UM Magazine 1 February 2013

magazine 01/February 2013

Based in Europe, focused on the world. Maastricht University is a stimulating environment. Where research and teaching are complementary. Where innovation is our focus. Where talent can flourish. A truly student oriented research university.

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About education and research at Maastricht University

The dry feet

of the Dutch Professor Wieber Bijker and PhD students Trudes Heems and Baukje Kothuis - p 8

Eatwell

An interdisciplinary project in the battle against overweight - p 20

“The united states

of Europe

already exists�

Discussion between Aalt-Willem Heringa and Michael Shackleton - p 14

Content

Further 04 Leading in Learning - Premium students in PREMIUM programme 08 Professor–Student - Wiebe Bijke with Geertruide Heems and Baukje Kothuis

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Three generations of Zur Hausens at Maastricht University

In 2010 Axel zur Hausen (45) was appointed professor of Pathology at Maastricht University. One year later, his niece Talisa (20) started the European Studies programme.

And finally, in 2012 her grandfather and his father, Professor Harald zur Hausen (76), accepted the Tefaf Oncoloy Chair in Maastricht. The virologist and 2008 Nobel Prize winner inspired or – as Axel puts it – even ‘pushed’ many of his family members towards a career in science.

32 Alum Manon Fokke

As a law student, Manon Fokke had no political ambitions. But that changed when she met the people behind the case-file numbers. She honed her political craft in the Maastricht city council and, six years later, is now a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. She reflects on a lightning career.

12 Clinical research - Vivianne Tjan-Heijnen: A doctor with a mission 14 Debate - Aalt Willem Heringa and Michael Shackleton on the future of Europe 16 Sustainability - Nils Kok on sustainable real estate 20 Interdisciplinary research - Eatwell project in the battle against overweight 22 Region - Pieter Caljé: Theatre of memories 25 Problem-Based Learning - Ton de Goeij and Mirjam oude Egbrink: The science of education 28 International - Melissa Siegel: Afghanistan unveiled through the eyes of a migration researcher 30 Off the job - Niels Philipsen: The very sexual researcher 34 Alumni - Esther Baaijens: Gap in the market 36 University Fund - New named funds - News News 11, 18, 19 and 38

Profile

Colophon

Education and research at Maastricht

• Maastricht Centre for Taxation (MCT)

Publisher: © Maastricht University

University is organised primarily on the

• Maastricht European Private Law

Editor-in-Chief: Jeanine Gregersen

basis of faculties, schools and institutes.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences • Politics and Culture in Europe • Science, Technology and Society • Arts, Media and Culture • Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences • School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism (NUTRIM) • School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM) • School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI) • School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS) • School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW) • School of Health Professions Education (SHE) Faculty of Humanities and Sciences • Department of Knowledge Engineering • International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS) • Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG) • University College Maastricht • Teachers Academy • Maastricht Science Programme Faculty of Law • Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR) • Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO) • Institute for Corporate Law, Governance and Innovation Policies (ICGI)

Institute (MEPLI) • The Maastricht Forensic Institute (tMFI)

General Editor: Annelotte Huiskes Editorial Board: Luc Soete (President), Marja van Dieijen-Visser, Roy Erkens, Arvid Hoffmann, Jos

• Maastricht Graduate School of Law

Kievits, Victor Mostart, Madelon Peters, Hildegard

• Montesquieu Institute Maastricht

Schneider, Annemie Schols, Sophie Vanhoonacker,

Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience • Graduate School of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience • Clinical Psychological Science • Cognitive Neuroscience (CN) • Experimental Psychopathology (EPP) • Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology • Work & Social Psychology • Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (M-BIC)

Fancy van de Vorst.

Texts: Jos Cortenraad, Annelotte Huiskes, Femke Kools, Margot Krijnen, Loek Kusiak, Jolien Linssen, Hanna McLean, Hans van Vinkeveen.

Photography: Jan van Breda (p38), Lars van den Brink (p34), Bas van Genugten (p31), Harry Heuts (p11,19), Istock photo (p18), Herman van Ommen (p19), Joey Roberts (p36), Sacha Ruland (cover, p2,3,4,6,8,10,12,13, 14,16,20,22,24,25,26,30), Melissa Siegel (p28,29), Paul Voorham (p18).

Translations and English editing: Alison Edwards Graphic concept:

School of Business and Economics

Vormgeversassociatie BV, Hoog-Keppel

• Maastricht Research School of

Graphic design:

Economics of Technology and

Grafisch Ontwerpbureau Emilio Perez, Geleen

Organisations (METEOR)

Print:

• Research Centre for Education and the

Pietermans Drukkerij, Lanaken (B)

Labour Market (ROA) • Network Social Innovation (NSI)

Maastricht University magazine is published in

• Limburg Institute of Financial

February, June and October. It is sent on demand to

Economics (LIFE)

UM alumni and to external relations.

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Editorial Office: Marketing & Communications Postbus 616, 6200 MD Maastricht T +31 43 388 5238 / +31 43 388 5222 E annelotte.huiskes@maastrichtuniversity.nl webmagazine.maastrichtuniversity.nl

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Cover: Professor Wiebe Bijker and PhD students

tute on Innovation and Technology

Trudes Heems and Baukje Kothuis on the bank of

(UNU-MERIT), Foundation

the river Maas in Maastricht. With special thanks

• Social Innovation for Competitiveness,

to Jean-Pierre Pilet.

Organisational Performance and human Excellence (NSCOPE)

ISSN: 2210-5212

• Maastricht Centre for European Law (MCEL) • Maastricht Centre for Human Rights

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Column

Need for ‘slow science’?

Last year was in many respects an annus horribilis for science in the Netherlands. A series of new incidents of scientific fraud at Dutch universities was widely reported in the press. With the publicity surrounding the social psychologist Diederik Stapel, who was caught falsfying data in September 2011, academia – after the construction sector and the sporting world – appeared to become the new arena for fraudulent and unethical behaviour. But there seems to be broad consensus among scientists and science journalists that the Stapel affair is a fairly unique case. The three cardinal sins in research – falsification, fabrication and plagiarism – are universally recognised within the research world. In this sense, the Stapel case serves primarily as an impetus to tighten up the rules on scientific integrity within universities, including our own. For instance, our new confidential adviser – Franz Palm, professor of econometrics, former dean of the Maastricht School of Business and Economics, and Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), to whom complainants can report their concerns regarding potential fraud – will personally investigate reported cases and from now on play a much more independent role with respect to the committee for scientific integrity. It is not easy, particularly for young PhD candidates and postdocs, to feel obliged to sound the alarm on suspicion of scientific fraud. Thus, following the recent report by the Schuyt commission on the ethical use of scientific research data Maastricht University, too, has taken steps to provide a better confidential environment for whistleblowers.

Whether having early-career researchers take an oath of scientific integrity, as proposed by the Schuyt report, will be of added value remains a matter of debate. Personally I think such an oath or declaration could be made part of a PhD defence. Individuals later found to have committed fraud could then, in extreme cases, be made to give up the title.

tasked with investigating the fraud allegations surrounding Stapel and headed by Pim Levelt, himself a psycholinguist, draws grave conclusions. For the Levelt comission, the entire field of social psychology seems to be characterised by some form of “sloppy science”.

Little wonder that social psychology researchers all over the Netherlands and Europe have risen up in arms against the commission’s claims.

Perhaps the most surprising but also somewhat amusing aspect of all this is that a possible explanation for the strong reactions of social psychologists can be found in an article by Stapel himself, entitled ‘Framed and misfortuned: Identity salience and the whiff of scandal’. I quote: “These findings provide strong support for the prediction that defining the target of a scandal as a member of a salient self-category will enhance the impact of this scandal on relevant selfjudgments. Dutch social psychologists felt they were more affected by a(...) scandal involving a fellow psychologist when they categorized themselves in terms of the same category as the target of the scandal” (European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 401, 1999). Now, with so much better and publicly available data, perhaps it is time for our social psychologists to do this study over again?

Luc Soete Rector Magnificus, Maastricht University

Science, just like many other fields, is under pressure to get results and to do so quickly. But ‘fast science’, which claims crystal clear results at speed, should indeed arouse the suspicion of other scientists. And this is exactly where the report by the Levelt commission, Luc Soete

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Leading in Learning

Matthias Jüliger, Nikos Kalogeras and Elissaveta Radulova

Premium students in PREMIUM programme

By Margot Krijnen

They are enthusiastic and prepared to invest a great deal of time and effort in PREMIUM, the honours programme for excellent master’s students – not only the selected students, but their project mentors too. Maastricht University magazine spoke with PREMIUM mentors Dr Elissaveta Radulova (FASoS), Dr Nikos Kalogeras (SBE) and Matthias Jüliger (SBE).

With a workload of 250 hours on top of the regular master’s programme, PREMIUM is not for the average student. “Students who enter the programme are talented and extremely motivated”, explains Radulova, mentor of the PREMIUM Laelaps project. “They undergo a selection procedure and prepare for

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their assignment by participating in workshops and training sessions organised by Career Services, as well as master classes on e.g. entrepreneurship, leadership and creative thinking. Once they start the programme, they are professionally supported and supervised by trained lecturers and coaches.”

Teams and clients The teams consist of students from various master’s programmes and even from different faculties. “That’s one of the conditions: the teams must be interdisciplinary. For a period of about three months, five to seven students are selected from different backgrounds, based on the nature of

the assignment. This is necessary, because they have to conduct a multidisciplinary analysis of the problem at hand”, says Jüliger, mentor of the PREMIUM DSM project. Where does PREMIUM get its assignments from?

“Clients are generally UM partners, for example large companies, NGOs or educational institutions”, explains Kalogeras, also from the DSM project.

“They come up with a very concrete question and expect a practical and usable solution or product at the end of the assignment. They get quite a lot out of it: about 1500 hours of free advice, a multidisciplinary analysis, fresh ideas and out-of-the box thinking.

But they give back at the same time: they invest in students by offering them a practical learning environment.”

Laelaps The PREMIUM assignments cover a wide range of subjects. There’s the mobility project for Statistics Netherlands, where various registers and surveys have to be linked at a micro-level. Then there’s the assignment for Deutsche Post DHL, where students are coming up with a tool for a more proactive customer approach and product development.

Radulova mentors another project, the Laelaps website (www.laelaps.eu): “Laelaps is an internet platform on European affairs that answers questions which Europeans don’t find appropriate answers to in the media. The contributions are academic, but at the same time understandable. Laelaps presents the pros and cons for each question and provides background information. But it’s not just a simple FAQs website – far from it! It provides different perspectives on important questions on the EU. Anyone can contribute, but clear criteria and a peer-review system guarantee high-quality discussion. Our students carried out this assignment for the European Journalism Centre in Maastricht; it was a very fruitful collaboration.”

DSM Jüliger and Kalogeras, both from the School of Business and Economics, supervised the DSM project. Jüliger: “DSM organises a Business Plan Competition on a yearly basis; the goal is to develop a business plan for DSM with a potential value of €25 million in 2016.

