Maastricht University Magazine

magazine 03/October 2013

About education and research at Maastricht University

Machines with

meaning Official opening of Brains Unlimited - p6

A job for

everyone

Farewell interview with Joan Muysken - p16

“To really sing you need guts�

Interview with UM alum and singer/songwriter Marike Jager - p32

Content

Further 04 Leading in Learning - Crossing borders in the Maastricht Science Programme 06 Brains Unlimited - Bernadette Jansma, Ross McLennan and Joachim Wildberger: Machines with meaning

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Historical estates

Eduard de Loë and his three brothers grew up in the Mheer castle in South Limburg. Today he lives in the German district of Kleve, on an estate he inherited when he was three years old. He participated in Joop de Jong’s recent study on the conservation of historical estates in Limburg.

09 Tesla scanner 9.4 - Keep an ear out for Elia Formisano 16 Farewell interview - Joan Muysken: A job for everyone 18 Professor–Student - Professor Jan Smits and PhD student Mark Kawakami 24 Games Studies - Karin Wenz: The science of fans 26 Research and society - Bas de Laat: Blood clotting research on the Alps 28 International - Shuan SadreGhazi: “Toilet innovation is important” 30 Off the job - Connie Stumpel: “The social side of this work fits me like a glove” 32 Alumni - Marike Jager: “To really sing you need guts”

20 Debate

According to the Dutch physicians association KNMG, people with dementia should only be euthanised if they are able to give informed consent when the time comes - even if they have a living will. Is this view justified? Job Metsemakers, professor of General Practice Medicine, in debate with medical ethics lecturer Rob Houtepen.

34 Alumni - Alumni circles: contacts for life 36 University Fund - Grants awarded in 2013/14 - News News 11, 15, 23 and 38

The value of science Since early this year, I’ve chaired a committee of economists of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) that is trying to identify the “value of science”. We are talking here about science in the broadest sense of the word. Many readers will undoubtedly be surprised that committees need to be established - by our Royal Academy no less - to figure out what the value of science is. But in these financially turbulent times, nothing is sacred; science, too, must face the music and make its value clear.

What is more, science is no longer limited by physical boundaries. The value for the Netherlands of the science performed in this country may amount to just a fraction of the value for the Netherlands of science performed elsewhere. Conversely, science performed in the Netherlands may be many times more valuable for the rest of the world than it is here. Witness the many international research networks in which researchers, including those based at UM, currently participate. Should that be reduced, now the Netherlands is in difficulties and The Hague is tightening its budget? Can we not concentrate on the science that is more useful to us as a country, and from which we ourselves profit? This mirrors the discussion we’ve had in recent years with respect to development policy. And what about the many academic fields we neglect - are we just hitching a ride on the back of research performed elsewhere in the world? Ultimately, the total expenditure on scientific research at universities and public research institutes in a country like the Netherlands amounts to less than what an institute like MIT spends on research.

stands at the other extreme, with an almost ideological approach based on the principle that private companies are not to be supported by public research funds; instead, public funding remains earmarked for science and research at universities and public knowledge institutions. The value of science per se is up for discussion neither societally nor economically. The Netherlands lies somewhere between. In the past decade, however, the political prioritisation of science has come under great pressure. For instance, the share of public expenditure on research as a percentage of total government spending has been cut. In neighbouring countries, especially Germany, precisely the opposite has happened. And does the Netherlands now trail behind its neighbours when it comes to economic growth? No further comments …

Luc Soete Rector Magnificus, Maastricht University

In this very brief contribution, I try to put my finger on the value of science in the Netherlands. The report by the KNAW committee goes some way towards doing this, and hopefully contributes to the public debate in the Netherlands. However, it is interesting that this question is raised in more or less all small European countries. Norway is perhaps the most advanced in terms of prioritising research in fields most aligned with Norwegian economic and societal interests.

The value of science for the Norwegian economy and society has to prove itself, as it were. Switzerland Luc Soete

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Leading in Learning

Ariane Perez-Gavilan and Roy Erckens at Chemelot

Crossing borders in the Maastricht Science Programme

By Jos Cortenraad

The Maastricht Science Programme is now in its third year. The fledgling bachelor’s degree is generating interest from all over the world, and the lecturers and researchers Ariane Perez-Gavilan and Roy Erkens know why.

“It has great interaction between students and tutors, freedom of choice in subjects, and crossovers between different fields and disciplines.”

Yes, says Perez-Gavilan, it was indeed a transition from the US metropolis of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) to South Limburg in early 2012. “The culture is different, the language of course, and the small scale”, says the Mexico native now responsible for the chemistry curriculum of the Maastricht Science Programme. “But the main difference is the work itself. In

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Philadelphia I worked as a teaching assistant during my PhD. The lecture halls would be packed with over 150 students all listening to the professor.

I barely knew any of them. Here I give courses for a maximum of 60 students, which we split up into groups of 12. The lines of communication are very short; within a few weeks you know everyone by name.

We look for solutions together, work on cases. And I have great freedom to come up with lectures based on my own knowledge of the field.”

Adventure In 2011, Erkens traded in his job as an evolutionary biology lecturer at Utrecht University for an adventure in the south. “Yes, you could call it that.

Helping to launch a new bachelor’s programme, coming up with the curriculum yourself - that’s a great challenge. In a new setting like this you get the chance to change things and implement your own ideas. This is a unique programme with enormous freedom of choice. In addition to their compulsory courses, students can choose from around 80 different courses. The programme is so small scale that chemistry, biology, physics and maths constantly come into contact. Boundaries between fields fade; crossovers and new insights emerge.

This interdisciplinarity really appeals to me. We find things out here - and for a researcher that’s fantastic.”

The move to Maastricht was not an obvious one, even for a born-andbred Maastrichtenaar like Erkens.

“No, I wasn’t planning an immediate return to my roots”, laughs the now 37-year-old father of two toddlers.

He studied biology in Utrecht, and quickly forged a career for himself there. “I got the chance to do some tutoring during the last phase of my studies. That turned into a job I was

able to combine with my PhD research.

After that things moved quickly: I had my own lab, all the freedom you could ask for and plenty of opportunities for further development. But, like Ariane, I missed the personal element. The lecture halls were stuffed with as many as 300 undergraduates. Some students I didn’t speak to once during the entire year. I also found the

departments too monodisciplinary - which is understandable, as that’s how it works in established universities. But I believe in collaboration. In Utrecht almost everything is focused on biomedicine. Here at Chemelot, where we deliver the practical part of the programme, it’s different.

Science is rooted in practice; the different disciplines all come together here.”

Borders Perez-Gavilan, too, sees the breaking down of borders as a key advantage of the Maastricht Science Programme. “I’m a pure chemist”, says the 29-year-old lecturer. “So in the more traditional university system, I had little to do with physicists or biologists. Here at Chemelot that’s definitely different: on the one hand because the students can choose from a broad package of courses, and on the other because practice is up for grabs here. We have very wellequipped training labs and as of this third year I’ll have more time for research. Which is important, because here we’re also pursuing research-based learning.”

This is not a place for traditional teaching, Erkens confirms. “It’s all very innovative. You can even see this in the applications we get from students. They come from all over the world - at the moment we have students of 40 different nationalities. All people who are looking for

Ariane Perez-Gavilan Ariane Perez-Gavilan (1984) graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 2006, and obtained her PhD in inorganic chemistry from the University of Philadelphia in 2012. She has lived in Maastricht since early 2012.

this special combination of different science subjects. And the number of Dutch students is gradually growing too. In the first year we had 11; now there are more than 20. That really says something, because UM is not traditionally a science university.”

