every month we spotlight several UT alumni who are making significant contributions or achieving remarkable success in their respective fields.
june 2024
That was the main question during the UT 62 Dies celebration on May 24th, 2024. Students, researchers, alumni: many members of the UT community dedicate their daily efforts to strengthening the circular economy. Whether it is sustainable packaging, waste recycling, developing sustainable resources or raising awareness - their efforts inspire us to keep taking steps towards a more sustainable future for all.
Read below about UT alumni contributing to the circular economy.
Healthcare globally accounts for 4.5% of all CO2 emissions, and 10% of all raw materials usage. We help to lower this footprint with circular design of our products, optimizing the use, extending lifetime, upgrading, and refurbish systems and parts at the end of their use cycle.
I lead the Circular Economy and EcoDesign programs for Philips globally. We have the ambition to reach 25% "circular revenue" by 2025, be able to take back all our medical equipment from our customers, and maintain zero waste to landfill on all our sites
"From 2013 to 2016, I worked on the Closed Looped Cycle Production in the Americas program, raising awareness and collaborating with governments and SMEs in various Latin American countries. Later, as an associate professor at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano (2017-2022), I trained students in circular design and researched solutions for plastic pollution and coral reef restoration."
Since 2020, she has been a circular economy consultant, applying her Circular Design Model to help organizations, especially in the Oil and Gas and Energy sectors, redesign their processes, products, and services.
Currently, pursuing a PhD in Industrial Ecology at Leiden University and supporting circular economy projects in Africa from her new base in Mauritius. Her journey began as the first student to successfully complete the Cradle to Cradle master's track within the Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) master's program. In doing so, she has completed a unique degree both nationally and internationally.
"As the director of the Impact Economy Foundation, I redefine value in business and the economy: shifting the focus from financial value to societal impact. We create an economy that works for the common good! Through a framework of impact accounting, organizations place impact (social, human, and natural value) at the heart of every business decision."
Werner Schouten is the director of the Impact Economy Foundation, an organization that accelerates the transition to an Impact Economy by establishing a global community of impact professionals, incubating a standard for impact statements, and developing concrete regulatory and policy proposals for the impact economy.
I am fully responsible for global green projects and circular supply chain initiatives with public and private entities in the field of metal and material recycling for Riwald Recycling, a part of ArcelorMittal.
Annually, Riwald Recycling processes several hundred thousand tons of waste materials, ranging from electrical household equipment and industrial high-quality residual flows to complete trains and airplanes. These materials are recycled into more than 150 different types of sustainable raw materials.
With Riwald Recycling's expertise and advanced separation technologies, we play a crucial role in addressing global environmental issues. Our sustainability strategies are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we integrate innovative technologies to maximize material recovery.
"The economy would then run on recovered raw materials, and no 'new' raw materials would be needed."
We are still using way too many natural resources in the construction sector. I work in infrastructure construction, promoting the utilization of waste materials and aiming to lower CO2 emissions by using Biochar produced from waste biomass. My work is primarily based in Finland, but we are also influencing practices in other countries, such as Sweden and Estonia.
Utilizing waste materials in construction is challenging because we are so accustomed to using natural resources. Therefore, we need entrepreneurs like me in this field who believe this is the only way forward and can convince others to adopt these practices. My aim is to advance collaboration and the circular economy together, as one cannot thrive without the other.
Annika develops circular and bioeconomy programs and projects with other stakeholders at GRK in Finland.
Creating the circular economy together at the Municipality of Amsterdam involves realizing a pleasant and attractive future where we remain within the ecological limits of the planet and ensure a social minimum for everyone. Within Amsterdam, we focus on three value chains: the built environment, food and organic residual flows, and consumer goods. We collaborate with a variety of organizations, including SMEs, NGOs, and, of course, Amsterdam citizens.
"We need to redesign the way we work, live, and consume in order to eliminate waste. As a municipality, we are pioneering the circular economy but realize that we need to work together with residents, companies, and other cities to truly make it happen!"
Rene is the project leader for the circular economy at the Municipality of Amsterdam.