Talented staff within DSM are encouraged to set up multidisciplinary, crossborder teams. One of the DSM teams needed advice on how to build and maintain relationships with potential customers of nutritional supplements. The service was an intelligent, web-enabled tool that could determine which ingredients and vitamins each customer should use.

DSM was looking for input to facilitate managerial decision making with regard to the branding and marketing of this service. The project has been beneficial for all parties involved, in particular for the students. They had to execute a real assignment, hands-on as well as academic. They presented their results on a regular basis and delivered an end product to DSM. What better experience can you get when you’re still a student?”

Win-win “It’s a win-win situation”, adds Kalogeras. “Our students receive professional coaching, which has a great impact on their personal development. They learn things about themselves they would normally only find out much later in a work situation. And they experience what it means to deliver a product that’s actually used in practice. At the same time, PREMIUM offers organisations the opportunity to scout talented new employees. They get in touch with the best of UM’s students and can literally see up close how they function. Which, of course, is also good for the students.

What better way is there to qualify for a possible job? So if you’re motivated, talented and enthusiastic, visit the PREMIUM pages on the UM website. Make sure you apply for selection before the academic year starts. It will be worth it!”

Paula Wolff (FASoS; DSM project) “PREMIUM helped me a great deal; I had two job interviews, and both employers were particularly interested in my involvement in PREMIUM and the DSM project. I think PREMIUM not only provided me with a great learning experience, but also helped me get personal job interviews. This type of extracurricular activity is what employers are looking for, particularly when it concerns projects for large companies. They also value the personal development component of PREMIUM.”

Elissaveta Radulova Elissaveta Radulova (1978) is assistant professor of European Public Policy and chair of the Board of Examiners at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Nikos Kalogeras Nikos Kalogeras (1975) is assistant professor of Marketing-Finance at the School of Business and Economics.

Matthias Jüliger Matthias Jüliger MSc (1985) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the School of Business and Economics.

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Portret

Following a role model in science

By Femke Kools

In 2010 Axel zur Hausen (45) was appointed professor of Pathology at Maastricht University. One year later, his niece Talisa (20) started the European Studies programme.

And finally, in 2012 her grandfather and his father, Professor Harald zur Hausen (76), accepted the Tefaf Oncoloy Chair in Maastricht. The virologist and 2008 Nobel Prize winner inspired or – as Axel puts it – even ‘pushed’ many of his family members towards a career in science. “Eight years ago, when I was first appointed professor, I compared myself to my father; he was one year younger than I was when he accepted his first chair”, says Axel. “But since the Nobel Prize, there’s no comparison anymore.”

Three generations of zur Hausens talk about family ties, science and ambitions.

What is it like to be at the forefront of science from the day you are born? “We learned at a very young age that nothing could ever be as interesting as tumour viruses”, Axel zur Hausen says. “It was quite unusual if my father was home on weekends, but when he was, he would take me and my brothers to the institute to feed some cells or something like that”, he laughs. “In terms of science he certainly has been a role model. He pushed me to study medicine.” Says his father, surprised: “I didn’t think I ever pushed you!” Axel: “It was a pushed decision.”

Strange topic Later, as a PhD candidate, Axel came across tumour viruses again when his supervisor suggested that he work on the Epstein–Barr virus in gastric cancer.

“I thought it was a strange topic, but then I called my father and he said it might not be that strange. It be-

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came quite a successful study and I think he liked the idea that another zur Hausen was working on tumour viruses.” “I was delighted that his work met with success”, his father confirms. Harald zur Hausen won the prestigious Nobel Prize in 2008 for his research on the role of the human papillomavirus in cervical cancer, which led to the development of a vaccine for teenage girls.

It’s probably no coincidence that all three of Harald’s children have PhDs, although not all in virology like Axel. “My oldest son, Talisa’s father, studied molecular biology but later went into investment banking. The youngest has a PhD in German language and history.”

He is proud of all of his offspring, but if you ask him, a career in medicine is to be preferred: “I tried for quite a while to persuade Talisa to study medicine as well, but she resisted”, he says. “He’s still trying”, she smiles.

Harald zur Hausen, Talisa zur Hausen and Axel zur Hausen

“But I think my skills are rather in writing and reading.

I want to go in another direction, although I’m not sure yet which one. European Studies offers so many perspectives.”

Typical grandfather Having a grandfather who is, in his own words, “a bit too enthusiastic in research” must have some impact on the relationship. Harald: “I think I’m a very typical grandfather.” Talisa: “He actually is. When I visited him when I was younger, we’d go into the woods and collect mushrooms. He always knew the Latin names of all the birds. He’d take me to the institute as well and show me his cells.” Harald laughs: “She never saw me as an abnormal grandfather. And she got the chance to be involved in the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.”

Talisa: “That was definitely a unique family moment.

I don’t think I’m ever going to attend that again.”

Harald: “The next time it may be your turn.”

Talisa: “Yeah, definitely.”

Harald: “I hope you’ll invite us then.”

It is just one of many cheerful moments during the interview. The three are clearly part of a loving family with strong ties – and with sayings that are passed on from one generation to the next. “Quod licet Jovi non licet bovi: What’s permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to every ox”, laughs Harald. Talisa: “Whenever I did something wrong, my father would say, ‘It can happen to anyone but it happens to the dumbest first’.” Axel’s seven-year-old daughter is the next generation to be raised with these wise words, “but she does not appreciate it”. Harald: “When I received the Nobel Prize and her parents told her what it was all about, she started to cry and after a while she said: ‘I want to get the Nobel Prize too.’” Axel: “Yes, she’s an ambitious girl.”

Proud Axel zur Hausen is probably one of few people to have been confronted with their father as part of their PhD defence committee. “My supervisor had lots of fun inviting my father, who didn’t want to tell me what he was going to ask in advance.” Talisa: “Is that even allowed?” The day after the interview, Axel will deliver his inaugural lecture, and this time his father will just be in the audience. He is proud again, just as he was when Axel accepted his first appointment as a university professor in Freiburg eight years ago.

“Soon after that we both attended a conference, and he was running around telling everybody: ‘This is my son, he just became a professor!’ People just shrugged”, Axel laughs.

Harald zur Hausen Harald zur Hausen (1936) is emeritus professor of Virology at the German Cancer Research Centre. He has received many prestigious awards for his research, including the Nobel Prize.

Axel zur Hausen Axel zur Hausen (1967) is professor of Pathology at Maastricht University and head of the Pathology Department at the MUMC+.

Talisa zur Hausen Talisa zur Hausen (1992) is a student of European Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

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Professor–Student

Baukje Kothuis, Wiebe Bijker and Trudes Heems

The dry feet of the Dutch

By Jolien Linssen

When Hurricane Sandy caused severe damage in the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic and north-eastern United States last October, heads turned once again towards the Netherlands. Our country’s reputation in the field of flood safety is more than a matter of national pride; it has been unparalleled since the construction of the Delta Works. With strikingly dry feet for the past decades, have we won the battle against the water? Not quite, according to Trudes Heems and Baukje Kothuis.

The common belief that we have been saved once and for all is a myth, they argue in their joint PhD thesis.

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In their research, Heems and Kothuis analyse the manner in which the Dutch cope with the threat of flooding from a sociocultural perspective.

“We were going through our collection of newspaper articles and stumbled upon the public communication campaign The Netherlands Lives with Water”, Heems recounts. “A surprising title, as water had never been an issue for us, nor for anyone we knew. So we started to ask ourselves: do we actually live with water?”

Heems and Kothuis, who had met while studying at the Amsterdam Faculty of Social Sciences in 2000, felt that a PhD would be the perfect way to “sharpen their minds” next to their daily work of running their own businesses. “We wanted to conduct scientific research in its purest form, without external pressure”, says Kothuis. “So we decided not to contact a supervisor until we had finished about 70% of the work.” But when they finally set off for Maastricht to meet up with professor of Technology

and Society Wiebe Bijker, a surprise awaited them.

Academic “I was immediately impressed by their energy and discipline”, Bijker says. “But I had my doubts as to whether they had already completed most of the research. I kept that to myself, though, because I didn’t want to temper their enthusiasm.”

It was decided that Bijker would be their supervisor, together with professor of Political Science and Public Policy Maarten Hajer from Amsterdam and professor of Coastal Engineering Marcel Stive from Delft, who is the successor of Bijker’s father. “I was very excited when Wiebe told us that he’d never met students who wrote as well as we did”, Baukje recalls. “But then he added: ‘Now we’re going to turn your work into a PhD project’. That came as something of a shock.”

Heems and Kothuis needed to gain more in-depth knowledge. To fathom

how the Netherlands has dealt with the threat of flooding since 1953, they set up a discourse analysis – which at the time was still “a pretty mystical area” to them. Heems: “It truly is an academic handicraft, but very exciting. You start working on your data and then the richness of the material reveals itself.”

In this manner, they discovered three underlying patterns, or discourses, that influence the way in which we have perceived water and our relationship with it since 1953. In the first two decades after the North Sea flood, water was an enemy that had to be curbed by all means. Following the success of the Delta Works, our safety was increasingly taken for granted and water took on a friendlier character.

Finally, from the mid-nineties onwards, the authorities have again been stressing the threats posed by water.

This has led them to expect more water awareness and risk-aware behaviour in society – an expectation often greeted with reluctance.

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Professor–Student

Baukje Kothuis Baukje Kothuis (1963) studied physical education and took courses in journalism and creative writing. She has travelled the world as the owner of a travel agency, publishing house and communications advice agency.

Trudes Heems Trudes Heems (1964) studied performing arts before starting her own business. She has assisted various companies in the fields of communication, marketing and organisational advice.

While working on their PhD, Heems and Kothuis set up the scientific research and consultancy business WATERWORKS in 2008 (www.waterworks.nu). They currently combine this with postdoctoral research at Delft University of Technology.

Wiebe Bijker Wiebe Bijker (1951) trained as an engineer in applied physics in Delft and obtained his PhD in Twente. He has been professor of Technology and Society at Maastricht University since 1994. Bijker’s research focuses on the relations between technology, society and science, with a focus on political and normative issues.

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“This can be explained by the existence of a national safety myth of dry feet”, says Kothuis. “Citizens have come to believe that the government is not only responsible for guaranteeing flood safety, but also able to do this at all times. As soon as they are confronted with measures that include the acceptance of risk, you see emotional reactions. This is exacerbated by the fact that various authorities communicate different messages about water. Citizens are said to be safe, but at the same time they should prepare for a severe flood disaster. What we propose is a new discourse that focuses on acceptance of the vulnerability caused by living in a delta.”

Cooperation Vulnerability is not only a research theme for Heems and Kothuis; it has also been key to the success of their cooperation. “At the outset, we agreed to be honest with each other at all times”, says Heems. “You have to dare to be vulnerable,” Kothuis adds, “and be convinced that working together will enrich the end product. Of course we disagreed at times, but that only stimulated our research. To analyse what was at stake, we had to delve even more deeply into the subject matter.”