Crossovers The Maastricht Science Programme has a core group of eight tutors/researchers. For many of the courses, experts from diverse fields are invited to give lectures and collaborate on projects. “Expertise is very close by”, says Perez-Gavilan. “Just look at RWTH Aachen University, or the universities of Hasselt and Leuven. We also get entrepreneurs who are looking for students to do research and later to take up jobs.

As a result all sorts of crossovers arise. Next year I’ll be doing a research project on plants with Roy. I’ll be there as the chemist, Roy as the biologist.”

The Maastricht Science Programme is set to expand in the coming years, including with two master’s programmes. Erkens: “If all goes well, we’ll be able to launch those in 2014.

That’s important not just for our further development, but also for the future of the region. With its chemical and manufacturing industry, South Limburg needs this knowledge to keep people here and to remain economically attractive.”

Roy Erkens Roy Erkens (1976) studied biology at Utrecht University and obtained his PhD in 2006. He won Utrecht’s Young Teacher Award in 2003, and in 2009 was awarded a Veni grant for his research on biodiversity in tropical rainforests.

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Brains Unlimited

Bernadette Jansma, Ross McLennan and Joachim Wildberger

Machines with meaning

By Femke Kools

Fundamental and applied research, international study programmes and new insights into imaging technology with super advanced MRI scanners - this is Brains Unlimited in a nutshell. Along with a new incubator building and new housing for the research groups of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, it is home to a first-rate scanning facility. The 9.4 Tesla MRI scanner is only the fourth of its kind worldwide, and opens up unlimited possibilities for researchers and entrepreneurs from all over the world.

On 29 October HM The King Willem-Alexander will officially open Brains Unlimited.

Maastricht University Magazine interviews some of the brains behind the project.

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Building Brains Unlimited

“This new infrastructure allows us to keep 100 excellent scientists at UM and in South Limburg, including the € 3 million they bring in each year in research funding. Given the internationally competitive level we work at in cognitive neuroscience, these machines will help us make relevant scientific progress”, says Professor Bernadette Jansma, dean of the faculty. “But this is not just a resource for the local academic community”, adds Dr Ross McLennan, CEO of Brains Unlimited BV (also known as ‘Scannexus’) and responsible for the operations, realisation and exploitation of the facilities. “People from all over the globe are welcome to benefit from the technology, the expertise and the network we have here. The aim is to help researchers find answers to fundamental and applied questions. Also, although we focus on imaging the brain, we’ve deliberately invested in scanners that can image the entire body - opening up interesting opportunities for research in areas such as cancer, cardiology and orthopaedics.”

Added value The 9.4 Tesla scanner will enable researchers to see the processes at work in the brain at the most detailed level ever. The hippocampus, for example, seems to play a role in epilepsy. Can researchers find a way to manipulate this part of the brain to stop severe epileptic attacks? Or could better predictions be made as to how a stroke patient is likely to recover, given the brain area that was affected?

Can we improve the efficiency of brain recovery using fMRI

and other techniques? These are just a few examples of research underway in Maastricht in which the high-field scanners will play an important role.

For Professor Joachim Wildberger, head of the Radiology department at the Maastricht University Medical Centre+ and member of the scientific board of Brains Unlimited, identifying translational research opportunities is the first priority. “For clinical research questions, the 7T scanner is the most appropriate tool. How can 7T add value to what we already do in the clinic with 3T scanners? We expect some improvements for epilepsy patients, since 3T visualisation has limits in this area. For example, 7T might be the key to finding tiny anatomical abnormalities that explain epileptic symptoms.” With the Brains Unlimited facilities, Maastricht offers a unique research infrastructure: “We have all the machines and the data within reach, from scanners to large cohort studies, and a unique chain of care partners in the Netherlands. It’s up to us researchers and clinicians to use them in the most innovative ways.”

Deep understanding McLennan: “Having people like Professor Wildberger on board is crucial, because he and his colleagues serve as the interface between MRI and the clinical setting; they know what problems are commonly encountered in the clinic. In the faculty, there’s a deep understanding of how

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Brains Unlimited

the normal brain develops, how that’s important in diseases and how to use MRI to understand it.” The role of the BV is to run the facility in a technical sense and to help extend the networks of the psychologists and radiologists.

“Basically it’s our job to understand the research question, pull together the right team, shut them in a room with coffee until they come up with a plan, and then help them to deliver a project to the scanners.” Projects range from scanner-related hardware and software development to data analysis and medical projects, such as: Where in the brain can neurosurgeons best place a microchip to stop tremors in Parkinson’s patients, without too many side effects? “Our scientists investigate the fundamental functional principles of the brain”, says Jansma. “Working in transdisciplinary teams, they actively contribute to the development of new brain imaging techniques worldwide.

Their research is also transferred into medicine and psychology to help understand and predict human behaviour.”

Spin-off companies In addition to research, Brains Unlimited is involved in teaching. The faculty already had a research master’s programme, and will soon launch the Executive Master in MRI Principles and Application (EMMPA). Participants from all over the world are expected to come to Maastricht to study the theoretical and practical aspects of this complex and fast-moving field. “There’s a tremendous lack of knowledge on how to use the machines and interpret the data”, explains Jansma. “We too will be learning a lot in this field.” The new incubator building is already almost half populated by spin-off companies, mainly focused on imaging, brains or both. Keeping highly educated people in the Euregion was one motivation for the Province of Limburg to invest in Brains Unlimited. But the cooperation with researchers from Leuven, Julich and Bonn, for example, is fruitful as well.

Celebration Jansma: “Besides celebrating the official opening of the imaging centre, where we want to thank everybody who made Brains Unlimited possible, we should also have a celebration when the first good paper is published.

Because that will show that these are not just machines, but machines with meaning.” McLennan: “The aim is to translate our findings from the high-field scanners to the clinical setting, where 9.4 Tesla won’t be available in the near future. In my view, there’s no point being able to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease early if it can only be done at 9.4 Tesla.” Wildberger concurs: “I think it’s crucial to select

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the right patient category for research at 9.4 Tesla. What kind of information are you aiming to reveal, and which patients could this benefit in the future? For instance, it’s definitely worth the investment if we can decide to continue a specific therapy or not based on a good MR image. Imaging should add something to the clinic and

improve patients’ lives. That’s what it’s all about in the end.”

Bernadette Jansma Bernadette Jansma (1965) is dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience and holds the chair ‘Essentials in Cognitive Neuroscience’.

Joachim Wildberger Joachim Wildberger (1966) is a cardiovascular radiologist and head of the Radiology Department at the Maastricht UMC+. He is a member of the scientific board of Brains Unlimited.

Ross McLennan Ross McLennan (1976) is CEO of Scannexus, the commercial vehicle that manages the facilities.

Tesla scanner 9.4

Elia Formisano

Keep an ear out for Elia Formisano

By Jolien Linssen

By the time this interview with Italian-born Elia Formisano, extraordinary professor of Neural Signal Analysis, takes place, it has been raining for days. We start with the obvious: would he not rather live and work in his home country? But Formisano feels at home in Maastricht, and the reason why becomes clear soon enough. “This is what keeps us here”, he laughs, pointing at the 9.4 Tesla scanner - an enormous machine that would not be out of place in a science-fiction movie. In real life, however, this machine helps scientific dreams come true.