The construction sector consumes a significant portion of materials globally. At Royal BAM Group, we aim to build a sustainable tomorrow by taking ownership, collaborating, and embracing diverse perspectives. We challenge the status quo by rethinking our actions and approaches. For instance, we aim to replace fossil materials with biobased or recycled ones and provide material passports for all the homes we build. These are some of the goals I pursue as Manager of Sustainability at Royal BAM Group.
Building is not just about design and construction; it's about understanding who we are building for. Builders shape our world, and I strive to create a sustainable one, reducing carbon emissions and minimizing the use of virgin materials. This is a significant challenge in a sector accustomed to concrete, steel, and asphalt. Nonetheless, at Royal BAM Group, we have already achieved notable sustainable successes and continue our mission to transition from grey to green.
My startup, LoopLoyals, is developing digital infrastructure to enable a digital product passport that promotes circularity in the consumer products, manufacturing, and supply chain sectors throughout the Netherlands.
LoopLoyals' digital infrastructure helps organizations achieve the goals outlined in the government's Circular Dutch Economy program, which aims to transform the Dutch economy into a sustainable, fully circular economy by 2050. This transformation is crucial for reducing waste, conserving resources, and minimizing environmental impact, ultimately benefiting both society and the planet.
Udaya is the founder of LoopLoyals and LoopTas, a system that promotes sustainability, circularity, and altruism with a reusable bag equipped with a chip.
"Since 2013, I have been an independent advisor in the field of sustainability within the infrastructure sector in the Netherlands. My goal is threefold: to use fewer materials, to incorporate as many secondary or biobased materials as possible, and to ensure the efficient use of materials.
Additionally, as a board member of a business association, we strive to raise awareness in the field of circularity by connecting companies with one another or with sustainable suppliers."
Martin is the owner of Mvos Advies and a board member of the association Fuel Reduction North-East Netherlands (Vereniging Brandstofreductie Noord-Oost Nederland).
Circular Economy is NOT just another fancy word for recycling business. To the contrary! The transition towards it requires: value chains transformation, ideally though innovative circular business models; aligned legal and fiscal incentives (Pan-EU to start with); and (to quote Hans Bruyninckx,EEA) disincentivizing the linear economy and the carbon economy.
Combined with the needed interconnectiveness in finance, governance, cross-border legislation, innovation, education, and citizens engagement,
CE transition can only be successful though dedicated systems innovation and independent orchestration - that's where we step in.
"My focus lies in elevating the Circular Economy on the political agenda and fostering dialogues to actively shape policy decisions, facilitating widespread implementation of Circular Economy practices."
Aline works as a Senior Advisor for Circular Economy & Renewable Energies at Stiftung KlimaWirtschaft, a Berlin-based CEO Alliance focused on climate and resource protection. During her studies at TU Berlin and UT, she expanded her environmental science background with an economic perspective, culminating in a thesis on Circular Economy.
"My focus is on driving positive sustainable impacts, whether by fostering understanding of circular challenges or by prototyping circular solutions with clients. I also advocate for sustainable consumption and emphasize progress over perfection in Circular Design practices."
Baptiste works as a Circular Design Engineer at Accenture NL, aiding organizations in transitioning to circular value propositions through strategic guidance and operational implementation. Additionally, he has mentored new generations of Circular Economy practitioners through Ellen MacArthur's "From Linear to Circular" accelerator program.
MAY 2024
"We felt the momentum was there,... It was widely supported in the organization, we noticed. The discipline (techincal medicine) is high on the agenda at UT and specifically the TechMed Center. That certainly contributed to support."
Eleven UT alumni co-founded the first hospital expert department of Technical Medicine at Medical Spectrum Twente. Medical manager and associate professor Femke Schröder talks about recognition for the profession, its connection to UT and future plans.
“40% of men don't talk about their mental health”
Fourtees, the clothing brand launched a month ago by alumnus Lukas van Remmerden with the goal of addressing mental health issues in men, is a finalist at the VentureCup in Sweden.