“All in all it’s a great accomplishment”, according to Bijker. “Doing a joint PhD

requires a lot of you emotionally. It touches upon fundamental issues like: Who am I and who do I want to be? How much space do I need and do I allow the other into it? I’m certain that most people wouldn’t be able to do it. Working with them was a special experience.” And that feeling is mutual, Heems explains: “We were very privileged to have Wiebe as our supervisor. He combines an enormous amount of knowledge with the ability to offer a lot of freedom. Our meetings with him were something to look forward to.”

“I’m pleased to hear that”, Bijker laughs. “As Trudes and Baukje were external PhD students, we didn’t see each other very often. So when we met, we needed to get to the bottom of things straight away. Their commercial backgrounds gave our conversations a whole different dynamic.

They approached the subject without having the standard academic training, which forced me to make underlying assumptions more explicit.

And now that they’re done, they’ve not only written a great thesis but also carefully marketed it. At the moment, their work is having a great impact at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and the Association of Regional Water Authorities. That’s something most PhD students can only dream of.”

37e Dies Natalis: Inviting Excellence On Monday 14 January 2013 Maastricht University celebrated its 37 th anniversary, or Dies Natalis. The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Inviting Excellence’. One of the core elements of the university’s strategy is the development of a network in Limburg, the Netherlands and beyond. In this context five outstanding individuals, each nominated by one of the faculties or the Executive Board, were awarded an honorary doctorate.

The recipients were P.J. Crutzen (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, 1995), F. H. Gage (Laboratory of Genetics, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego), M. H. Pesaran (Economics, University of Cambridge), T.J. Pinch (Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University) and F. Sijbesma (CEO and chair of the board of DSM).

Leon de Windt, endowed professor of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, gave this year’s keynote speech, ‘Defining academic excellence’, which focused on measuring academic quality and impact.

Education Prize and Student Prizes Dr Jan de Roder won the Wynand Wijnen Education Prize 2012 for his special contribution to education at Maastricht University.

On behalf of the ‘Stichting Wetenschapsbeoefening’, the Student Prizes for the

best theses of 2012 were awarded to Omnya Attaelmanan (FASoS), Cornelia Birnbrich (SBE), Daniël Claes (FHS), Dennis de Coninck (FHML), Annemarie Fransen (FHML), Svenja Göbbels (FPN) and Antonia Waltermann (FL).

Multi-million euro investment in Limburg knowledge economy The Dutch government will invest almost €4.5 million over the next six years to improve the valorisation infrastructure in South Limburg. Valorisation is the practice of translating knowledge into commerical activity and innovative products that can be brought to the market.

The grant was awarded for the South Limburg Valorisation Programme: Business and Knowledge 2013–2018, with Maastricht University at the helm. The consortium also includes the Maastricht academic hospital, Hogeschool Zuyd, the Liof industry bank and the Chemelot Campus BV. In the coming years,

they will work together to develop better €4.5 million in the form of a grant. and faster ways to translate knowledge into market applications that will give a Affiliated partners boost to the Limburg knowledge economy. The programme is supported by regional and local governments, companies, Budget industry associations and other parties The project involves more than €17 including the Province of Limburg, million over the period 2013–2018. The Limburg Economic Development (LED), consortium partners and the affiliated DSM, KPMG, Deloitte, Rabobank Westelicompanies and institutions will set aside jke Mijnstreek, SME Limburg, the around €12.5 million of this to cover the Limburg Employers’ Association (LWV), costs of startups, patents, feasibility Syntens, the Limburg Chamber of Comstudies, and new and existing staff. The merce, the Research and Development Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture Department at KU Leuven, and RWTH and Innovation will finance the remaining Aachen University.

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Clinical research

Vivianne Tjan-Heijnen

A doctor with a mission

By Annelotte Huiskes

Vivianne Tjan-Heijnen knew from a young age that she wanted to become an oncologist. When she was 16, her grandmother died of bladder cancer without even knowing she was ill. It was simply never discussed: “Only my mother and her brother knew. That’s just the way it was in the early ‘80s. My grandmother lived with us, so it had a big impact on me. I decided then and there to become a doctor to make sure no-one else would ever die of cancer. Naturally that’s what I thought as a teenager.”

Now, over 30 years later and the head of the Department of Medical Oncology at the MUMC+, she is committed to providing quality care for cancer patients.

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Professor Tjan-Heijnen is a doctor with a mission: better treatment and better support for patients. While she was studying internal medicine in Nijmegen, her father developed lung

cancer. Before it was finally diagnosed, and also later during his treatment, Tjan-Heijnen experienced first-hand what can go wrong. Initially she specialised in lung cancer, but when a position opened up in the field of breast cancer in Nijmegen she decided to apply. “They weren’t very keen on me because I had no experience in that field. But due to a lack of suitable candidates, I got the job anyway”, she explains with a laugh. For some time she worked with both lung and breast cancer; only when she was appointed in 2006 head of the Department of Medical Oncology in Maastricht did she decide to focus exclusively on breast cancer.

Centre of excellence In 2008, following the MIRROR study, Tjan-Heijnen gained international renown in the field of breast cancer as well.

She demonstrated that treating even minor lymph node metastases with medication can increase survival rates by 10%, thus prompting the implementation of revised guidelines for breast cancer treatment in 2010. “The MIRROR study is a great example of how doctors can contribute to clinical research. And it generated quite a few spinoffs: our first publication in the New England Journal of Medicine kicked off a series of other articles and presentations – for example, at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) – and major coverage in the international press.

During this time, the Maastricht research team was also able to position itself as a centre of excellence for breast cancer treatment in the Netherlands”, she says with pride.

Fertility Of the 14,000 breast cancer patients diagnosed in the Netherlands each year, 86% are still alive after five years.

That is 10% more than ten years ago. According to TjanHeijnen, breast cancer treatment is taking great strides.

“While surgery is still the cornerstone of treatment, in the future this will increasingly be replaced by medication.

For example, hormone and HER2 research is currently being conducted in Maastricht on four very promising new drugs.

We’re finding out more and more about the contents of a cell, which means we can develop more targeted and effective medication with fewer side effects.”

With improved medication and diagnostics, treatment has unavoidably become more complicated. “You have to take more factors into account. Patients are more informed and face more dilemmas. The combination of breast cancer and fertility is a good example in which sound advice is extremely important. Each year I consult with about 30 young women from around the country. Nowhere in the Netherlands

do medical oncologists and gynaecologists work in such close collaboration as they do here in Maastricht. You’re constantly weighing up what the best treatment option is: do you opt for chemotherapy? What are the chances this will trigger menopause? Should they have embryos frozen or only the egg cells? Embryos tend to have a higher success rate. If you give women the opportunity to make their own decisions, it helps them to process things better later on.”

Top 5 Tjan-Heijnen is extremely active in the field of quality assurance. “I want to show – not just here in Maastricht, but at other institutions as well – how important communication and teamwork are in offering patients the best possible support during the decision-making process. This mainly concerns the quality of life after treatment. Because when it comes to the actual treatment of the breast cancer itself, we’re doing a very good job in the Netherlands; we’re among the top 5 in the world.”

Collaboration

With the Department of Medical Oncology in good order, Tjan-Heijnen is ready to take on a new challenge: Director of Regional Collaboration in Oncology. “I’ve been asked to set up an oncology centre serving the southeastern Netherlands.

I want to make sure that all patients in Limburg and in the south of Brabant have access to the same high-quality care, with the same protocols and approach to consultation and discussion, and with a focus on doctor–patient communication. Many protocols have of course already been established at the national level, but there’s always room for improvement. By focusing on quality, by reporting on everything and regularly evaluating it, and by discussing complications and sharing experiences you can look at the same problem from different angles and make any changes as needed. That’s my mission.”

Vivanne Tjan-Heijnen Vivianne Tjan-Heijnen (1964) has been head of the Department of Medical Oncology since September 2006 and chair of the Multidisciplinary Oncology Board at the Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+) since January 2008. She also chairs the National Breast Cancer Organisation of the Netherlands (NABON) and until recently chaired the committee for the evaluation of new drugs in oncology (cieBOM) of the Dutch Society of Medical Oncology. On 1 November 2012 she was appointed director of Regional Collaboration in Oncology.

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Debate

Michael Shackleton

Aalt Willem Heringa

“Citizens should feel the EU is their project”

By Hans van Vinkeveen

Europe: where is it headed? Professors Aalt Willem Heringa and Michael Shackleton have a critical but also hopeful view of the future. The United States of Europe, they say, is already a reality. “The European Union is much more powerful than the federal government in the US.” But we could do with more transparency and, in particular, more democratic experimentation.

While it’s not quite like gazing into a crystal ball, making predictions about the European Union (EU) is no easy task. The EU is an unprecedented and unique project – “historically unnatural”, according to Heringa, professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law. “In terms of postnationalism, it’s totally new”, agrees Shackleton, endowed chair of European Institutions.

“But certain trends can be identified, despite the crisis – we first just have to find our way out of it.”

So how is the EU handling the financial crisis? Pretty well, in Heringa’s opinion: “The criticism is that it’s taking too long, but no-one could have predicted what

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the market would do. If you look at the treaties signed, we’ve made a lot of progress.” But what now? “We’ll have to find ways to prevent another crisis in the future. I’m in favour of giving more power and oversight to the European Central Bank. I also think a European Ministry of Finance with its own powers would fit well in this context.”

Democratic experiments “The crisis means that people feel less removed from the EU”, says Shackleton. The biggest challenge for the future will therefore be to increase this engagement among citizens of the member states. “Citizens should

feel the EU is their project. Of course, there are many different visions of what the future of Europe should be, so we need to streamline these visions. That’s the only way the EU can survive. We need to develop a political system that enables citizens to see what visions are out there and that allows these visions to compete.”

What this system will actually look like is hard to say.

“We’re living in an increasingly postnational world”, says Shackleton. “The EU is something entirely new and no-one knows exactly how it will play out. The key, however, is to ensure that the EU is founded on democracy. This requires experimentation – think political debates between parties on what their candidate for the European Commision presidency aims to achieve, or meetings on the problem of unemployment among today’s youth.” “Raise these issues at the European level”, says Heringa. “Hold EU politicians accountable.

You promised to get rid of big bank bonuses, so why haven’t you done it? This is what happens in national parliaments.” Shackleton agrees: “Heated debates like these get citizens involved at a European level.”

Federation of states The European Parliament will face a particularly crucial task. But this body has ample authority, according to the professors. “European MPs should make bigger debates out of the most important issues”, says Shackleton. “Why don’t they launch a parliamentary inquiry into the banking crisis, for example?” Heringa adds. “Citizens would then think, yes, that’s exactly what MPs are for.” Yet Shackleton knows from experience that other motives prevail. “Instead of just making vague deals with other member states, they should be transparent in giving a voice to people’s concerns.”