When Formisano started working at Maastricht University in 2000 “there wasn’t much here”, he says bluntly.

Thirteen years later, the Maastricht

Health Campus welcomes Brains Unlimited, an imaging platform for scientists and entrepreneurs that houses the world’s most powerful

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine - that magical 9.4 Tesla scanner. “I came here together with professor of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Rainer Goebel, whom I’d met at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt”, Formisano says. “We’ve worked very hard to build this up from scratch.”

Reason enough to be proud - and he is - but there is more. Last February, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded Formisano a €1.5 million Vici grant.

The money enables him to continue and extend his research on auditory perception. “The aim of my research is to understand how the human brain analyses sounds. As we have this conversation, you hear my voice. What I want to know is how the brain makes sense of this. In the Vici project, we concentrate on the brain’s ability to be selective. How is it possible to be at, say, a cocktail party, to hear many sounds - music in the background, many people talking - and to still be able to pick out the words of one individual?”

Hearing aids The practical application of this knowledge is clear: if we can understand how our brain identifies and processes natural - hence, combined - sounds, we should be able to build computer programs that imitate the brain. “These programs then could be used in applications like hearing aids”, Formisano explains. “Our current hearing aids are not very clever because they amplify all sounds, often leading the people who wear them to shun social events. So we want a device that separates the important from the non-important sounds.”

Such a device would not only benefit

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those who suffer from hearing loss; it could also open the door to “a sort of Google glasses for the ear”.

Comprehending the hearing brain is a highly ambitious enterprise, but Formisano and his team have the newest technology at their disposal.

“Having the big 7 and 9.4 Tesla scanners helps a lot. We get great images of the brain, which help us to understand basic neuroscientific processes.

Based on the empirical data, we build mathematical models. In other words, we’re not just observing biological processes, but we also have the quantitative methods to accurately characterise them. Moreover, in a virtual laboratory we simulate the effect of a smart hearing aid.

This is what makes our research extremely multidisciplinary and thereby innovative.” Not coincidentally, an innovative character is a basic requirement for a Vici project.

Brains Unlimited

With the launch of Brains Unlimited, it is no wonder the future looks bright for Formisano. “I know it’s a bold statement to make,” he admits, “but when it comes to neuroimaging, we’re among the very top groups in the world. Now that we have access to the newest, improved technology, we’re able to compete with huge research centres like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oxford and Cambridge.” One doesn’t need a crystal ball to predict that Brains Unlimited will attract new students to Maastricht. “I sense that a lot of people like to be here; you don’t get the opportunity to work with a 9.4 Tesla scanner just anywhere. We’ve

already welcomed a number of fantastic MR physicists, whose expertise is in demand all over the world.”

During a mini-sabbatical in Cambridge last May, Formisano was pleased to note that many of the PhD students were graduates of the research master’s at ‘his’ Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. “As a scientist, reward is important. It can come in the shape of a good publication or a grant. But it’s also very nice to see young people who started their careers with you developing and becoming really good - even better than you are. I find that very rewarding. But,” he adds, “of course I’m still relatively young myself.”

Elia Formisano Elia Formisano (1970) studied electronic engineering at the University of Naples, Italy. He was a visiting research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, and received his PhD through the national Italian programme in bioengineering.

He moved to Maastricht University in 2000, where he is currently extraordinary professor of Neural Signal Analysis and scientific director of the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre.

Opening of the Academic Year and Science and guest speaker during the opening ceremony, addressed the key role universities play in solving great social challenges, boosting economic growth and thus ensuring the future prospects of young people.

On Monday 2 September 2013 Maastricht University (UM) celebrated the opening of the 2013/14 academic year with the theme ‘Science for society

in the Europe of regions’. How can research, knowledge and innovation drive economic growth? During the ceremony this question was answered from the perspective of Europe as a whole, but also of each of its regions. In his speech ‘Is Humboldt dead?’ President Martin Paul held up as an example the collaboration in Limburg between governmental authorities, the business sector and knowledge institutions.

Student Award Florine Brouwer and Elisabeth Langer both received the Student Award 2013.

Brouwer was honoured for founding the BONT Foundation two years ago, which organises regular activities for mentally handicapped teenagers under the supervision of university students.

The aim is to help them have their own social lives, just like other teens.

Langer won the prize for the Maastricht

Eco-Map, which provides listings of sustainable and environmentally friendly shops, restaurants and further spots of interest in Maastricht.

Edmond Hustinx science prize The Edmond Hustinx Prize for Science was awarded to Dr Olivier Marie.

The jury unanimously selected his research proposal, which aims to develop an overall understanding of the associations between labour market opportunities and criminal participation. Marie will receive € 15,000 to work on this project.

Singer/songwriter Marike Jager provided the musical accompaniment for the programme, giving a new twist to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation

UM researchers receive NWO grants for studies on eating Professor Anita Jansen (together with Dr Anne Roefs) and Dr Rob Markus from the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience have each been awarded a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) within the new research programme Food, Cognition and Behaviour. A total of five research proposals received grants, with a total value of € 3.7 million.

Jansen and Roefs’s proposal, part of the Eatwell project, is titled ‘Once you pop,

you just can’t stop: How mindset rules biology and makes you eat’. This project examines the effects of manipulated control cognitions on brain activation, gut hormones, the desire to eat and actual consumption. The aim is to find out whether having a certain mindset could give rise to biological mechanisms that make you think, for example, that you haven’t eaten enough yet. The expectation is that changes in mindset and conviction could help to counter overeating or encourage healthy eating.

Many people overeat due to stress, and this ‘emotional overeating’ has become a major cause of overweight over the past 25 years. Markus’s project is entitled ‘Gene by cognition influences on emotional eating: A moderating role for ruminative thinking?’ In this project, a new model is tested that assumes it is the combination of genetic and cognitive stress sensitivity that makes people more sensitive to the emotionally rewarding value of tasty snacks, and thus to emotional overeating.

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Euregion

Eduard de Loë

Joop de Jong

“We don’t want to be the ones to turn out the lights”

By Annelotte Huiskes

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What is it like to live in a castle in the year 2013? Like a fairy tale - or just really expensive? Eduard de Loë and his three brothers grew up in the Mheer castle in South Limburg. Today he lives in the German district of Kleve, on an estate he inherited when he was three years old. De Loë is one of the owners who participated in a recent UM study on the conservation of historical estates in Limburg.

The Dutch government proclaimed 2012 the Year of the Historic Country House. The aim: to raise awareness of historical estates in the Netherlands, and to call attention to the conservation of this important cultural heritage.

With more and more owners struggling stay afloat financially, this was considered all too necessary.

The Province of Limburg and the Limburg House of the Arts therefore commissioned a study into the major issues faced by the owners of these sites. The research was led by Joop de Jong, programme director of the MA Arts and Heritage and board member of the Limburg Castles Foundation.

“There are over 50 estates in Limburg, most of which are in private hands and occupied by the owner”, he explains.

“Then there are those now used for catering and tourism, such as the estates managed by the hotelier Camille Oostwegel. And a number are owned by organisations like the Limburg Landscape Foundation and used as museums or offices. What seems clear is that the present grant schemes and licencing regulations are far too complicated.

And the decentralised approach, which leaves the individual municipalities to implement policy, is not working well.”

Costly property De Loë couldn’t agree more. The Mheer castle has been in the hands of his aristocratic family since as early as the 14th century. When his father moved there from Germany in the late 1950s, the castle was in an abominable state.