Fourtees promotes breaking the stigma by offering clothing and fashion that makes mental health stylish and accessible.
UT startup HoSt Group has finished in second place for the FD Gazelles International prize 2024. This means HoSt Group has fallen into the top three for the second year in a row.
HoST focuses on technological development of biomass infrastructure and is co-run by UT alumni, chairman Herman Klein Teeselink (IE&M & CT'88) & CEO Jelle Klein Teeselink (IE&M'17).
LinkedIn Herman I LinkedIn Jelle I Read more (in Dutch)
“It's always exciting when assignments come your way for which you can use your (mathematical) knowledge.”
As alumnus in the spotlight Frank explains various projects he has recently worked on: Vegetation monitoring at the Marker Wadden, train vibration mitigation and propane tank detection.
“TerraFund will invest $2.75 million and seek to grow 1.9 million trees along the Ghana cocoa belt, creating 4.500 jobs and improve the livelihood of 29.000 people.”
The Environment and Agroforestry Foundation, lead by founder, director and UT alumna Emma Agyapong Baah (ITC'17) has launched a massive restoration project in the Bono region of Ghana.
“A cancer treatment process is always very intensive, with many involved doctors and other health care providers. Afterwards, patients often experience a black hole.”
“We help women become the best version of themselves after breast cancer treatment.”
Annemieke Witteveen (1987) studied Technical Medicine (bachelor) and Health Sciences (master) at the UT. In 2018 she obtained her PhD on individualizing the breast cancer follow-up, which included the INFLUENCE nomogram, a tool she developed that predicts the risk of breast cancer recurrence. The research was awarded the prize for the best oncology thesis of the year from the Dutch Society for Medical Oncology (NVMO).
Last week she was awarded with the BOOG Study Center Young Investigator Award for her research in Personalized eHealth Technology for Oncology related to breast cancer.
“We designed it to convince city officials and municipalities in India that our technology works,” said WTT general manager Alexander Horvath. “I expect this installation to be tested at dozens of landfills in India over the next few years.”
Waste Treatment Technolgies (WTT) in Oldenzaal has developed a mobile waste treatment plant that generates biogas from waste. The installation will tour landfills in India.
LinkedIn I Read further (in Dutch)
“I contributed to the design of FC STRAAT's MDT learning program, where young people between the ages of 14 and 18 have the opportunity to learn how to organize their own street soccer tournaments for FC STRAAT in 16 weeks. The program enables young people to discover themselves, develop their talents and have a direct impact on society by getting involved with others. In the process, they meet others outside their own environment and have the opportunity to build a valuable network.”
A training program that involves 80 hours of training in addition daily life tasks like school, side jobs and other activities demands quite a bit from the youth, read how it is designed to succeed.
LinkedIn I Read further (in Dutch)
"I didn't make it easy for myself and at one point didn't know how to find another way out, but I had resolved to myself: if I do something, then one hundred percent. With the wisdom of today, it was not about output for me then, but about discovering myself. The years in Enschede worked very formative for me.'
He is the face of the TV series Camp van Koningsbrugge, holds theater shows in sold-out theaters and his book Growing Pains is a bestseller. What fewer people know is that commando Ray Klaassens (51) is also UT civil engineering alumnus, even though he didn't feel like a student for a moment between 1997 and 1999.
LinkedIn I Read the article (in Dutch)
April 2024
Pavlina has been selected by the professional jury as the recipient of the Prince Friso Engineering Award 2024 for her project TORWASH. This project has developed a set of patented processing methods for the treatment of sludge, wet biomass, and mixed plastics. These methods convert these materials into biofuels, biogas, fertilizers, and raw materials for new plastics.
The NOS radio program 'Met het Oog op Morgen' invited Pavlina on March 13th to discuss her nomination, her work as a scientist, and her role as a societal change-maker, challenging gender stereotypes of women in engineering.
"We filter CO2 emissions from the atmosphere with a type of giant vacuum cleaner."
Guus, an impact-first entrepreneur and co-founder of ReCarbn, was recently interviewed by FD (Financieele Dagblad) about their technology, which is quickly gaining traction worldwide. Even though it seems like something out of a sci-fi movie, it works!