Is the EU not well on its way to becoming a federation of states like the US? “The United States of Europe,” says Heringa with a laugh. “In fact it’s already a reality. In terms of competences, the EU is much more powerful than the federal government in the US. The power of national governments and parliaments has already been significantly restricted. Just don’t mention sovereignty or the f-word”, he warns. “That’s a good way to end the discussion.”

Democratic nature Referring to the EU as a federation will get you nowhere, according to Shackleton. “The US creates American citizens. I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where people consider themselves European rather than, say, Dutch or Italian. I also don’t think European citizens would be prepared to die for their new homeland.” He believes the political mindset is too closely aligned with the idea of the nation state and nationalism. “What we’re lacking is a collective consciousness.”

Were it up to the professors, we would see a more transparent and democratic EU. To this end, the Nobel Peace Prize is a step in the right direction: “The virtue of the EU extends beyond the creation of a free market.

The prize emphasises the fact that the EU is founded on important values like solidarity and peace”, says Shackleton. “Not long ago,” Heringa adds, “countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal were dictatorships.

It’s the EU that safeguards the democratic nature of its member states.”

Aalt Willem Heringa Aalt Willem Heringa (1955) has been professor of Comparative Constitutional and Administrative Law at Maastricht University since 1995. He co-founded the European Law School programmes at the UM Faculty of Law and the China–EU School of Law in Beijing. During his term as dean (2003-2011), the Faculty of Law has developed into a leading European and international law faculty. Heringa is also vice president of the International Association of Law Schools and director of the Maastricht Montesquieu Institute.

Michael Shackleton Michael Shackleton (1949) has been extraordinary professor of European Institutions at Maastricht University since 2008 and is former head of the UK Office of the European Parliament (EP). He has worked in several divisions and committees associated with the EP since 1981, and has published widely on various European Community topics.

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Sustainability

The value of

green buildings

By Hans van Vinkeveen

In his research, financial economist Nils Kok uncovers the truth behind the market value of sustainable real estate. The real estate sector is responsible for 75% of global energy consumption. A green energy label can therefore increase the sales price of residential and commercial buildings: “Sustainability really pays, and is the best way to climb out of a recession.”

Most things only catch on when they pay off. This also holds for what Kok refers to as a ‘love baby’ like sustainability. “Everyone believes in sustainability; everyone is worried about the threat of climate change. But an ideological narrative and mandatory regulations alone change nothing. Energy efficiency has to go hand in hand with financial rewards.” Kok conducts international research on the value of energy efficiency and sustainability on the commercial real estate market. “The market itself is what propels ecological awareness, and that’s far more powerful than any regulation.”

Cost-efficient sustainability is particularly important in the real estate sector, which is by far the biggest polluter of our living environment. “Going green should be good for business. What can sustainability do for me as a company, investor or organisation, and what opportunities does it offer? That’s when it works. We just don’t have all the facts yet.” And that is where Kok comes in. In his research, he links sustainability with the financial profitability of homes, offices and other buildings.

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Financial added value One of his most influential studies examines the impact of energy labels. An energy label specifies how energy efficient a building is, expressed in a rating from A++ (green) to G (red). Kok discovered that consumers do pay attention to these labels.

“If two identical buildings are up for sale, one with a green label and the other with a red label, there will be a 4% difference in sales price between the two.

That’s an average of €8000.” In short, a green label represents financial added value. “So it pays off to improve your home with insulated walls, double glazing and solar panels. You’ll reap the rewards in the form of a higher sales price.”

This is a striking result given the recent criticism of energy labels. Opponents find them too expensive and too patronising, and believe they should be optional. But according to Kok, in practice they already are. “You can have the label withdrawn by a notary. This is an unfortunate clause that was meant to be the exception, but has now become the rule.”

Kok compares the situation to that in the United

Nils Kok

States. “Energy efficiency is not well regulated there and so you see the rise of various market initiatives, like voluntary labels. In Europe, we’re more stick than carrot. And that’s fine. The energy label may not be perfect, but it provides enough information. Enforcing a government finding without testing it on the market first will always be risky.”

Sustainability and profits Another study by Kok revealed that sustainability issues influence investments in commercial real estate.

Energy-efficient buildings and buildings near train, bus and subway stations generally bring in higher rental prices. “The rental price drops by about 13% per kilometre from the nearest station. That’s an interesting fact for financers and investors. They see that sustainability performance – reflected, for example, in accessibility – influences the risks and rewards of investing.” To translate his findings to practice, Kok has developed a tool known as GRESB that helps investors integrate sustainability into their investment portfolios and investment decisions. The social impact of this is huge.

“With GRESB, we are helping international pension funds, insurance companies and banks gain higher returns on their real estate investments against lower risks.”

According to Kok, sustainability is the best strategy to get through difficult economic times. “People often

think that going green is a luxury. When things are going well, we eat more organic food and are prepared to pay more. But what we’ve established is that sustainability really works during a recession, not least because it is strongly correlated with energy consumption.” Increased sustainability also offers a better chance of emerging stronger from a crisis. This is not only true of companies, but also of society as a whole.

“A political objective, like realising energy-efficient buildings by 2020, can create an enormous number of green jobs – installing solar panels, fitting smart energy meters and so on. In the US you see all sorts of initiatives to stimulate green investments.”

Nils Kok Nils Kok (1981) is an associate professor of Finance and Real Estate at Maastricht University and a visiting scholar at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. Over the past five years he has developed a research strand on the microeconomics of energy efficiency and sustainability in the real estate sector, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Kok is also a co-founder of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), which tracks and catalogues the sustainability performance of property funds around the world. For more information, please visit www.gresb.com.

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Top income debate lacks arguments When debating top salaries in the public sector, politicians are mainly led by suppositions. This is the conclusion drawn by NWO researcher Teun J. Dekker following international comparative research into the discussion on the remuneration of top public officials. In his book, he argues for a more rational debate based on well-founded arguments. This, he says, would help

politicians make legitimate decisions that can be explained to the voters.

Dekker’s research team compared the pay debate in 17 European, Asian and American democracies, including the Netherlands. The researchers studied parliamentary papers, newspaper articles, political party programmes and reports issued by think tanks and

advisory committees. From this, they extracted seven arguments that figured prominently in all of the discussions. They then analysed these using philosophical techniques and empirical research; the analysis showed that these arguments are mainly based on implicit suppositions and are often badly thought out.

National Prevalence Survey of Care Indicators leads to improved healthcare years, it has developed into a national healthcare monitoring tool used by politicians, policymakers, managers and healthcare providers.

The National Prevalence Survey of Care Indicators (Landelijke Prevalentiemeting Zorgproblemen, LPZ), an annual survey that measures specific indicators in the Dutch healthcare system, recently celebrated its 15th anniversary.

The LPZ, an initiative of the Department of Health Services Research at Maastricht University, was founded in 1998 out of the need to identify and document common problems in basic healthcare. Over the

Healthcare institutions have been under fire for the quality of their care provisions for years. Since the initiative was launched, many of these institutions have been quietly working to improve their care by using the LPZ to identify their responses to common healthcare problems – such as decubitus (pressure sores), malnutrition, incontinence and fall incidences – and then implementing improvement measures based on this information.

According to the LPZ project leader,

Dr Ruud Halfens, huge strides have been made over the past 15 years. “The quality of care has significantly improved and, as a result, problems like decubitus and malnutrition are now much less common.”

According to Professor Jos Schols, who is also involved in the project, this is because the LPZ has taken several key steps to facilitate improvement.

The results of the LPZ have not gone unnoticed in other countries. All hospitals in Switzerland are now required to participate in the LPZ, while several institutions in Austria and New Zealand have been active participants for years. The developers are currently working on expanding the existing LPZ.

Stephan Smeekes wins Christiaan Huygens Science Award On 2 November in the Oude Kerk in Voorburg, Stephan Smeekes, a postdoctoral researcher at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, was presented with the 2012 Christiaan Huygens Science Award.

The award was presented by Hans Schutte, Director-General for Higher

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and Vocational Education, Science and Emancipation at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Smeekes received the award for his analysis of the root of unity in single and multiple time series, which the jury deemed to be “a huge step forward for econometrics”.

D. Benschop, T. Kliphuis, S. Smeekes and H. Schutte

Appointments: appointment of Professor Dr Martin Paul as President of the Executive Board until May 2019. His earlier appointment was set to last until May 2015.

Martin Paul

The Supervisory Board of Maastricht University (UM) has extended the

The Supervisory Board wishes to ensure consistency in UM’s leadership as it develops further, particularly in view of its position as one of the founding partners in large regional projects such as the Chemelot Campus in SittardGeleen, the Maastricht Health Campus in Randwyck and Greenport Venlo.

The Executive Board also reappointed Professor Bernadette Jansma as dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience for a further four years.

Bernadette Jansma

New research on link between height and cancer Taller people get cancer relatively more often than shorter people. This link has been convincingly demonstrated, but the explanation for it remains unclear. The World Cancer Research Fund is therefore funding a new study at Maastricht University that should shed new light on the relationship between height and

cancer. And since the Dutch are the tallest people in the world, this is no small matter.

Height in itself is probably not a direct cause of cancer. The new research project will investigate the underlying factors that can give rise both to greater height

and to a higher risk of cancer. Height is a reflection of certain growth patterns early in life, in which our eating patterns, lifestyle, environment, genes and hormones all play a role. The research will focus on two factors: genetic differences and the number of calories that we consume during childhood.

Dutch University Guide 2013: Six UM bachelor’s programmes in first place As in previous years, Maastricht University (UM) has ranked highly in the Dutch University Guide (Keuzegids) 2013. Of the 16 bachelor’s programmes that were assessed, 11 ranked in the top 3, 6 of them in first place. The Economics and University College Maastricht (UCM) programmes were also awarded the ‘quality seal’, a new quality indicator granted to institutions and programmes that, according to the University Guide’s standards, are among the top in Dutch university education.

The programmes that take first place are Economics (with a score of 8.0), Arts and Culture (7.2), International Business (6.8), Fiscal Economics (6.6), Fiscal Law (6.2) and European Studies (5.6). Although UCM scored a remarkably high 9.6 (compared to 8.6 last year), the programme was ranked in second place behind University College Utrecht (with a perfect 10). High scores were also awarded to Econometrics (2nd place with a score of 7.2), Medicine (3rd with 7.2) and Knowledge Engineering (2nd with 6.8).

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Interdisciplinary research

Leading in eating

By Jos Cortenraad

Maastricht University’s Eatwell project, designed to promote healthier lifestyles and eating habits, was launched one year ago. In addition to its large scale, this project is unique for its interfaculty character, spanning the faculties of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Law, Economics and Psychology. The project is the brainchild of the NUTRIM research institute, with director Annemie Schols at the helm.

The need for healthier lifestyles is beyond question. According to a recent study, half of the Dutch population is overweight. Worldwide, the WHO reports that over a billion people are overweight, describing the issue as today’s “most pressing health problem”. And rightly so, says Schols.

