Short news
In June, TU Delft student Abdelkader Karbache will become the new president of the National Students’ Union (LSVb). At the National Students’ Association (ISO), Mylou Miché will then take over.
Karbache (23) is pursuing two masters at TU Delft (Mechanical Engineering and Sustainable Energy Technology) and was already a board member of the Delft student union VSSD and a member of TU’s central student council.
In a press release, he says he is concerned about issues such as student housing, student debt and student funding. “Time and again, the current generation of students have been the ones to suffer. If it is up to us, students will no longer lose out. We will pull out all the stops to permanently improve the position of students.”
From June, the board of the LSVb will further consist of Ocke Siertsema (21, student of public administration and government management at the Haagse Hogeschool), Gijs Grimbergen (23, studied geography and planning at the University of Utrecht), Boutaina Chami (24, studied psychology at the University of Twente) and Yason Sinout (25, graduated in history and economics at the University of Utrecht).
ISO
At the ISO, Mylou Miché (25, International Development Studies student at Utrecht University) joins as chair. The board will further consist of Gwendolyn Hermans (24, psychology student at Radboud University in Nijmegen) on 22 June, Jorrit Berendsen (22, public administration and government management student at NHL Stenden Hogeschool), William Duke (25, American Studies student at Nijmegen) and Stijn van Hussen (24, International Relations student at the University of Groningen). (HOP, OL)
Delft student Max Pelsma (23) was honoured with the Erepenning voor Menslievend Hulpbetoon (English: medal for humanitarian assistance) at the town hall in Delft on Tuesday. He was presented with the medal by mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt for rescuing a woman from the water earlier this year.
On 18 January, the student saw a car land in the icy canal from his student room at the Kolk. Without hesitation, he sprinted outside, took off his jumper and dived into the canal. With a hammer provided by his housemates, he smashed the car window, after which he was able to pull the woman in it out of the vehicle.
In a voice recording that circulated on Whatsapp Pelsma recounted his heroic act. ‘It was like a movie […] I looked outside and across the canal I saw a car just tipping over […] I didn’t believe my eyes.’ A video shot by his housemates circulated on the same medium, showing the student jumping into the canal without hesitation. The woman in the car was unharmed.
Van Bijsterveldt is proud that the student is a resident of her city, according to the press release from the Municipality of Delft. ‘Max, what you did is quite extraordinary and brave’.
Submitted by Ruben Wiersma (PhD student at Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
For a few years now, I have enjoyed listening to Esther Perel’s podcast ‘Where should we begin?’. In the podcast, she talks to couples who encounter problems in their relationships. It could be that one is fighting too much, their partner is too rational; one does not feel heard, their partner does not feel respected; and so on.
Perel, like no other, ensures that both parties in the relationship feel heard. Usually, the partners leave with a new perspective and regained courage to move forward with each other. It is wonderful to hear her working: she is sharp, straightforward and helps the partners understand each other.
Following developments around the Inspectorate report, I often think: if only we had someone like Esther Perel. Someone who intervenes when one of the partners shoots into action mode too quickly, instead of listening and acknowledging. Someone who helps partners find the words that make the other feel heard. Someone who explains to the partners that one person’s complaint is not an immediate condemnation of the other’s intentions.
Instead, the Executive Board gets advice from marketing agencies on reputation damage, we all hastily draw up an action plan, regular and transparent communication is shunned or rather rigorously opposed[, and] The Executive Board wants us to focus only on the future, without explanation or accountability for past missteps.
Perhaps it is an idea to invite Perel to a future consultation? Until then: you can listen to ‘Where should we begin’ for free on your favourite podcast platform. Or listen to ‘How’s work?’, a spin-off of the podcast for work situations.
Want to know more about the inspectorate report and everything related to it? Check out our file.
On Friday 19 April 19, Dutch Lower House member Luc Stultiens (GroenLinks-PvdA) asked parliamentary questions about the course of events surrounding an article that Delta took offline in protest. Among other things, Stultiens wants to know whether Outgoing Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf shares the view of the Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten (Dutch Association of Journalists, Eds.) that the independence of independent higher education media is under pressure.