"I worked on the design and implementation of various healthcare technologies. Soon, my work turned into a PhD project. At first, it felt lonely. I was the only person on the ward without a degree in medicine. As no one could set an example for me, I turned to my previous UT supervisors, and they were happy to supervise and support my PhD process. A surgeon, a designer, and a philosopher formed my supervising team, making me a multidisciplinary researcher."
Merlijn shares her testimonial with the UT alumni community as the celebration of the European Patients' Rights approaches.
Peter is leading the project execution of an ambitious bio-methanol facility in Estonia, undertaken by Power2X. With an investment exceeding a billion euros, this new facility aims to be operational by 2028 and produce up to 500 thousand tons of green methanol annually.
Peter will be attending the European Green Hydrogen Summit in Lisbon on April 17-18, 2024, where he will serve as a guest speaker.
"I am grateful for the trust placed in me by the party and candidates. Based on neighbourliness and subsidiarity, we the BBB will renew European politics and, as a voice of and for the countryside, also increase control over policy choices within the Netherlands in the process."
Sander was elected list leader for the BBB during the European elections.
"I am honoured and very excited to join ForFarmers as CFO. ForFarmers' dedication to a future-proof, affordable and sustainable food chain perfectly matches my personal values and ambitions. I look forward to contributing to that mission together with my future colleagues."
Marloes is a new member of ForFarmers' supervisory board and CFO from 1 June, 2024.
'Everything is controlled, fully automated, from a control room, which looks a bit like the command bridge from Starship Enterprise.' Thije works as a process technologist in FrieslandCampina's high-tech factory.
Read about his contribution to the production of high-quality proteins for athletes, babies, the elderly and the medical sector.
Bram was a guest on the "new comfort zones" podcast, hosted by Peter Oosterwijk. In their conversation they talk about the emerging chip industry in Twente, and the need for experimentation and open culture as they are key to success.
"Inventing something from ignorance to understand how something works." Bram Nauta plays with language, spins the look and in doing so always seeks the edges of his own ability and standards.
LinkedIn I Listen to the interview (in Dutch)
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, defence spending has steadily increased across Europe, as countries strengthen their security measures and improve their military capabilities.
"The Dutch defence budget was 1.1% of GDP in 2015, but has since made a significant jump to 2%, a clear indication of the shift towards a greater emphasis on defence and security."
Gerben Edelijn, CEO of Thales, highlights why the company is experiencing significant growth and how the ongoing war situation in Ukraine is impacting these developments.
March 2024
Agaath Doeleman, an expert in data-driven selection processes of Olympic athletes, was interviewed by the European Judo Union.
"At that time, the federation was developing their internal selection policy for the Olympic Games in Paris. In the past, difficult decisions, for example when two high-rated judokas competed in the same weight class, were submitted to a special committee. The federation wanted a different approach: a fully data-driven selection policy for Paris. The federation has succeeded in that,”
Daniel is the founder of WellBased. WellBased is an innovative teaching method for middle schools focused on study skills, social-emotional skills, citizenship and group formation.
"With our approach, we relieve teachers of their mentoring duties. This is really necessary at a time of teacher shortage and high workload in education. Our mission is to improve not only the well-being of students with our teaching method, but also that of teachers."
"As I dive fully into the sustainable packaging world, I encounter many cool developments. In this dynamic field, sharing knowledge and working together is invaluable"
Emmilie invites you to drop by for a fresh cup of coffee during her packaging consultation hour, every Thursday from 9-10 am at our office (Herenstraat 1) in Breukelen.
“We have an amazing team within ANH that has built a global leader with scale, a unique portfolio, and unrivaled innovation capabilities to help our customers tackle some of the most challenging food security issues and with a strategy that is strongly focused on making animal farming sustainable”.
Ivo leads the animal nutrition and health division of DSM-Fiermenich since 2019.
Vera has recently published a book about mourning, a book that captures this often avoided feeling through 66 poems. This is a personal project that she recently shared with the UT alumni community and the world.