“Being overweight can lead to chronic illnesses such as diabetes, which in turn can lead to cardiovascular problems. There is also a clear link between obesity and certain types of cancer. According to the WHO, 300,000 people die of obesity-related cancer each year. And the number of morbidly obese people, including children, continues to rise. Over 10% of these people will find themselves in the danger zone.”

The idea for the Eatwell project was conceived in 2010 at the UM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism (NUTRIM), which conducts

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fundamental and applied research on the influence of nutrition and a deregulated metabolism on the development and progression of chronic diseases. “The Executive Board asked us to set up a large-scale, interfaculty research project on nutrition. Expanding our research scope by looking beyond our own walls was something we were immediately interested in.”

Exciting Schols accepted the challenge and entered into discussions with the faculties of Health, Medicine & Life Sciences, Law, Business & Economics, and Psychology & Neuroscience. “It’s exciting. Collaboration between the faculties like this is relatively unexplored territory. We felt that nutrition could be the factor that binds us.

After all, eating, drinking and health are issues that affect us all. We’re now able to link medical and health

science aspects with legal, psychological and economic ones.”

The idea was well received and the faculties were keen to participate.

“Eating patterns have everything to do with behaviour and therefore with psychology,” says Anita Jansen from the Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience. “For example, why do people eat unhealthy foods? This is the kind of question our faculty focuses on, and the Eatwell project ties in with this seamlessly. Turning Eatwell into an interfaculty project was an excellent idea. All four faculties have great researchers in house. We also have top facilities in terms of laboratories and support. If we join forces, we can develop an institute with international allure. We can be the best.

Maastricht University: leading in eating! I think it’s a wonderful challenge.”

Annemie Schols

Enthusiastic Another project enthusiast is Ellen Vos, professor of European Law at the Faculty of Law. “Naturally, our faculty focuses on the legal aspects of food production.

Healthy eating and drinking is big business. Manufacturers take advantage of this by releasing health products like sugar-free sodas, fat burners and low-fat crisps, while politicians try to develop policies to match. The stakes are high.

The task then falls to the government and to science to set the rules and assess the claims.”

Jos Lemmink, dean of the School of Business and Economics (SBE), is also enthusiastic about the initiative. “We’re excited to join this cross-border and crossdisciplinary research. As economists, naturally we’re interested in the business and commercial side of nutrition. Companies produce additives, develop new products and conduct research with universities and other organisations – take

DSM, for example. But the bottom line is that there needs to be a solid business model. SBE works hard on this; entrepreneurship is one of our spearheads.” But there is also a higher motivation. “The ultimate goal of Eatwell is to inspire people to eat more healthily. This will help us stay healthier as we age, keeping us in the workforce longer. In turn, this will influence our pension system, life insurance policies, the labour market and the economic system as a whole.”

Projects On 27 March 2012, the network of the four participating faculties was officially launched under the name Eatwell.

“We kicked off immediately with five research projects”, says Schols. “For example, we’re collaborating with the Kid’s University for Cooking in Venlo to develop a new type of bread that is rich in fibre and low in salt. And with the Co-eur obesity treatment centre we’re working on a new training programme to treat

obesity. We’ve received many more ideas from the faculties and we hope to be able to start a new, large-scale project this year. In my opinion, Eatwell is becoming an indispensable source of information that combines nutrition, lifestyle and health. It should be given a physical spot on the Maastricht Health Campus where symposiums and workshops can be held and where we can network and share know-ledge. The idea is to create an open community where knowledge is key.”

Ideas Eatwell is funded by the MUMC+, the participating faculties and the business community. Further expansion of the project depends on the results achieved. Schols has every confidence it will succeed: “All of the parties involved are so enthusiastic. Problems and questions are approached from various perspectives. In this case, one plus one definitely equals three.”

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Region

Pieter CaljĂŠ in front of the Soiron building

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Theatre of memories

By Annelotte Huiskes

Biographies are not limited to people – cities and objects also have their stories to tell.

This was the central theme behind the ‘cultural biography’ of Maastricht launched 10 years ago by the municipality. The goal of the Zicht op Maastricht (‘View of Maastricht’) project was to expose people to the city’s cultural heritage in a new way: not through museum exhibitions, but by letting the city speak for itself. This innovative approach to cultural heritage greatly appealed to the historian Pieter Caljé. Thanks to Caljé’s commitment and enthusiasm, many students from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) have since contributed to a better view of the city and the relationship between Maastricht students and locals.

Zicht op Maastricht ascribes the city four distinct identities: Roman, religious, fortress and industrial.

The underlying idea is that when you walk through the city, every building, street and square can be linked to one of these four main storylines: the city as a ‘theatre of memories’.

were canons in the chapter of Saint Servatius. So at the time, the building was part of the religious city. But when the chapter was dissolved, the building was given to the state to house the tax authorities and later social services. It’s now part of the university, which repurposed it as a centre for knowledge and culture.”

Future According to Caljé, history is not just about the past, but particularly about the future. “This cultural biography is a heritage project. It links you to the future because it forces you to think about urban development. Maastricht was once a Roman city, a religious city, a fortress city and an industrial city. But it is none of these things anymore, which begs the question: What will it base its identity on in the future? The obvious answer is either a knowledge or a cultural city. At the moment, Maastricht University is the city’s economic engine. This is reflected in the history of its individual buildings. Take the Soiron building we’re in now, for example. It was built in 1785 by the famous architect Mathias Soiron for his brothers who

Into the suburbs FASoS students were involved as interns from the very start of the project. They helped build the Zicht op Maastricht website and contributed to the oral history of Maastricht. “The idea for the website was to share the stories behind these streets and buildings and to reveal how their meaning has changed over time. But the cultural biography focuses not only on the stories behind the buildings; it also looks at the stories of the people. To preserve the meaning that these people give their city, we started several oral history projects with the students. Meaning is always defined by the perspective you choose. The goal of this project is to identify all these different perspectives on the city, on each street and square.”

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The project is not confined to the historic city centre, but reaches into the suburbs as well. “One student looked at the Moluccan community in Maastricht, another investigated the immigrant community in the Witte Vrouwenveld neighbourhood, and yet another interviewed expats on how foreigners view Maastricht. One of our students even made a programme for TV Maastricht on how artists view the city.”

Local versus student One student focused on interviewing students and locals in the Heer district – an interesting choice, given that the relationship between these two groups is not always smooth.

The conclusion? The locals are not overly bothered by the students, but they do not feel part of the community.

Pieter Caljé Pieter Caljé (1952) studied history at the University of Groningen before relocating in 1991 to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, where he is an associate professor of Political Culture. In 2006 he received his PhD (cum laude) from Maastricht University with his dissertation entitled ‘Groningen students and their Academy: The embeddedness of the university in society in the nineteenth century’.

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“The locals identify with a few important buildings in the neighbourhood, like the church they were married in”, says Caljé. “On the other hand, students like Heer because it’s close to the station and the city centre. So they define the identity of the district in very different terms. These are two separate cultures that you shouldn’t want to force together. What does work is having students join the local football association, as they have done, and start their own team. That creates balance.”

Student culture According to Caljé, the tension between students and the local community can be traced as far back as the Middle Ages.

“When you read medieval sources on student cities, you see that even then regular fights took place between these groups. In fact, it was much more intense back then. This permanent tension stems from the fact that student culture is fundamentally different from the culture of civil society that surrounds it. One possible solution could be to distribute students evenly across the city. But it’s an illusion to think that students will become ordinary citizens like any other; that’s not their perspective on the city. That was illustrated very clearly in this project.”

Problem-Based Learning

Mirjam oude Egbrink and Ton de Goeij

The science of education

By Jolien Linssen

Thirty-seven years after its founding, the marriage between Maastricht University and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) has proven to be a happy one.

In fact, without this education system there would have been no university at all. The launch of the medical faculty in 1974 depended on the ability to create something new and unprecedented in the Dutch academic world.

Although PBL was initially deemed ‘soft’ and even ‘alternative’ by academics elsewhere, learning in small groups is now becoming a widespread phenomenon in universities all over the world. Maastricht, however, remains the forerunner: here, PBL is part of the university’s genetic structure.

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Problem-Based Learning

“PBL originated from the United States and Canada, where it was first used in medical curricula”, explains Ton de Goeij, extraordinary professor of Curriculum Development. “It focuses on problem scenarios, based on which students need to gather relevant learning materials. As it is relatively easy to describe a medical patient’s problem and the symptoms and complaints, that seems a logical development.”

“Patients’ problems are indeed often multifactorial and hence multidisciplinary”, adds Mirjam oude Egbrink, extraordinary professor of Implementation of Educational Innovations.

“This fits perfectly with the multidisciplinary approach that lies at the heart of the PBL system. But I’d like to emphasise that other fields of study, like the biomedical and health sciences, also have this multidisciplinary character. PBL can really be applied in a wide variety of ways.”

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Leading in Learning And this is exactly what has happened at Maastricht University, where PBL is practiced in each of the six faculties.

Oude Egbrink and De Goeij both work at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), where they were appointed as extraordinary professors in the field of education last year.

Their professorships demonstrate that Maastricht University’s slogan ‘Leading in Learning’ is more than just a catchphrase.

This task is demonstrative of a wider trend, according to De Goeij. “From the outset, the university’s reputation has largely been based on its focus on education and the innovation and quality of the educational programmes. Yet if staff members wanted to build an academic career, educational activities were not going to get you any further – neither here, nor elsewhere.

Nowadays, choosing an educational path has become a serious career option.”

Oude Egbrink: “At our faculty, we’re very lucky with the research performed in the Department of Educational Development and Research, which is highly esteemed internationally. Our task is to further increase the interaction with educators in other departments and in the Maastricht University Medical Centre.

We hope to bring about better implementation of this research.”

“But a career in education shouldn’t be an escape route for those who can’t make it in the research field”, Oude Egbrink continues. “On the contrary, we encourage those who opt for this type of career to continue their research activities. In order to be a good teacher, you have to be aware of the developments in your field of study.”

Problem-Based Learning To this end, Oude Egbrink and De Goeij themselves set the perfect example, both still being involved in scientific research. Their joint research efforts revolve around the selection procedure for the Physician–Clinical Investigator programme. “For a selection method to be effective, it needs to have predictive value”, says Oude Egbrink.

“The question then is: are the students who meet our selection criteria indeed going to perform well during their studies? That’s what we’ll need to find out.”

De Goeij is also concerned with improving the FHML’s assessment procedures. “Instead of just one comprehensive exam at the end of a course, we propose to implement a series of smaller tests focused on the main issues and understanding, rather than on reproduction of knowledge”, he says. “The goal is not to judge the students’ amount of knowledge, but rather to show them in which areas there is still work to be done. In this manner, quantitative grades will gradually be substituted by feedback.”

