative solutions for technical problems of both large industries and SMEs in the north of the Netherlands. Read more

Opening of the Academic Year 2024–2025

The opening of the Academic Year 2024–2025 in September was themed Academy and Freedom. The ceremony included incisive speeches, beautiful music, and surprising academic insights. Read more

Hustle and bustle at European Researchers’ Night

Thumping drums, dancing and, above all, lots of inspiring researchers. Visitors of the European Researchers’ Night were spoilt for choice in Forum Groningen. Read more

UG leads global wide-scale research into biodiversity restoration

A research consortium led by Professor of Ecology Han Olff received a €7 million grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Over the next few years, researchers and societal partners want to develop a new approach to biodiversity restoration in areas where livestock farming is an important form of land use. Read more

Sixty years of computing at the UG

In November, the Centre for Information Technology celebrated a milestone: sixty years ago, the then called Computing Centre of the University of Groningen was officially opened. What started with a single calculator for all researchers has grown into extensive IT facilities. Read more

Millions for accelerating the training of technical talent

In the next two years, the Northern Netherlands is set to receive almost €6 million from the government to accelerate the training of technical talent for the semiconductor industry. This investment is part of the Dutch cabinet’s ambitious Project Beethoven, which intends to boost the semiconductor industry and retain businesses such as ASML in the Netherlands. Read more

NWO Athena Award for Hannah Dugdale

Hannah Dugdale of the Faculty of Science and Engineering has won an NWO Athena Award. The award is for female researchers in the sciences who stand out and are role models. Read more

Research finds possible circumvention of sanctions against Russia

Dutch exports to Russia fell sharply after EU sanctions in 2022. However, exports of goods to seven countries with increased risk of sanctions circumvention have increased remarkably. Many young, small companies started exporting to these countries. This is according to research by Statistics Netherlands and the University's Faculty of Economics and Business. Read more