You can also watch her TEDX conference about redesigning your life; watch it here.
"Suddenly we don't have access to data from half of the landmass in the Arctic region. Our study reveals that the exclusion of the Russian stations severely decreases our ability to track Arctic changes."
Efrén López-Blanco and team have calculated how much the loss of the Russian research stations affect the biases between essential ecosystem variables related to Arctic change.
LinkedIn I Read full article
"What exactly is a kilowatt and a kilowatt hour, what about charging speeds of cars and above all can't we think of a less abstract unit for that?" Here's a proposal.
UT alumnus Diederik Jekel has recently created another explanatory video to explain the abstract concepts electric car drivers need to understand when charging.
"I myself am an expert on children and grief. Have my own practice where I counsel children and their families when they have lost someone in the family. I also write and talk a lot about this topic.
Last month my children's book DOOD &GO came out, and at the end of this quarter the children's app DOOD &GO will be released, which lets children interactively experience the subject of death and missing someone. A heavy subject, but just beautiful to introduce children to this with the right tooling today."
Erwin caught the entrepreneurial bug and started his own Agriculture Tech business: Impact Terra. Once he had found product market fit, it was time for international expansion again: only this time as a founder, and this time, he needed to bootstrap.
Erwin was featured in a podcast focused on international expansion of companies.
"In May 2024 the WiFi Alliance exists for 25 years. From 802.11b (11Mb/s) to WiFi-7 (46Gb/s). If you would have predicted that in 1999, nobody would have believed you..."
Cees Links is the inventor of the WIFI concept. In a recent LinkedIn post, he remembers some of the obstacles he encountered while sharing a link to a recent interview (in Dutch).
February 2024
"I look forward to contributing to the governance of this versatile University as a member of the Board. That versatility means that we have all the ingredients to come to high-quality and integrated scientific solutions to the great societal issues and transitions we are facing."
Awarded the title of Engineer of the Year and Rector Magnificus of the University of Groningen since September 2023.
“By using methods from the semiconductor and photonics industries, our module is also scalable into the volumes required for these markets.”
CTO & CEO of Brilliance, a UTwente start-up. Their groundbreaking work in developing laser engines for Augmented Reality glasses has recently secured a major investment from PhotonVentures and Oost NL to develop laser engines for Augmented Reality glasses.
"People who claim they don't like reading just haven't found the right book yet."
Bo Verhoef is a dynamic social media & content marketeer whose passion extends to sparking interest in reading among young people. In 2023 alone, Bo has devoured more than 100 books and leverages platforms like TikTok to share her love for reading.
"It is easy to announce goals ... but then difficult to live up to those goals... some goals we didn't achieve as a direct result of my incompetence as a leader. But, I'm still proud. We will come out of 2023 with the best lessons we could have wished for, just before Upfront's real growth spurt."
Co-founder of Upfront, a sports nutrition company. He decided to be candid about his goals in 2023 in a LinkedIn post, that has received a lot of attention.
"What happens abroad also strikes home in the Netherlands. An open door, but all the more important that we stand up in Europe and beyond for what is important for our country, in a convincing and constructive manner. Europe is then closest to us: there we will have to realize a large part of our task."
Heleen has taken on the role of General Director for European Collaboration at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Solventis Group is a highly compatible fit to our strategy, adding tollgate capabilities and volume optionality via their Antwerp state-of-the-art site to our regional capacities, while opening interregional optimization potential. The acquisition will support our integration with increasingly global supply markets while strengthening our regional market position and customer proximity in EMEA.”
Ewout van Jarwaarde, chief executive officer, Brenntag Essentials.
"I'm always coming across new things and also don't feel like retiring now. Some broadcasters make radio connections, others love the technology behind the radio. I belong to that second group, I like that world. What the future will bring? I don't know, but the passion for radio is forever."
In 1965, Koos Fockens began his UT studies in electrical engineering. After a long career,as a retiree, he found a new in a PhD; he researched noise caused by common household appliances and its consequences.
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