Both developments touch upon the essence of PBL. Decentralised selection offers a tool for identifying highly motivated students who deliberately choose in favour of PBL. “This is important,” Oude Egbrink explains, “since students at our university have to actively work to gain knowledge and skills. They themselves are responsible for their academic education.” Seen in this light, the need for an examination method based on feedback would seem to be self-evident.

“I believe that our academic training produces individuals who will excel in their professional lives”, says De Goeij.

“A good physician, for instance, should not only have sufficient knowledge to treat patients. You also need noncognitive skills, such as good communication with patients, collaboration with colleagues and self-reflection.

Within PBL, these competences are trained from the outset because students need to engage in group work and cooperate with their peers.”

Future The high ambitions of Oude Egbrink and De Goeij are unlikely to be tempered by the recent financial cutbacks.

“Of course I do worry every now and then”, De Goeij admits. “The challenge is to maintain and potentially even improve the quality of our education with decreasing financial means.”

Nevertheless, in their view the way to combat the crisis is clear: “We should be making use of our educational knowledge more than ever”, says Oude Egbrink. “Teachers are our capital. It’s up to us not only to effectively train them but also to get them to share their ideas on how to improve our education system. In addition, we need to promote cooperation between different departments. At FHML, for example, courses in the various bachelor’s programmes tend to overlap. I’m sure we can work more efficiently by bringing both the teachers and the students of the individual programmes together.”

According to De Goeij, the same holds for the cooperation between different faculties. “Why can’t a medical student enrol in a course at, let’s say, the Faculty of Law? I sense that this is where the future is going to take us.

For in the field of education, there’s a lot of willingness to learn from one another.”

Mirjam oude Egbrink Mirjam oude Egbrink (1960) studied biology in Groningen and joined the Maastricht Department of Physiology in 1985. She has always combined biomedical research with various educational roles at the FHML. In 2008 she was appointed programme director of the medical curricula, and in 2011 scientific director of the FHML Institute for Education. She has been working as extraordinary professor of Implementation of Educational Innovations since last year.

Ton de Goeij

Ton de Goeij (1947) studied biochemistry and obtained his PhD in Leiden before joining the Maastricht Department of Pathology as an associate professor in 1982. In addition to conducting research in the field of pathology, he has been involved in educational activities throughout his career, including as chair of the Committee for Education and the University Council.

He also developed the FHML research master’s Physician–Clinical Investigator and directed it from 2007 to 2011. Since 2011 he has been the director of the medical programmes at the FHML, where he currently works as extraordinary professor of Curriculum Development.

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International

Kabul street scene

Afghanistan unveiled through the eyes of a migration researcher

By Hanna Mclean

For assistant professor and Migration Studies programme manager Melissa Siegel, work at the Maastricht School of Governance isn’t your average desk job. As head of the Migration Research Group, Siegel manages several research projects and is no stranger to working in unusual circumstances. “Within our research group, and at the School in general, we do a great deal of research in the field, especially in post-conflict situations. We get our hands dirty.”

Currently evaluating the UNHCR shelter programme in Afghanistan (the School’s third project in the country), Siegel has high hopes that her research will help the UNHCR and the Afghan government, particularly the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, to make informed policy decisions at the local level regarding needy populations. After building up a positive reputation in

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Afghanistan, Siegel and her team decided to tender for the UNHCR shelter programme evaluation. Needless to say, they landed the job. “I’ve been working in Afghanistan for several years and they were happy with Maastricht University”, she says. “They knew our field team from our previous work. That’s the main reason we ended up getting the job.”

Giving shelter Years of conflict in Afghanistan caused many to flee into neighbouring countries, and the country witnessed the biggest refugee crisis in history. The fall of the Taliban in 2002, however, resulted in a huge repatriation as people returned and resettled.

Returnees often found themselves shelterless or landless, prompting the UNHCR to create a shelter programme to give homes to vulnerable families. “Since 2002 the UNHCR has given around 215,000 shelters to returnees”, explains Siegel. “It’s been a huge component of the UNHCR’s work in Afghanistan, but it hasn’t been thoroughly evaluated. Now the UNHCR is redefining its programme. That’s where we come in.”

Siegel and her team are evaluating the shelter programme from 2009–2011, focusing on three main goals.

“We’re looking at how shelter assistance affects the livelihoods of beneficiaries. We ask before and after questions and explore how the returnees planned to cope had they not received shelter assistance, as well as looking at the outcomes of comparative groups”, she says. “We also look at programme implementation. Were the beneficiaries chosen correctly? Finally, we examine to what extent the UNHCR works with other actors on the ground. How are they working with their partners? How are they working with the Afghan government, and can this programme ever be turned over to the government? What kind of capacity would be needed there?”

make giving shelter to populations difficult. The way decisions are made is also challenging. Honestly, corruption is huge. The question isn’t whether there’s corruption; it’s how much is there and how far can we deal with it?”

But Siegel has also had positive experiences in Afghanistan.

“The last time I was there I had dinner in the Deputy Minister’s home and he invited parts of his inner circle, which included female members of parliament. Usually you aren’t allowed to go to Afghan houses”, she says. “But Afghans are so kind. Hospitality is important there.”

Future plans While Siegel is reluctant to reveal her findings for confidentiality reasons, she reflects on what she and her research team hope to achieve. “We hope that the key stakeholders take our results into account in their future planning and strategy for the country. It’s also important that Afghanistan has a thorough migration survey at least every two years, since it’s a big issue for the country. We’re looking at trying to implement a survey in 2013 and 2015.

This is our goal and what we’d like to do in the future.”

Since migration and repatriation are key components in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, Siegel and her team believe the outcome of the evaluation will be fundamental in moving forward with the new policy that the UNHCR will put in place.

A day in the life Evaluating the UNHCR project has not only expanded Siegel’s line of research; it has also brought about new experiences. “I’ve been to Afghanistan several times for this project and I’ll go again in 2013. I’ve seen a lot”, she reflects. “One of my most memorable experiences was when I was in Kabul and there was an attack on the US embassy. I was two kilometres away, but you could hear the bombs and the guns. The air was full of dust and helicopters were flying overhead. It was clear what was happening.”

Along with security issues, the country faces major problems with sanitation, education and corruption. “The social structures and the security situation in Afghanistan

Melissa Siegel with staff of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) during a celebration at their compound

Melissa Siegel Melissa Siegel, PhD (1981), works at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance as an assistant professor, head of the migration research group, coordinator of the Migration Studies specialisation and manager of the Migration Studies programme as well as several migration research projects. She has conducted field research in Ethiopia, Burundi, Afghanistan, Moldova, Georgia, Morocco and Suriname and has expertise in designing, implementing and analysing individual and household surveys as well as a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodological approach.

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Off the job

Niels Philipsen

The very sexual researcher

By Annelotte Huiskes

The band The Very Sexuals was formed in 2008 and released their first album, Postapocalyptic Love, online in that same year. The album was downloaded 20,000 times and picked up by music forums in countries as far flung as Brazil, Japan and the United States. A tour was inevitable, the record company agreed. Niels Philipsen, drummer for The Very Sexuals and researcher at the Maastricht Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO), looks back at this exciting time with a touch of melancholy.

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In the end, The Very Sexuals never toured. “We were all too busy with work and other stuff. My first child had just been born, so the timing was less than ideal. We made lots of plans, but they just never worked out. You put something off until tomorrow and then tomorrow never comes. It’s too bad, because now we’ll never know what could have been. I’m actually the only band member not working full time in the music industry. The others joined new bands and projects, all with some success. Our singer Pien Feith and the singer/guitarist Joep van Son both performed on the Dutch TV show De Wereld Draait Door with their new bands.”

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He is also a regular visitor to China to hold guest lectures on legal economics. “I’m satisfied with my work and I wonder how great the life of a rock star really is anyway, with all those long waits and having to drag your gear around everywhere. But the playing itself is fantastic – there’s nothing better than making music.”

Philipsen started playing instruments at the age of seven, first on an electric organ (“I could play a whole song on my own”) and then on drums. “Mostly I was self-taught, spending endless hours playing along with every song.

Whenever I hear something, I always want to see if I can play it.”

Childhood friends It all started at the high school in Venray where Philipsen and his friends, including the guitarist Van Son, formed the band THUSS. “Unlike The Very Sexuals, this was a terrible name.

Typical teenage behaviour – just look up some difficult words in the dictionary and you’ve got yourself a band name: The Unpredictable Sense of Secrecy (THUSS). We did some successful shows in high school and later at university as well, playing the student and youth circuit in places like Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Groningen. Even though our studies took us to different corners of the country, we’d come home every weekend to practise.

We even released two CDs, which we produced ourselves. Of course I dreamt of becoming a big rock star, but it’s almost impossible to make a living with music in this country. I quit in 2006. I was just too busy. I had just finished my PhD and I figured I was headed for an academic career.”

Influence While drummers tend to be somewhat hidden behind the rest of the band, they play a crucial role. “If you make one mistake, you throw everyone else off. You’re the foundation of the band. I still think it’s the most beautiful instrument. The drummers I like aren’t necessarily the best, but they all have their own style. Take the drummer from Calexico, who combines elements of jazz and pop, or Dave Grohl from Queens of the Stone Age, who marries rock with musical innovation. But the best drummer by far is Danny Carey from the American band Tool. His rhythms are extremely complex and he can even play two rhythms at the same time.”

Rock star And there’s nothing wrong with this,

Philipsen now realises. He gets a lot out of being an academic. His work includes contract research for institutions such as the European Commission, various ministries and the Organisation for

Philipsen and his friends were inspired by the alternative pop music of the 1990s – their high school years. “Like the Pixies and other Indie pop influences; those are styles you can hear in our music. We’ve also been told that we remind people of the later Beatles stuff, The White Album in particular.

That could well be, because they were definitely a source of inspiration for us.

I still think that’s one of the most multifaceted albums of all time.”

Soundtrack Fortunately, Philipsen got another

chance to perform last year, thanks once again to his friend Joep van Son. “Another childhood friend of mine, Miel Blok, published his debut novel Arie-Wubbo: The ultimate road movie (on paper) and wanted a song to go with it. I put him in touch with Joep and they ended up making an entire soundtrack, which is available on Spotify. Joep is a genius, if you ask me.

He’s constantly writing lyrics and making music, but he never finishes a song.

My role – and that’s why we work well together – is to listen to all those fragments, choose a select few and elaborate on them together with the other band members. That’s how we did it in THUSS and The Very Sexuals, and that’s how we did it this time too.”

Cecile aan de Stegge

The Very Sexuals, featuring Niels Philipsen, Cox Dieben, Joep van Son, Pien Feith and Rob Bours

The book launch called for a special performance. “It was in the Effenaar in Eindhoven, one of the biggest and best shows of my life. That was the first time my wife saw me on stage. I go all out when I play. I always try to add a little something extra; just playing the off-beat is boring. She’d never seen me like that before, and luckily she liked it.

My work and my music are two separate worlds that complement each other, but without music I couldn’t survive.”