“He spent 50 years restoring it, partly with grants but largely with his own money. If we’d had to finance it fully from our day-to-day income, the castle would have been a ruin right now. As for the future, we have major concerns about how we’ll continue to finance the property. I have three brothers; all of us have jobs and do this as well.

We spend far too much of our already limited time dealing with regulations of the different authorities.”

“Our research shows that almost all owners put in a great deal of free labour and their own money into conserving their properties”, says De Jong. “The main problem is that this costs much more than it’s worth.

The annual maintenance costs for the buildings as well as the gardens are average around €100,000 per year.

At most 25% of this is covered by grants. The owner is the largest backer, and has to cough up the remaining 75% himself.”

Napoleon At the Mheer castle, some of the outbuildings are rented out, the grounds are leased and part of the main house can be hired for receptions or dinners.

But all this is just a drop in the ocean, and doesn’t come close to covering the real costs. As De Jong explains, “In the Netherlands and Flanders, many estates were split up under the Napoleonic law of inheritance, because they had to be shared among all children.

In Germany - with the exception of the Rhineland - the Napoleonic law was less strictly applied. Because estates were passed on only to the eldest son, they didn’t have to be chopped up into pieces.” De Loë: “This was part of Napoleon’s attempt to reduce the influence of the landed gentry. The consequence is that today, it’s easier for estates in Germany to be self-sustaining than those in the Netherlands.”

Family tradition If the property is such a burden, why hold on to it? “It’s the family tradition, and it’s quite an emotional thing”, says De Loë. “The house has been in our family for centuries and my brothers and I don’t want to be the ones to turn out the lights. Even as a child, I was aware that a castle is also hard work.

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Euregion

I had a wonderful childhood here, playing everywhere and building huts with my friends from the village. But we were also always aware that it doesn’t come free. My mother landscaped all the gardens herself; we had no landscape architect. My father was also always busy with the fruit farm and forestry, and later running a riding school and breeding horses. Always busy and always worrying about the next leak. But every time I come here, I also see how beautiful and unique it is.”

Benefits and burdens Clearly, one doesn’t get into castles for the money - passion for cultural heritage is just as important. In addition to their cultural and societal value, however, historical estates do have economic value as well. “The presence of these historical estates doesn’t only cost the government money; it also generates money”, says De Jong. “I’m not just talking about income from recreation and tourism. Research in the Netherlands shows that the property value of homes and other real estate in the vicinity of a historical state is 15% higher than the average. And that in turn has consequences for the government’s revenue from property taxes. Our research shows that you need about € 5 million per year to conserve

the 50 or so historical estates in Limburg.

Since this is an investment that the government also benefits from, why not use part of the revenue to compensate for some of the conservation costs? But that’s not what happens.

Instead, owners are punished with higher property taxes and all sorts of fees. It seems to me at the very least an unfair distribution of the benefits and burdens. Many people profit from the presence of a historical estate local residents, tourists and the authorities - but few contribute to its maintenance and conservation.”

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“If you want to do a particular restoration you have to apply for a permit. That costs money, of course, and you also have to pay for all sorts of expensive study reports. There are grants that cover some of these costs, but all they do in effect is help you keep pumping money around”, explains De Loë. “And this whole circus of pumping money around just results in wasted money”, adds De Jong. “You’re better off lowering the property value, the fees and the VAT rate for maintenance, and ensuring that as much as possible of the available money goes directly towards the conservation costs.”

Continuity of policy So what does the Province plan to do with the recommendations made by De Jong and his team? “Our report was well received by the Province, and Noël Lebens from the Provincial Executive is keen to find out which of the recommendations can be adopted. He wants to figure out how we can put a stop to the adverse effects of the decentralisation of policy implementation. The Province also wants to engage in dialogue with the owners and managers of historical estates to identify, now and in the future, what the problems are and how best to address them.”

“Continuity of policy is a big problem”, says De Loë. “Every time we get a new coalition, hard-won schemes just fall to pieces again.”

According to De Jong, “The best guarantee is therefore to ensure that the owners are not dependent on grants - and thus on politics - but rather that their properties are self-sustaining.”

The report ‘Conservation of historical estates in Limburg: A comparative study of the Netherlands, Flanders and Germany’ (in Dutch), by Francis Carpentier, Rebecca Hollewijn, Joop de Jong and Marion Plieger, can be requested via j.dejong@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Renk Roborgh appointed member of the UM Supervisory Board Jet Bussemaker, the education minister, has appointed Dr Renk Roborgh to the Maastricht University Supervisory Board for a four-year term starting 1 September 2013. Roborgh served as the Director-General of Higher Education, Vocational Education, Science and Emancipation until July 2012. With his broad knowledge of higher professional education and international issues, Roborgh is an excellent addition to the current UM supervisory team.

The Supervisory Board is tasked with implementing the policies issued by the Executive Board and overseeing the university’s general affairs. In addition to this supervisory role, the board serves as a sounding board and adviser to the Executive Board. The Supervisory Board is accountable to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science. With Roborgh’s appointment, the UM Supervisory Board now has five members: Ad Veenhof (chair), Truze Lodder, Jeroen Kremers, Ursula Nelles and Renk Roborgh.

Article in Nature Medicine: Rev-erb-α restores mitochondrial function in muscles Researchers at NUTRIM, Maastricht, and Inserm, Lille, have demonstrated that the protein Rev-erb-α can improve muscle function in mice. These findings can be used to develop new pharmacological strategies to treat metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and other conditions associated with reduced muscle function (myopathies).

The results of this study were recently published online in Nature Medicine.

The study revealed that Rev-erb-α, a transcription factor that governs gene regulation, controls mitochondrial

activity in skeletal muscles. According to the researchers, this is particularly true for muscle cells that contain high concentrations of mitochondria, including those used for prolonged activity.

“Mice with Rev-erb-α deficiency have a reduced exercise capacity”, says Helène Duez from Inserm. “Their mitochondria are abnormal compared to mice with overexpression of the Rev-erb-α gene, whose performance tends to improve with prolonged activity.”

According to the researchers, this discovery may prove useful in

improving mitochondrial function and synchronising the biological clock, which is often disrupted in patients with metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes. In earlier studies, NUTRIM professors Matthijs Hesselink and Patrick Schrauwen revealed that this mitochondrial function was impaired in people with type 2 diabetes.

Schrauwen: “We’ll work with our colleagues in Lille to research whether these findings are indeed relevant for people with type 2 diabetes.”

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Farewell interview

Joan Muysken

A job for everyone

By Femke Kools

“I’m irritated by colleagues who say things in the media about the current crisis with the greatest authority. It’s precisely a crisis like this that shows economists need to be more modest in their pretentions. We can explain with hindsight exactly what went wrong, but making even rough predictions? No, we need to be much more modest in this.” Joan Muysken, economics professor and co-founder of the economics faculty, will deliver his valedictory lecture at UM on 29 November. He looks back on his career.

Muysken was appointed professor in Maastricht at just 35, helped to launch the economics faculty, held managerial positions within the faculty and played a

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multitude of roles outside it, not to mention raising three children with his wife. “So they were certainly challenging years, but also fantastic ones.” He would

have liked a little more time to focus on his research before taking up his chair. “I became a professor too young. I was just starting to publish a lot. And I would have been able to do much more if I’d had a few more years to potter around. But the opportunity just came up, and you’re not going to say no.”

Freedom Muysken has been head of department around half his working life. “Even when that wasn’t the case officially, it still often was a bit.” He also served as dean, but the role of department head suited him best. “I enjoyed creating a group. I love managing, although you do have to be quite reserved in doing so. For my generation, academic freedom is of paramount importance.”

