News

What do doughnuts have to do with energy? Can you replicate the sun here on Earth? These and much more topics will be covered at DIFFER’s open day on Saturday 3 October. During the Dutch Science Weekend, you can take a look behind the scenes at various organisations and institutions in the fields of science and technology.

DIFFER researcher and group leader Beata Tyburska-Pueschel has been appointed as a parttime associate professor Material Science and Engineering at TU Delft. As of this summer, she will combine her work at DIFFER in Eindhoven with the professorship at the university in Delft.

Forty years of working on nuclear fusion research: what’s that like? How has fusion research changed over the years, looking at the progress that has been made and the technological developments that are taking off? Now that his retirement has come, it’s time for DIFFER’s former department head Egbert Westerhof to reflect on his career in fusion.

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.

At TU/e and DIFFER, researchers are developing intelligent materials labs and autonomous experimentation to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, semiconductors, healthcare, and sustainable technologies.