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Manon Fokke is installed as a member of the House of Representatives in The Hague

Neighbourhood policy wonk in parliament

By Loek Kusiak

As a law student, Manon Fokke had no political ambitions. But that changed when she met the people behind the social welfare figures. She honed her political craft in the Maastricht city council and, six years later, she is now a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. Here, she reflects on a lightning career.

Just two months into her appointment as a parliamentarian, Fokke (of the Dutch Labour Party, PvdA) has already managed to have a motion adopted by the House. The motion calls for a government ban on polluting microplastics in cosmetics. Can a parliamentary nov-

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ice really pull such weight? Apparently so, as Fokke proves, while at the same time demonstrating her commitment to a sustainable world. “Microplastics in cosmetic products like scrubs go down the drain and into our surface water. The plastics accumulate in birds

and fish and end up in our food chain.

And yet there are plenty of eco-friendly cosmetic alternatives out there.�

No makeup, no lipstick and no frills for Manon Fokke (1976), who hails from the family of a Vriezenveen metal

Visit us at www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni

worker. In 1996 she headed to Maastricht to study constitutional and administrative law. “The advantage of Problem-Based Learning for me was that I wasn’t just spoon-fed the maxims of Article 120 of the constitution. Much more important was being given the opportunity to discover how to use these laws and regulations for the good of society. PBL made me sharp. I wrote my thesis on the Dutch Senate under the supervision of Hansko Broeksteeg.”

In September 2012, Fokke stood as the PvdA candidate in the parliamentary

elections. Although coming in at a modest 32nd place, she still managed to land a seat. “It’s a privilege”, she says, just two months into her political education in The Hague. “I get to take part in the thought process about how we can make our society more social, paying more attention to mutual solidarity.”

Poignant cases Fokke developed an interest in politics during the last two years of her studies.

“I was working as a deputy clerk at the Maastricht court, doing the preliminary work for social legislation cases relating to unemployment, disability and welfare. I discovered the individual, often poignant, stories behind the case-file numbers. Should we really go so far as to take away a single mother’s welfare benefits? I was on the side of the law, but I also wanted to see things from the point of view of the municipality responsible for setting local welfare regulations.”

Fokke decided to apply her legal knowledge and her passion for social democracy in a PvdA working group. The political fire was soon ignited. As number six on the list of candidates, Fokke was elected to the Maastricht

city council in 2006. “I was responsible for urban planning, mobility and the environment, specifically for garbage collection, recycling points and parking. All issues that are close to the people. I was able to pass on knowledge about social issues to other party members. And by day, I was also working as the executive secretary of the Maastricht University Council.”

integrity issues left little time for policymaking and administration.

But despite the current cutbacks, I’m very proud that we managed to preserve the policy against poverty in Maastricht. Sometimes laws and regulations contradict each other, which means people fall through the cracks and you just can’t do away with such a policy.”

Policy wonk Fokke describes herself as a ‘policy wonk’, but also as a politician with her feet firmly on the ground. “I want to hear from the people about the problems they face and find out how they want to solve them. That’s the key: doing things together and thinking with them, not for them.” In 2007, Fokke was awarded the prize for ‘most

Decentralisation In addition to the environment, Fokke’s portfolio includes the decentralisation and innovation of public administration. “The relationships between Maastricht and neighbouring city councils, which had cooled under Leers, are now flourishing. Regional councils need to cooperate on complex issues like social security, taxes and youth care.”

neighbourhood-oriented’ councillor.

Nominated by her fellow party members, she also chairs their council delegation. “Maastricht politics has faced some turbulent times in recent years, with controversial issues like the ‘grass pass’, which our party fundamentally opposed.

Questions were also being asked about the integrity of various councillors and of the mayor, Gerd Leers, who was accused of a conflict of interest in the ‘villa affair’.”

When the PvdA delegation withdrew its support for the popular mayor and Leers resigned, Fokke became the target of hate mail. Someone even threatened to smash in her windows.

She still struggles with this at times, but finds peace in walking her dogs on the Sint-Pietersberg.

“Leers often emphasised the importance of integrity. When you set the bar high, you also have to live up to it yourself. As it happened, all these

Fokke disputes the claim that the plan to introduce a social loan system in higher education will make it more difficult for students from lower-income families to go to university.

“I don’t see this as a problem for the accessibility of education. The supplementary study grant, which is indispensable to lower-income students, will still be there. And students can pay back their loans in proportion to their income once they’ve found a job. There’s nothing wrong with that. Education is an investment in yourself.”

During her induction period, Fokke stopped by the offices of all provincial administrators. “I represent the entire population, but I work extra hard for the region. Right after this I have a meeting with the activist group fighting for cleaner air in Maastricht – the city where I’ll happily stay.”

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Gap in the market

By Jos Cortenraad

Esther Baaijens spent 10 years in various marketing and commercial positions before founding The Pricing Company. “Companies weren’t really bothering with price management”, says the UM alum of her motivation at the time. “And there were no professional consultancies around that were 100% focused on pricing. I filled a gap in the market.”

It was a fairly radical step that the business economist, born and raised in Brabant, took in early 2005: she quit her job as chief commercial officer for a major car hire agency and started her own business in Amsterdam. “I never doubted it for a second. I knew price management was becoming increasingly important. It’s an underdeveloped discipline, even in universities. Economics programmes tend to highlight the traditional patterns and focus most, if not all, of their attention on costs or cost-making tools.

These are not unimportant, certainly in leaner economic times. But the sales prices of products and services are equally crucial when it comes to turnover and profits. As Warren Buffet once said: ‘Pricing power is more important than good management.’”

Portfolio Baaijens was spot on. The Pricing Company filled a gap in the market and is now considered one of the better consultancy firms in the field of price management. In addition to business partner Tijs Rotmans, the firm employs several in-house specialists and hires external experts when necessary. Their portfolio consists of both large and small organisations, including the big names in various listed companies.

One thing is immediately clear: pricing is not branchspecific. “That’s right”, says Baaijens. “In every sector companies are looking for the optimal sales prices.

Chemistry, finance, telecommunications, entertainment, media, business-to-consumer, business-tobusiness, retailers, producers, providers: they all want

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the same thing. When we sit down with management, we often find that their sales prices could be smarter, that they could make better use of value in the market. Many of our clients could afford to raise their prices by about 10% without scaring off their customers.”

That sounds simple enough. “It’s not, of course.

There’s no such thing as a fixed product price anymore. Just look at mobile phone plans, tablets, plane tickets, insurance policies, audiovisual products, home appliances, hotel rooms. All these products see huge fluctuations in price. A hotel room is much more expensive in the high season than in November.

Online retailers experiment with dynamic pricing for their products based on customer segmentation and other factors. Amusement parks offer package deals on quieter days. And gas prices fluctuate throughout the day. It’s important to understand price elasticity.

But you can’t just calculate everything in Excel; it’s also a question of psychology. What are people willing to pay and what are their perceptions? Can you justify making a Big Mac cheaper in Groningen than in Utrecht? And how do you present your products in a way that nudges consumers towards the better prices? A good example is the pancake restaurant that lets customers set their own price on quiet nights. The result? If customers are satisfied with the service, they’re willing to pay at least the same.

That’s much more effective than offering discounts.”

Visit us at www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni

Essential Price management is a complex but essential part of business. “If sales is the life blood of a company, then price is the oxygen in that blood”, said Jeffery Immelt, CEO of General Electric. “That penny dropped a long time ago in industries that have always had thin margins”, Baaijens says. “But this realisation is starting to grow, partly triggered by the crisis. Companies are casting a critical eye over their costs and are slowly beginning to realise that pricing can be a crucial tool in increasing profits. A 1% price rise can have a huge impact on profits and returns, especially in sectors with high volumes and low margins.”

Esther Baaijens

This realisation has meant hectic times for The Pricing Company. “There aren’t enough hours in the day”, says Baaijens with a laugh. “That’s just one of the many joys of entrepreneurship. But doing business also means making very clear decisions. We’d love to hire more people, but good pricing specialists are hard to find. We need experi-

enced and cross-functional people who can work with clients in various sectors. They need well-developed left and right brains capable of making in-depth analyses.

But they also have to strategise with the clients and handle the consequences of implementation. Fortunately, universities are starting to pay more attention to pricing, which means people are becoming more conscious of price management at an early stage in their careers.

For that reason I still occasionally hold lectures in Maastricht and other cities.”

Amsterdam Baaijens moved to Maastricht in 1991 to study business economics, graduating in 1997. “The choice for ProblemBased Learning was a deliberate one. And for the city, of course. Towards the end of my studies I was offered my first job in Amsterdam, where I still live. I had a great time in Maastricht, but I don’t plan on moving back. I like Amsterdam and it offers better business opportunities in my sector.”

Still, it is clear that her alma mater still holds a special place in her heart; Baaijens recently agreed to join the jury of the Local Heroes Student Entrepreneurship Award during the Global Entrepreneurship Week. “An excellent initiative. It’s a great way to bring together education and practice and to stimulate much-needed entrepreneurship among students.”

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University Fund

New named funds created Over the past few months,

several new named funds have been established under the auspices of the University Fund Limburg.

The Theo van Boven Fund was founded on the initiative of the Faculty of Law. This fund aims to promote and support projects in the field of human rights, such as fighting discrimination and social exclusion and advocating the rights to rehabilitation and compensation that are due to victims of human rights violations. In a broader sense, the Theo van Boven Fund aims to encourage and support legal education, research and knowledge dissemination by staff and students at the Faculty of Law.

New grants awarded

In addition to its contributions for professorships and scholarships, in 2013 the University Fund plans to donate €120,000 in support of scientific research projects and symposiums that reinforce UM’s international profile and align with faculty spearheads. An earlier donation of €250,000 allowed for the creation of the Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund.

As a result, from 2013 researchers from both UM and the MUMC+ will be able to conduct research in the new Brains Unlimited Scanner Lab.

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The Prof. dr. W.A. Wagenaar Fund was established as a joint initiative

by Professor Corine de Ruiter and an affiliated foundation. This fund pays tribute to the late professor Willem Wagenaar, a leading international scholar in the field of forensic psychology. Its aim is to support the twoyear Master in Forensic Psychology at Maastricht University by way of quality improvement projects and grants for students.

For each of these funds, advisory boards have been appointed to advise the University Fund board on all fund expenditures. For more information, please visit www.ufl-swol.nl.

Theo van Boven

New scholarships

The Elisabeth Strouven Foundation and the Limburg association for entrepreneurs in the agro-food sector (LLTB) are offering new scholarships starting from the 2013/14 academic year. These scholarships are intended for master’s students at FHML and students following the Master of Health Food Innovation Management at Campus Venlo. The scholarships will be made available to UM via the University Fund, in consultation with the donors.

2013 contributor’s meeting on heritage

To thank the many private donors who support the Limburg University Fund each year, we will be organising a tour of Maastricht’s academic heritage this spring. The city’s intangible heritage will also be examined with commentary by Leonie Cornips, extraordinary professor of Language Culture in Limburg, on linguistic culture and identity.

