DIFFER has appointed Matthijs van Berkel as the new head of the institute’s Fusion Energy department. As of August 2026, the current group leader Energy Systems and Control will succeed Egbert Westerhof, who will retire this summer.
“I’m excited to steering the department further into the direction of technology and preparing DIFFER to be part of the next phase of nuclear fusion, in which fusion reactors will produce more energy than they consume.” It are the words of Matthijs van Berkel, who is succeeding Egbert Westerhof as the head of DIFFER’s Fusion Energy department. Besides his work as a group leader Energy Systems and Control, Van Berkel will be part of the institute's management team and guide the six research groups within the department.
Ambitions for future energy
With a background in mechanical engineering, Van Berkel has always been intrigued by complex processes and systems. Van Berkel joined DIFFER in 2011 as a PhD student, after which he continued his scientific career as a post doc researcher and -later on- group leader. Since May 2025, Van Berkel also works as a parttime Associate Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).
Being the new department head of Fusion Energy, Van Berkel sees plenty of opportunities to realise DIFFER’s ambitions. Van Berkel: “Together with the teams I want to focus on connecting DIFFER to (Dutch) industry and building an ecosystem for nuclear fusion in the Netherlands. Furthermore, I’m aiming to search for synergetic programmes with fission through a number of programmes that are currently running, such as DICE and systems engineering, but also I would like to set-up new ones.”
With the appointment of Van Berkel, DIFFER’s director Marco de Baar is looking forward to the years ahead: “With Matthijs at the helm of the department, we will further focus our program on high-impact fusion technology. I am excited about the possibilities of collaborating with the high tech industry in the Brainport region and beyond.”
Collaboration is key
DIFFER’s Fusion Energy department does research to unlock the enormous potential of hydrogen fusion as a clean, compact and almost inexhaustible energy source. The department comprises six research groups: Energy Systems and Control, Integrated Modelling, Plasma Edge Physics and Diagnostics, Plasma Material Interactions, Plasma Micro-Turbulence and Radiation Induced Defect Research. Researchers from these groups work closely together (also with researchers from the Chemical Energy department) on DIFFER’s mission: science for future energy.
Author: Rianne van Hoek
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