In addition to his roles within the faculty, Muysken served two terms on the University Council and was president of the Board of Trustees of Observant, the university newspaper. “These roles allow you to look beyond your own faculty, which is especially nice if you’ve been here for some time. It’s important to see that things are run differently elsewhere.” It is a shame, in his view, that today fewer and fewer staff get involved in representative councils. “Power needs a counterweight, preferably from heavyweights who want to serve on the University Council, for example. The idea that this sort of work is a waste of academics’ time is a thorn in my side.”

Vision Employment has been the common thread throughout his career. “To participate in society, having a job is crucial.

Unemployment today is seen as the fault of the jobless.

When I was studying, in the 1960s, the state had to ensure that everyone had work, and I stand by that. Even if it means creating workfare jobs. It’s a very bad thing that the thinking about unemployment is so skewed.

The Netherlands is regarded as having a low unemployment rate - until recently just 7%. In the 1970s, 2% was already considered high. If inflation rises above 2% now, we all scream bloody murder. What does that say about us? I never used to say that in lectures. Now I do, but I also point out that it’s my vision.”

He explains this vision in the book Full employment abandoned, which he published together with the Australian economist Bill Mitchell in 2008. To his surprise, Wikipedia describes it as “his most notable work so far”. “I stand behind it completely, but it hasn’t been embraced in the academic world. It’s quite far from mainstream economic thought. Try demonstrating scientifically that everyone should have a job, and

you’ll have trouble publishing in a journal.” Therefore, Muysken and Mitchell published their papers in book form. “Now it’s out, and I’m proud of it.”

Radical leftist Co-author and friend Mitchell played an important role in Muysken’s intellectual development. “He’s a radical leftist, and never minces words. Years back, I believed wholeheartedly in many ideas, but I’d just become a professor and didn’t want to pigeonhole myself. We visited each other regularly, and eventually I rediscovered my ideas from the 1960s. In Australia I started to express my opinion, and gradually started to do so in the Netherlands too. But I’m very aware that I speak from my gut feeling, which I then try to justify scientifically.”

Self-flagellation Muysken is therefore bothered immensely by colleagues who act in the media as though they have all the answers to policy questions. But he gets mad, too, at every new austerity measure. “I don’t believe any economists out there now think cutbacks are a good idea. It’s a sort of Calvinistic self-flagellation: ‘We’ve made our bed and now we have to lie in it.’ But the banks and their regulators did wrong, not us. And they’re certainly not paying for it! Cutbacks only make a bad situation worse, and have more to do with ideology than economics.”

From a purely academic perspective, Muysken finds the current crisis “insanely interesting”. “For decades the idea was: If you let the markets do their work, everything will be okay. The crisis shows that the markets don’t just ‘do their work’ at all.” With this in mind, he wouldn’t dream of slowing down. “Academia is part of my life. This morning at breakfast I said suddenly: ‘Oh God, that’s a problem’. My wife asked, ‘What’s a problem?’ ‘Oh, something with banks and pension funds, it’s not important’, I said. So I’ll just keep on going.”

Joan Muysken Joan Muysken (1948) has been Professor of Economics at the UM School of Business and Economics (SBE) since 1984. He studied quantitative economics at the University of Groningen, where he obtained his PhD. He has held many managerial positions within the SBE, including as dean.

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Professor-Student

The law is not always the solution

By Jos Cortenraad

The collapse in April of a textiles factory in Bangladesh that killed 1127 workers shocked the world. Suddenly, stores like Primark, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger and G-Star turned out to be acutely interested in working conditions and safety at their suppliers’ factories.

PhD candidate Mark Kawakami, who studies human rights in sweatshops, and his supervisor Jan Smits, professor of Private European Law, were not exactly surprised.

“Social pressure is sometimes stronger than strict legislation.”

How do you enforce safe and humane working conditions in the countless sweatshops in Asia where most of our clothing is made? For lawyers, the answer is obvious: rules and regulations that are imposed worldwide. “That’s what you’d expect”, says Kawakami, who started his PhD research in Maastricht last year on human rights in the global supply chain. “But the question is whether the law really matters. Sometimes the law is not the solution. Of course, after just one year of research I’m still far from reaching that conclusion, but you have to wonder whether we can achieve more through other means. Every country has its own laws. It’s hard to harmonise all these laws even in Europe, let alone trying to influence a country like Bangladesh. I think the customers have greater power when it comes to bringing about change. And change can be initiated by consumers themselves: if people are no longer willing to buy ‘tainted’ clothing, this pressure

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could make a significant difference.”

Factors This scepticism towards the law may sound strange coming from a lawyer with a master’s in International Business Law and a Juris Doctor in his pocket, as well as work experience at a major New York law firm. “Perhaps,” he says, “but when you’re talking about the law, you should consider economic, psychological and social factors as well.

We all know that the working conditions in many factories are terrible and that people’s rights are being violated.

Yet even I buy their by-products - from clothes to gadgets. Why? What would make me change my buying habits? I’ve been working with the idea of a social network to register consumers’ online buying habits, where points are awarded for socially responsible behaviour.

By stroking the consumer’s ego, we can encourage behavioural change without having to rely explicitly on the law.”

Borders Jan Smits can’t help but smile. “We’re always having these sorts of discussions in the research group”, he says.

“Mark pushes the boundaries, thinks outside the box, is always coming up with new insights and ideas. Tiring?

On the contrary. Law is not an exact, hard science. People like Mark get us thinking, give depth to research. Here in Maastricht there’s room for debate.

I think that has to do with the university’s strong international character and its relatively short history.”

It was love that initially brought Kawakami to the Netherlands Tilburg, to be precise - in 2008.

“My girlfriend was a Tilburg alum so I ended up doing a masters there after the bar. That’s where I also met Jan and started working as his student assistant.”

Sparring partner Last year, Kawakami returned to the Netherlands after working in New

Jan Smits and Mark Kawakami

York for two years; to his girlfriend, to academia, and to Smits who, in the meantime, had relocated to the far south. “One day early last year the phone rang. It was Mark, asking if I might have a research position for him”, explains Smits. “As it happened, we’d just got some money through my endowed chair in Internationalisation of Law. And Mark was simply the best candidate. Not least because his research fits in with the field of globalisation of law, a key spearhead of my professorship. He’s a born researcher. I learn as much from him as he - I hope - learns from me. I enjoy being his sparring partner and of course now and then being the one who reins him in a bit.”

Enjoyment Kawakami is almost embarrassed.

“I don’t think of research as work, but as something fun. I especially cherish the academic freedom here in Maastricht. No subject is taboo. I’ve

studied at different universities and I know that professors with many publications and a great deal of status don’t often stray from the beaten path. Jan has that status, but he’s also very open minded and encourages meaningful discussions.”

It is clear that professor and researcher actually like one another. They get together regularly and often pick up on the discussions from the day’s work even after the day is over.

“This subject really has me in its grip”, admits Kawakami. “And just to be sure I haven’t given the wrong impression: law and legislation are of course important. We also study how to help strengthen the position of sweatshop workers, how to give them legal tools. The major clothing brands hide behind contracts they draw up with their suppliers. The workers themselves can’t sue their employers and, even if they could, they wouldn’t dare because they need the work. But

it is possible for consumers to challenge the corporations and to hold them accountable on behalf of the exploited.”