Are you a current or prospective donor and interested in attending this meeting? Please let us know by sending an email to info@ufl-swol.nl.

They had an alibi: Board of Friends visits Maastricht Forensic Institute It only happens twice a year: an up-closeand-personal meeting with the university’s best and brightest. This year the Board of Friends, consisting of generous donors to the University Fund, were welcomed at The Maastricht Forensic Institute (TMFI).

Established by Maastricht University, TMFI is an independent scientific institute for high-quality forensic research. Following an impassioned speech by the forensic

Grant for Gera Nagelhout

The Dutch anti-smoking policy was unsuccessful because the government failed to adequately inform the public about the dangers of passive smoking. As a result, many smokers felt the policy was simply devised to ‘bully’ smokers. This was the

Local Hero Award

UM student entrepreneurs Christian Nauerz, Henri Boersma and Stig Dreyer were the proud recipients of the 2012 Local Hero Award. They developed Finido, a to-do list application for mobile devices to help people work more efficiently. “There are lots of to-do list applications out there, but none that actually help you get your work done.

Most simply replace the paper list”, they explain. “We developed an algorithm

psychologist Corine de Ruiter, the guests were given a tour of the DNA lab. To conclude the day’s activities, Sebastian Huntjes discussed the establishment of TMFI and the importance of maintaining it in the future.

opments. “It’s nice doing business with like-minded people” is a common sentiment at its events. For the TMFI tour, the Limburg University Fund was delighted to welcome local entrepreneurs and over 25 international businesspeople.

The Board of Friends offers a unique opportunity to meet leading scientists and find out about the latest research devel-

If you would like to join the event in March 2013, please send an email to info@ufl-swol.nl.

conclusion of recent PhD research conducted at Maastricht University by Gera Nagelhout of the Dutch quitsmoking agency Stivoro. Nagelhout compared anti-smoking policies across several countries. She was also awarded a grant by the Limburg University Fund to

organise an international symposium for research on the implementation of smoking bans entitled ‘Smoke-free legislation: International research findings and lessons for the Netherlands’.

that combines urgency and importance to calculate what you should start with first.”

This was the first time the University Fund awarded the prize, which aims to stimulate entrepreneurship among students in the region. The fund collaborated with the Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship, awarding the prize as part of the latter’s annual Global Entrepreneurship Week. The prize will be awarded again in 2013.

The logos of members of the Limburg University Fund Curatorium are shown below. These companies and private individuals are highly respected for the support they give to academic research and education. The Limburg University Fund/SWOL is very grateful to its Curatorium members for their commitment to Maastricht University.

LIONS CLUB MAASTRICHT

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Jan Kees Dunning becomes CEO of Maastricht Health Campus

Jan Kees Dunning

The Maastricht Health Campus BV has appointed Jan Kees Dunning as CEO as

of 1 February. Originally a legal expert, Dunning has held various commercial posts both in the Netherlands and abroad. Until recently, he worked at the Collaborative Laboratories for Molecular Pathology (SLMP). Before that he was the commercial director for Europe at MdxHealth, a Belgian–Dutch listed company that brings diagnostic tests for various forms of cancer to the market. Dunning believes that the Maastricht Health Campus – thanks to

its geographic location, unique knowledge infrastructure and the active participation of numerous regional parties – is ideally suited to lead the commericalisation of new medical– technological innovations. The Maastricht Health Campus will give the regional economy a major economic boost, offering a basis for collaboration with foreign parties to achieve its objective of ‘smart solutions for healthier living’.

UM and McMaster University sign agreement for joint global health programmes Maastricht University of the Netherlands and McMaster University in Canada have signed a memorandum of agreement to provide joint graduate programmes in global health. This unique affiliation is in response to the growing need for a well-prepared global health workforce to address today’s most

pressing health issues that transcend national boundaries, such as the need to develop vaccines to fight infectious diseases, to seek answers for the worldwide rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and to find ways for aid agencies to work effectively with governments.

Back row, from left) Wim Geerts, Ambassador for the

Netherlands; HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands;

and Elizabeth Witmer, chair of the Global Health Advisory Board look on as (front row, from left) Patrick Deane, president of McMaster University and Gerard Mols, former rector magnificus of Maastricht University, sign the memorandum of agreement.

500 million euro grant from EU for Human Brain Project The Human Brain Project (HBP) has been selected as one of the European Commission’s two FET Flagship projects.

The new project will unite European efforts to address one of the greatest challenges of modern science: understanding the human brain.

More than 80 European and international research institutions are involved in this project. The project will also associate some important North American

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and Japanese partners. It will be coordinated at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.

Maastricht University is one of the seven Dutch participants in the project.

Rainer Goebel, professor of Cognitive Neuroscience: “The goal of the project is to build a very detailed model of the human brain. Before we can use it for medical purposes, this detailed brain model has first to be validated by

comparing computer simulations with empirical data at multiple levels of organization, starting from the neuronal level up to large-scale brain networks. The aim of my small subproject is to develop a comparison software platform for functional brain imaging data allowing to directly compare outcomes of brain simulations with measured fMRI data at 7 Tesla.”

Content

Further 04 Leading in Learning - Premium students in PREMIUM programme 08 Professor–Student - Wiebe Bijke with Geertruide Heems and Baukje Kothuis

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Three generations of Zur Hausens at Maastricht University

In 2010 Axel zur Hausen (45) was appointed professor of Pathology at Maastricht University. One year later, his niece Talisa (20) started the European Studies programme.

And finally, in 2012 her grandfather and his father, Professor Harald zur Hausen (76), accepted the Tefaf Oncoloy Chair in Maastricht. The virologist and 2008 Nobel Prize winner inspired or – as Axel puts it – even ‘pushed’ many of his family members towards a career in science.

32 Alum Manon Fokke

As a law student, Manon Fokke had no political ambitions. But that changed when she met the people behind the case-file numbers. She honed her political craft in the Maastricht city council and, six years later, is now a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. She reflects on a lightning career.

12 Clinical research - Vivianne Tjan-Heijnen: A doctor with a mission 14 Debate - Aalt Willem Heringa and Michael Shackleton on the future of Europe 16 Sustainability - Nils Kok on sustainable real estate 20 Interdisciplinary research - Eatwell project in the battle against overweight 22 Region - Pieter Caljé: Theatre of memories 25 Problem-Based Learning - Ton de Goeij and Mirjam oude Egbrink: The science of education 28 International - Melissa Siegel: Afghanistan unveiled through the eyes of a migration researcher 30 Off the job - Niels Philipsen: The very sexual researcher 34 Alumni - Esther Baaijens: Gap in the market 36 University Fund - New named funds - News News 11, 18, 19 and 38

Profile

Colophon

Education and research at Maastricht

• Maastricht Centre for Taxation (MCT)

Publisher: © Maastricht University

University is organised primarily on the

• Maastricht European Private Law

Editor-in-Chief: Jeanine Gregersen

basis of faculties, schools and institutes.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences • Politics and Culture in Europe • Science, Technology and Society • Arts, Media and Culture • Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences • School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism (NUTRIM) • School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM) • School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI) • School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS) • School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW) • School of Health Professions Education (SHE) Faculty of Humanities and Sciences • Department of Knowledge Engineering • International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS) • Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG) • University College Maastricht • Teachers Academy • Maastricht Science Programme Faculty of Law • Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR) • Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO) • Institute for Corporate Law, Governance and Innovation Policies (ICGI)

Institute (MEPLI) • The Maastricht Forensic Institute (tMFI)

General Editor: Annelotte Huiskes Editorial Board: Luc Soete (President), Marja van Dieijen-Visser, Roy Erkens, Arvid Hoffmann, Jos

• Maastricht Graduate School of Law

Kievits, Victor Mostart, Madelon Peters, Hildegard

• Montesquieu Institute Maastricht

Schneider, Annemie Schols, Sophie Vanhoonacker,

Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience • Graduate School of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience • Clinical Psychological Science • Cognitive Neuroscience (CN) • Experimental Psychopathology (EPP) • Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology • Work & Social Psychology • Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (M-BIC)

Fancy van de Vorst.

Texts: Jos Cortenraad, Annelotte Huiskes, Femke Kools, Margot Krijnen, Loek Kusiak, Jolien Linssen, Hanna McLean, Hans van Vinkeveen.

Photography: Jan van Breda (p38), Lars van den Brink (p34), Bas van Genugten (p31), Harry Heuts (p11,19), Istock photo (p18), Herman van Ommen (p19), Joey Roberts (p36), Sacha Ruland (cover, p2,3,4,6,8,10,12,13, 14,16,20,22,24,25,26,30), Melissa Siegel (p28,29), Paul Voorham (p18).

Translations and English editing: Alison Edwards Graphic concept:

School of Business and Economics

Vormgeversassociatie BV, Hoog-Keppel

• Maastricht Research School of

Graphic design:

Economics of Technology and

Grafisch Ontwerpbureau Emilio Perez, Geleen

Organisations (METEOR)

Print:

• Research Centre for Education and the

Pietermans Drukkerij, Lanaken (B)

Labour Market (ROA) • Network Social Innovation (NSI)

Maastricht University magazine is published in

• Limburg Institute of Financial

February, June and October. It is sent on demand to

Economics (LIFE)

UM alumni and to external relations.

• The Maastricht Academic Centre for Research in Services (MAXX) • Accounting, Auditing & Information Management Research Centre (MARC) • European Centre for Corporate Engagement (ECCE)

Editorial Office: Marketing & Communications Postbus 616, 6200 MD Maastricht T +31 43 388 5238 / +31 43 388 5222 E annelotte.huiskes@maastrichtuniversity.nl webmagazine.maastrichtuniversity.nl

• United Nations University – Maastricht Economic Research Insti-

Cover: Professor Wiebe Bijker and PhD students

tute on Innovation and Technology

Trudes Heems and Baukje Kothuis on the bank of

(UNU-MERIT), Foundation

the river Maas in Maastricht. With special thanks

• Social Innovation for Competitiveness,

to Jean-Pierre Pilet.

Organisational Performance and human Excellence (NSCOPE)

ISSN: 2210-5212

• Maastricht Centre for European Law (MCEL) • Maastricht Centre for Human Rights

webmagazine.maastrichtuniversity.nl

magazine 01/February 2013

Based in Europe, focused on the world. Maastricht University is a stimulating environment. Where research and teaching are complementary. Where innovation is our focus. Where talent can flourish. A truly student oriented research university.

www.maastrichtuniversity.nl

About education and research at Maastricht University

The dry feet

of the Dutch Professor Wieber Bijker and PhD students Trudes Heems and Baukje Kothuis - p 8

Eatwell

An interdisciplinary project in the battle against overweight - p 20

“The united states

of Europe

already exists�

Discussion between Aalt-Willem Heringa and Michael Shackleton - p 14