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Marco de Baar always knew that he would eventually hold a senior position in research. But he never thought this would be possible at DIFFER, the institute that he has called his home since 2007. Nevertheless, he is now DIFFER’s scientific director, albeit in a challenging year.

Richard van de Sanden and Thom Palstra will become members of the NWO Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES) board. The NWO Executive Board ratified their nomination on Wednesday 9 June. Van de Sanden is appointed with effect from 1 August and Palstra with effect from 1 September.

Richard van de Sanden en Thom Palstra treden toe tot het bestuur van NWO-domein Toegepaste en Technische Wetenschappen (TTW). De raad van bestuur van NWO heeft hun voordracht op woensdag 9 juni bekrachtigd. Van de Sanden is per 1 augustus 2021 benoemd, Palstra per 1 september.

We have free sunlight every day, but still we dig in the ground for oil and gas to provide us with energy. That has always intrigued Anja Bieberle-Hütter. As interim head of DIFFER’s solar fuels research theme, she is determined to help solving the paradox.

Egbert Westerhof started out at DIFFER in 1983 as a PhD student. He saw the institute evolve from an exclusively fusion-focused ‘family’ inhabiting a medieval castle to a more business-like community committed to fundamental energy research and situated on a modern university campus. As interim head of fusion research, Westerhof is now preparing the next round of evolutions.