Jan Smits Jan Smits (1967) studied in Leiden and Poitiers, France, and obtained his PhD in 1995. He has taught in Stellenbosch, Leiden, Tilburg and Maastricht. He has been professor of European Private Law and director of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute since 2010.

Smits has published many papers, is visiting professor at various universities in Europe and the USA and is deputy judge at the court in Amsterdam.

Mark Kawakami Mark Kawakami (1983) was born in Kobe (Japan) and studied in New York, Boston, and

Tilburg. He worked on competition matters for a New York law firm, and has been a researcher at the Faculty of Law in Maastricht since April 2012.

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Debate

Job Metsemakers and Rob Houtepen

“A doctor is not just a vet with a syringe”

By Hans van Vinkeveen

According to the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG), people with dementia should only be euthanised if they are able to give informed consent when the time comes - even if they have a living will. “Doctors struggle these days with euthanasia requests that are not about physical but psychological suffering”, says Job Metsemakers, professor of General Practice Medicine.

“They want more clarity.” This is understandable, says the medical ethics lecturer Rob Houtepen: “It’s important that the considerations involved in the end of life are laid down in legal criteria, but there must remain room for interpretation.”

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The two have not yet made arrangements for themselves. “I don’t think I’m old enough yet; I’ll start thinking about it only when I’m over 70”, says Houtepen. “And I certainly wouldn’t rule euthanasia out.” It’s early days for Metsemakers too. “But if I were to become a vegetable, the people close to me know I’d want nature to run its course rather than to be kept alive at all costs. Which is different to a well-considered choice to end one’s life.” And in the case of dementia? “That’s a different

story altogether”, they say in unison. Metsemakers: “I wouldn’t know what to do about that. Where does the border lie between liveable and not? What constitutes a decent existence? You can’t answer such questions now.”

In the Netherlands, euthanasia is lawful in the case of dementia.

There must be a living will; that is, an updated declaration of the patient’s wishes should he or she no longer be able to give informed consent. In addition, a number of legal requirements must be met. For instance, the doctor must assess whether a euthanasia request has been made voluntarily and with due consideration. The problem is that, in the case of patients unable to give informed consent, this is often impossible.

According to the KNMG, this is why the law should include an extra requirement: there has to be a minimum level of communication. If this is not the case, people who are unable to give informed consent - even if they have a living will - may not be euthanised.

Demented end of life Doesn’t all this leave people with severe dementia out in the cold? There can still be a certain threshold, says Houtepen, who is also a member of a euthanasia review committee.

Doctors should not be burdened with expectations about ending the lives of dementia patients who have not carefully considered what the procedure means for the doctor.

“The KNMG rightly emphasises how stressful and often inconceivable it is for doctors to give lethal injections to patients who don’t know exactly what’s happening and are unable to confirm what their wishes are. In view of this human threshold, it’s not strange to ask those who so fear the suffering their dementia will cause to spend some lucid moments carefully considering and consulting with their doctor about how they wish to die. You ought to take into account what you’re asking of the doctor; after all, a doctor is not just a vet with a syringe.”

Metsemakers, who also works as a GP, would be enormously uncomfortable euthanising a patient on the basis of a living will only. “I’d wonder about its status. How independently was it written? Was it drawn up on a good or a bad day? You have to be sure to weigh up all the considerations well in advance with the patient and the family. Then at least you have a back story.” Early on, Metsemakers would also consult a SCEN doctor, whose job is to provide advice on euthanasia requests. “Ultimately, I’d perform the euthanasia - but I wouldn’t find it easy.”

Slippery slope According to Houtepen, the strict standpoint of the KNMG may lead doctors to push euthanasia decisions along too quickly.

“If euthanasia is impossible in the case of late dementia, this has an impact on the early stage”, he explains. “Imagine that an early-stage dementia patient comes to the doctor with a living will, for when he’s no longer lucid later. ‘Will you do the procedure then, doctor?’ This places the doctor in a position where he’s forced to say: ‘Not if you’re unable to give informed consent. So make sure you don’t miss your chance.’ This can be seen as pressuring the patient: better euthanasia soon rather than an uncertain future. It puts the doctor in an almost impossible position.”

As Metsemakers sees it, this was not the KNMG’s intended objective. “The euthanasia law was more broadly formulated than doctors initially perceived. They thought it was designed

for somatic patients with a terminal illness. Now the discussion is shifting to patients who say their cognitive faculties are fading or they’ve simply had enough of life. Doctors are struggling with this shift; they’re reluctant, and wonder how this fits in with the law. No one wants to go back to the early phase of the euthanasia legislation, when the prosecutor would drop by for a visit.” Still, he wonders what lies in the future for doctors. “Is this a slippery slope?”

Suicide law But doctors can also be restrained, according to Houtepen.

“Particularly when it comes to advanced dementia, most doctors have a basic attitude of: is euthanasia really necessary?”

Doctors should bring up the topic early instead of waiting until there’s an immediate need. “If an early-stage dementia patient says he absolutely does not want to go to a nursing

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Debate

Who’s responsible then? I’m in favour of doctors playing a key role.” Metsemakers: “You do have to ensure that doctors are involved in the discussions on these sorts of topics and find it safe to go along with certain developments.” “Which doesn’t work if the considerations surrounding the end of life are laid down in strict criteria with no room for interpretation”, Houtepen concludes. “Then you create circumstances in which patients lose faith that doctors are on their side.

And without that faith, you won’t get far.”

home, the doctor should ask: ‘Do you mean you may also want euthanasia?’” Metsemakers agrees that doctors do not take the lead in this as often as they should. He emphasises, however, that in the case of dementia euthanasia is a complex, nuanced matter, depending on the process and the timing of the request.

Incidentally, neither is in favour of euthanasia outside the doctor-patient relationship. As an example, Houtepen mentions the citizens’ initiative Uit vrije wil (‘Out of free will’), which aims to make it easier for older people to gain access to assistance in ending their lives. “They want to free the citizen from the paternalistic yoke of the doctor. But then you’re heading in the direction of suicide law.

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Rob Houtepen Rob Houtepen (1957) is a medical ethics lecturer at the Maastricht University Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. His PhD focused on the status of elderly people in society.

Houtepen is a member of a review committee for euthanasia cases, is involved with the website patientervaringsverhalen.nl and writes about the imagery and perceptions of psychological disorders.

Job Metsemakers Job Metsemakers (1952) has been professor of General Practice Medicine at Maastricht University since 2002. His PhD explored the use of medical reporting data in scientific research, medical education and quality assurance. He directs the medical programme and has also worked as a GP in Geulle since 1982.

Nick Bos new vice-president of Maastricht University The Supervisory Board of Maastricht University is very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Nick Bos as vicepresident of Maastricht University. From 1 January 2014 he will take up the position held by drs. André Postema, who after two terms as vice-president will step down from the Executive Board.

Nick Bos can pride himself on a long and wide-ranging career in the university world (University of Utrecht and

Maastricht University). Since 2007 Nick Bos has been the executive director of Maastricht University. In this capacity he has supported the Executive Board and the Deans in myriad ways, and represented the university officially both internally and externally during the development and realisation of university and faculty strategies on policy and operational management.

In this way he has functioned as the

linking pin between managers, the professional organisation and third parties within and without the university. He has been partly responsible for ensuring that the university has established itself as a key network player in Limburg and beyond, with the 10-year investment programme Kennis-As Limburg as one of the most recent outcomes.