The legal pressure exerted on Delta – for which the Executive Board has since apologized – is not the first incident that higher education media have had to deal with. For example, the editors of Cursor (TU Eindhoven), put their website on black last fall in protest against the dismissal of the editor-in-chief and the curtailment of their editorial freedom.
Another example is Science Guide, which ran into financial trouble after a critical article about the chairman of the board of Maastricht University. At the magazine Sam (Hogeschool Arnhem-Nijmegen), a manager of the Marketing, Communication and Information Department had his reaction posted above a column he disagreed with.
Stultiens also elaborated on Parliamentary questions Peter Kwint (SP) and Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks-PvdA) earlier asked in response to the events at Cursor. The minister announced then that he did not consider it necessary to launch a broad investigation into journalistic freedom at higer education newspapers and university editorial boards. “How do you look at this now?”, Stultiens wants to know.
Dijkgraaf has three weeks to answer the parliamentary questions.
The Kring van Hoofdredacteuren (literally the circle of editors in chief) – or Kring for short – rebukes the legal threats expressed by TU Delft to Delta. In a letter [link in Dutch] to the Executive Board, the Kring also asks Saskia Bonger, the Editor in Chief, to not be held liable for any personal financial claims.
‘We are extremely concerned that the Editorial Office of TU Delft’s Delta was compelled to take an article offline after being threatened with legal action by TU Delft. This goes completely against Delta’s independent journalism’, writes the Kring van Hoofdredacteuren, the national umbrella organisation for independent university and university of applied sciences media.
The reason for the letter was threats by TU Delft’s Legal Services to Delta. Legal Services ordered Delta to remove the How confidentiality led to anxiety among I&IC staff and a loss of confidence in the Executive Board article on the grounds that it had cited confidential information. Should Delta ignore the order, TU Delft would make Delta and Saskia Bonger, the Editor in Chief, personally liable for any damages incurred by TU Delft. Under protest, Delta removed the article.
The Kring views this threat as excessive, as it states in its letter. ‘Critical reporting is naturally not always pleasant for management, but it is essential for the proper functioning of, and transparency and social safety at universities. We consider it completely unacceptable that TU Delft threatened Delta’s Editor in Chief and Editorial Office with making them financially liable for any damages that the article may bring to TU Delft.’
While the Executive Board has in the meantime offered its apologies for the legal threats, in an email to the Editor in Chief Saskia Bonger, Rector Magnificus Tim van der Hagen states that he is still of the opinion that TU Delft employees, and thus Delta journalists as well, may not cite confidential information.
In the letter, the Kring requests the Executive Board to adopt the opposite stance and to guarantee the journalistic independence of Delta. ‘This then means that the article that was taken offline is put online again. And finally, we also ask that the Editor in Chief is guaranteed to not be made liable for any personal financial claims. This is so that the Delta Editorial Office can continue to report honestly on this important subject in a socially safe environment.’ Thus the Kring ends its letter.
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded 23 advanced grants of up to 2.5 million euros to highly experienced researchers from Dutch knowledge institutions. It is possible that more will be awarded.
Last year, the Netherlands was still in seventh place with 14 awarded grants, but in the 2023 round, with 23 out of 255 scholarships awarded, the Netherlands is back in the top 4. It only has to leave Germany (50 scholarships), the UK (42 scholarships) and France (37 scholarships) ahead of it.
Most grants go to the two Amsterdam universities, Utrecht University and the Netherlands Cancer Institute. Click here for the full overview.
Reserve list
Additional research grant money may be released since the UK no longer participates in the European research programme since the Brexit. Elected scientists from UK universities only receive the grant if they take it to a research institution in a country that does participate. In 2024, that restriction expires, when the UK rejoins.
So if they do not transfer to another country, they will not get the ERC grant. However, they will then receive a similar grant from the UK government, which has continued to recognise selection by the ERC.
The European grant money that then becomes available will go to the reserve list of researchers who just missed out. Dutch institutions may also benefit. (HOP, HC)
TU Delft wants to expand to Rotterdam to enable further student growth but students are not sufficiently aware of these plans. This is shown in a survey by student council party Oras among over 1,600 bachelor, master and switch students.