UM team wins world title RoboCup@Work

During the 2013 RoboCup World Championships in Eindhoven, the team from UM’s SwarmLab - the robotics laboratory of the Department of Knowledge Engineering - won the world title in the category RoboCup@Work. It was the

only Dutch team to win a world title.

“The fact that we, as newcomers, were able to conquer the world title shows that we have a very talented team with members who complement each other perfectly”, says Dr Karl Tuyls, head of the SwarmLab. The UM team also received the award for ‘best newcomer’ from Kuka Robotics, which produces the robots for the @Work competition.

With 15 different leagues for football robots, work robots, healthcare robots, rescue robots, dance robots and more, the championships saw 2500 participants from 40 countries. The SwarmLab team

competed in the category @Work, beating four other teams to end up in first place.

The @Work competition targets the use of robots in work-related scenarios, such as navigating to specific locations and moving objects. It aims to foster the research and development of innovative mobile robots for industrial applications, where robots cooperate with humans on complex tasks ranging from manufacturing and automation to general logistics.

The SwarmLab team consists of the following members: Sjriek Alers, Daniel Claes, Rik Claessens, Joscha Fossel, Daniel Hennes, Karl Tuyls and Gerhard Weiss.

Eight Veni grants for Maastricht University Eight young scientists from UM have been awarded Veni grants. The winners were Jochen Cals, Jessica Gubbels, Silvie Timmers, Sophie Vanbelle, Ulrich Reininghaus (all from the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences), Burak Can (School of Business and Economics), Tom de Graaf, (Faculty of

Psychology and Neuroscience) and Frans Oliehoek (Faculty of Humanities and Sciences). The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded Veni grants to a total of 155 young researchers from the 1001 applications.

The Veni is an individual grant of up to

€ 250,000 awarded by the NWO to encourage young scientific talent. It is part of the NWO Innovational Research Incentives Scheme (Veni, Vidi, Vici) that offers researchers the opportunity to conduct groundbreaking research on topical social issues at different stages in their careers.

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Games Studies

Karin Wenz and one of her avatars

The science of fans

By Jolien Linssen

Most people play computer games for fun. But for assistant professor Karin Wenz, gaming is serious business. At the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, she coordinates the project Narrative Fan Practices, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

The researchers scrutinise fans not only of computer games, but also of TV series, movies and other forms of popular culture. The content they generate constitutes more than just fun: it has an impact on our very culture.

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“We investigate fans who are visible online - the people who make videos, write texts and are active on fan forums and websites”, Wenz explains.

The phenomenon of fandom itself, however, existed long before the advent of the internet. “As early as the end of the nineteenth century, fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books dressed up as Sherlock Holmes and his friend Watson. People made drawings and wrote comics or stories based on their favourite works, which they distributed among their friends and the fan community. The same is happening today, yet with a much bigger audience.”

Clicking the ‘like’ button on Facebook is as easy as pie, and for many of us a daily routine. In a time where virtually everyone is active online, have more people become fans? No, says Wenz: “There’s definitely been an increase in people who make user-generated

content, and of publishing and sharing stuff on the web. But someone posting a video of their baby’s first steps is not a fan. We’re interested in those people who love a particular product of popular culture, like a movie or a game, and who actively use the internet to publish self-made content inspired by this.”

Canon Wenz and her colleagues are investigating how these fans, or active users, bring about cultural changes.

“What we want to find out is how far they are developing a kind of new canon of relevant works”, she explains. “Usually a canon is defined by institutions, schools, universities or ministries. For example, someone decides it’s of relevance for our culture to read Shakespeare in class

- which of course I don’t deny. But this work is more or less forced upon us by the authorities, and is not necessarily intrinsically interesting for those who need to read it.”

Fans, on the other hand, have their own kind of canon, made up of the works they themselves deem relevant for their culture. “Fans constantly refer to, re-use and remix popular works like Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. What’s more, they comment on, and hence improve, each other’s work. This is very different from what happens at school, where the person claimed to be an authority - say, Shakespeare sets a standard that amateurs are not able to reach.”

The ‘alternative’ fan canon is thus a canon of amateurs which, given its nature, has a somewhat ambivalent relationship with the entertainment industry it was inspired by. “Creations by fans are actually free advertising, but the industry might not like everything they make. For instance, there are many parodies of Lord of the Rings which make fun of the movies.” The popularity of amateur products like these has been problematic for professionals too: “On YouTube, the quality of the video doesn’t matter - the audience is interested instead in something that is brilliant, funny or new.”

Democracy Viewed from this perspective, fans seem to form a democratic and selfempowering movement within popular culture. Yet (virtual) reality proves to be a bit more complicated.

“Potentially, everyone could produce user-generated content”, says Wenz.

“But in order to do so, you not only need a stable internet connection, but also have to be media literate.

That excludes a lot of people.”

When it comes to her own media skills, Wenz is modest. “I started gaming about 20 years ago. Initially I did it for fun, until it became a more serious research topic for me. Sometimes I produce game videos for myself and the few people I play with, but they’re not extraordinary”, she admits. Publishing them online is out of the question - publication, says Wenz, is reserved for her academic work.

“What I’m fascinated by is the tension between escapism and control. Fans dive into the fantasy worlds of games, TV series and movies to escape reality. Yet at the same time, they actively try to have an impact on the communities they’re part of.

Does escapism go hand in hand with developing a critical understanding of consumer culture? That’s what I find very interesting.”

Karin Wenz Karin Wenz (1962) studied languages and semiotics at the University of Freiburg.

After obtaining her PhD in Kassel (Germany) in 1995, she was a visiting professor at Brown University, Rhode Island (USA) and postdoctoral researcher at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Wenz is currently an assistant professor for Media Culture at Maastricht University, where she is director of the master’s programme in Media Culture and coordinator of the NWO-funded project Narrative Fan Practices.

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Research and society

Blood clotting research on the Alps

By Loek Kusiak

Oxygen deficiency increases the risk of thrombosis - at least, this was the suspicion.

Now, thanks to a spectacular research expedition to the thin air atop an Alpine summit, there is certainty. The research leader Bas de Laat from Synapse, a spin-off company of Maastricht University, used a new testing method that can predict thrombosis early.

Does oxygen deficiency really cause blood clotting and an increased risk of thrombosis? To find out, De Laat and his team took a finger prick of blood from 30 test participants at a 4100 metre peak in the Alps. Only a mountaineer - like De Laat himself - could come up with such an idea for a research expedition, which took place last summer. De Laat is director of Synapse BV, a company that studies methods for predicting haemorrhages and thrombosis. Synapse is a spin-off of the research institute CARIM, and originated from

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UM’s Department of Biochemistry led by emeritus professor Coen Hemker (79), who still advises Synapse.

“Thrombosis is a silent killer”, says De Laat. “Suddenly it’s just there.” The condition often begins in the legs.

A blood clot in a vein causes venous thrombosis, which can lead to a stroke or - if it enters the artery to the lungs - a pulmonary embolism. “Doctors knew that patients who’ve had a stroke or lung problems often suffer from thrombosis and oxygen deficiency. But it wasn’t clear

exactly how far the blood clotting and the risk of thrombosis could be attributed to oxygen deficiency.

So doctors also don’t know how much oxygen to administer to prevent thrombosis.”

be used to screen women to see if they should take a different contraceptive pill. After all, we know there’s a link between the pill and thrombosis. So this test will also reach GP’s offices.”

New testing method Where better than at high altitude in the mountains, with oxygen-depleted air, to identify once and for all the link between blood clotting, thrombosis and oxygen deficiency?