At the end of 2022, TU Delft announced plans to open a branch in Rotterdam. The number of students could then grow from 28 thousand to 40 thousand. A programme team has been working since summer 2023 to develop this further. Oras asked students for their opinions on the growth plans.
Survey
Over 1,600 students took part in a survey by Oras on communication and support at the end of November. The results showed, among other things, that 59 percent of students are not aware of expansion to Rotterdam.
“We understand that the plans and especially the details are still in their early stages, but it is important to keep students well informed,” explained Oras faction member Tessa Hartog.
Especially the way information is shared deserves attention. “That often goes via official channels (e-mail and TU Student News), but you reach far more students through social media, Brightspace and netpresenters (the screens in faculties and education buildings).”
Support
In addition, there would be insufficient support among students to study in Rotterdam. Respondents give their interest a 4.7 on a scale of 10.
To increase support among students, Oras calls on the programme team to look beyond research and education alone. Hartog: “Just by (relocating) studies you don’t create a good place to study. Delft has a unique student culture, also talk to the many study and student (sports) associations involved.”
- The results of the survey were presented during the monthly meeting between the student council and the Executive Board and have been discussed with Han Derkx, programme director of Campus Rotterdam.
On other days, the director of the international atomic energy agency IAEA is mostly busy managing the crisis surrounding the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizja. But on Wednesday afternoon, 24 April, Rafael Grossi will visit the TU Delft.
The purpose of his visit is twofold: to reduce the female shortage in the nuclear industry and to encourage students to consider a career in the nuclear industry. Grossi is coming to TU Delft because it is the only Dutch educational institution with its own research reactor. Applications are in healthcare, materials science and energy supply.
Grossi will start at 15:15 with a lecture on nuclear safety, politics, international developments and gender issues. Afterwards, there will be ample opportunity to ask questions, especially for students interested in a career in the nuclear sector. Several nuclear organisations will be present in the periphery of the lecture. The event will last until 17:00 and will take place in the Aula.
- Register for the meeting through this link
The so-called Students and Staff for Safety – an anonymous group of people from TU Delft – have opened a poll following their petition. They are also launching a ‘call for action’.
In a post on Change.org, they ask people whether they think the current Executive Board is capable of bringing about the cultural change needed to improve social safety at TU Delft. They are referring to the column #NotMyExecutiveBoard by Bob van Vliet and the letter to the editor by mathematics professor Jan van Neerven with the same hashtag, both in Delta.
The Students and Staff for Safety are asking people to enter that hashtag in the online tool Mentimeter during the sessions on social safety, which the TU is organising starting 10 April.
The petition launched by the Students and Staff for Safety on 5 March was signed more than 1,100 times. This partly led to the Executive Board abandoning its intention to take the Education Inspectorate to court.
Engineer (ir.) Joep de Jong was surprised to receive a cash prize of EUR 2,000 at the Kooy Symposium (3 April 2024) of the KIVI department for defence and security. (KIVI is the Dutch Royal Institute of engineers). Little did he know that his supervisors from TU Delft and TNO had submitted his thesis to the jury and that it won him the Kooy Prize for defence-oriented research. “It feels like recognition for the work I did,” De Jong explained. His graduation work, most of which took place at TNO, was rated 9.
De Jong graduated last June from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) on creating magnetic maps for navigation and positioning. These maps recognise that the Earth’s magnetic field is not homogeneous and contains numerous local anomalies. The magnetic navigation system serves as an alternative to satellite navigation, such as GPS, when the satellite signal is unavailable or disrupted.
The jury appreciated the breadth of the thesis work that includes a literature review, a numerical model of local magnetic anomalies, and a measurement campaign to validate his ideas.
TNO is continuing the line of magnetic navigation research and De Jong would also like to continue his exploration in the form of a PhD. His graduating professor was Prof. Martin Verlaan (EEMCS).
Interest trick
You might know Joep de Jong from the ‘interest rate trick’. De Jong and other students figured out in late 2022 that they could ‘split’ their study debt. If they stopped their student loans on 1 January, the interest on their current student debt would remain at 0.46% for five years. They could then restart their tuition fees on 1 February. Some 26,000 students followed his advice. “I am happy that I was able to help so many students,” De Jong responded modestly in Delta at the time.