De Laat knew that clotting research on mountaintops was not new in itself. However, earlier studies had used the wrong blood-taking technique, resulting in contradictory findings. “We were able to avoid this with the new blood clotting test developed by Synapse, the measurement instrument POC-TG, which at present only exists as a demonstration model. This test can establish the exact clotting values using blood taken only from a finger prick.”

Air travel De Laat now plans to study the effects of oxygen deficiency in aeroplanes. “One in 5000 flyers develops thrombosis. Is that caused by sitting still for a long time, which makes the blood circulation stagnate? Or is it caused by the low air pressure and less oxygen in the air? We’ll find out with test participants who are both active and passive during the flight.”

Clotting is also affected by whether the test participant is sitting still or on the move. “So one group of 15 volunteers walked and climbed their way to the top, while the other group went by funicular. Finding volunteers was easy.

What was difficult was convincing the medical ethics committees and organising the permits. The € 200,000 we needed to fund the expedition was almost completely covered by sponsors.”

The biggest bonus of the expedition, according to De Laat, is the increased attention for clotting research. Particularly when it comes to funding, thrombosis research is often overlooked in favour of research into other diseases, such as cancer. “Yet, preventing thrombosis would mean reducing or even erasing half of all health problems.

Thanks to the expedition, interest in this research has grown at the Dutch Heart Foundation too.”

Slower blood cells Mont Blanc was the initial destination, but due to poor weather the expedition was moved at the last moment to the Breithorn, a 4164 metre peak in the Swiss Alps.

Six guides led the way. With every 1000 metre increase, a medical team took blood from the volunteers. Six days after their departure on 5 June, the group reached the summit.

“We discovered conclusively that oxygen deficiency causes an increase in certain clotting proteins. This can trigger a blood clot in the veins, or venous thrombosis”, says De Laat.

“But we also saw that the higher you go, the slower the blood cells in the body behave. And the slower they move, the less chance you have of arterial thrombosis, such as a heart attack. This is a new discovery. So we confirmed that oxygen deficiency can increase the risk of venous thrombosis, but contrary to our initial assumption, this does not apply to the risk of a heart attack.”

De Laat and his group are now writing up their findings for the journal Science. Meanwhile, demand among hospitals and laboratories for the TOC-PG has exploded. “In operating theatres and intensive care units it will soon be possible to determine exactly how great the chance of thrombosis is, whether someone should be given blood thinners, and how much oxygen to administer. What’s more, our test can also

Bas de Laat Bas de Laat (1976) studied medicine in Utrecht and did his PhD research on the causes of thrombosis. He is a former head of the blood clotting department at the Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation. Since 2010, he has been general director of Synapse and principal researcher at the UM Department of Biochemistry, guest researcher at the Utrecht UMC and visiting professor at a research institute in La Jolla (USA).

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International

Dholpur India

“Toilet innovation is important”

By Hanna McLean

Toilets may not be the sexiest of topics. But for UNU-MERIT Maastricht researcher Shuan SadreGhazi, they are a highly significant - if neglected - phenomenon.

“Today, more than 2.4 billion people in the world don’t have access to a proper sanitation system.”

SadreGhazi, who was born in the Kurdish region of northwest Iran, has an educational background in engineering and management. After studying in several countries, he became interested in the topic of pro-poor innovation while in Sweden. “My Swedish supervisor gave me C.K. Prahalad’s book The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. I was hooked”, he says.

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New beginnings Driven to pursue a PhD and wanting

to do something related to the underserved population in the developing world, SadreGhazi applied for the UNU-MERIT’s Innovation Studies and Development PhD programme in Maastricht. Once accepted, he couldn’t wait to begin.

“I opted for innovation at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) as my research topic.

Thanks to UNU-MERIT’s international network I met many people in the field.

Working with professorial fellow Dr Shyama Ramani got me into studies on sanitation in India, and then I did field research on an animal nutrition venture in rural India”, SadreGhazi explains.

“I chose India because it’s the Silicon Valley of social ventures and hence a perfect place for a BoP study.”

Eye-opening discoveries Once on the ground, SadreGhazi noticed something striking: It’s the 21st century and yet people there still lack basic sanitation and nutrition.

He also noticed an issue with what he calls the ‘soft innovations’ of the other sanitation initiatives he was observing.

“Once the hard technology - the toilet - was installed, many sanitation project teams walked away without following up. They assumed that the intended beneficiaries would be happy to get access to something they didn’t have before, and would automatically adopt and benefit from the product once it was there. This wasn’t the case.”

Not all projects failed though, which triggered the initial question for the research: What were other enterprises doing to succeed in disseminating pro-poor innovations? To find out, SadreGhazi interviewed successful NGOs and sanitation entrepreneurs.

“The failed enterprises considered the project done after installing the toilets.

They also didn’t communicate enough with the intended users to facilitate adoption of the new product. They mistakenly scared the locals into using products by warning them about the horrible things that would happen to them if they didn’t”, he reveals.

“Conversely, the successful enterprises looked into the culture and local traditions, and identified ‘soft innovations’ to give a sense of status and ownership to the users. A free handout undermines dignity. Nobody likes using a product that’s identified as a poorpeople’s product. Building on local social dynamics, they prompted a competition among households to design their own toilets.”

Further challenges

Alongside all this, SadreGhazi faced other issues too. “Even today, there’s an anecdotal way of perceiving developing countries, development and poverty”, he says. “People tend to oversimplify poverty, when in fact it’s a complex, multidimensional issue. It’s challenging to get a holistic and more real picture of what’s happening.”

So who is to blame for this distorted image of the poor? According to SadreGhazi, to an extent the media and some NGOs are at fault for portraying the poor as miserable victims. “As long as we see users as victims there’s not much room for effective innovation.”

hearts”, he explains. “This was a big lesson for me. We can’t judge others based on what little information we have.”

Looking forward Sanitation may have a long way to go, but SadreGhazi has high hopes for the future. “I’d like to see everyone having proper access to sanitation because it’s a basic human right. Poverty is a vicious cycle, but through appropriate nudges the poor can be helped to help themselves and break the trap.”

Making memories While SadreGhazi witnessed many incidents during his research, some had a stronger impact than others.

One event that stands out was during his time on the ground with a Dutch company that was trying to introduce animal nutrition in one of the Indian villages.

“Approaching the village, I knew something was wrong. It turned out that one of the cattle belonging to a farmer who had agreed to participate in the project had died. The villagers related the death to the study, which was not the case. What’s worse was that the cow belonged to the head of the village! Needless to say the locals wanted out after that. It was difficult.”

SadreGhazi also has fond memories of his time in India. “I liked going to the villages. We sometimes think that these people feel miserable.

When you live with them, you realise that they seem happier than the average person in the ‘rich world’. They might be penniless, but they have rich

Shuan SadreGhazi Shuan SadreGhazi (1979) is based at the Maastricht office of the United Nations University. His research interests lay primarily in innovation management and business strategy, with a specific focus on their implications for human development and emerging markets. SadreGhazi’s PhD research at UNU-MERIT was on pro-poor innovations. His research on rural sanitation concluded in 2011 and his research on animal nutrition in 2010.

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Off the job

Connie Stumpel

“The social side of this work fits me like a glove”

By Graziella Runchina

“Every individual with a developmental disorder has the right to a diagnosis.”

These are the words of Connie Stumpel, professor of Clinical Genetics at Maastricht University and head of the Clinical Genetics outpatient clinic at the MUMC+. She also chairs the board of the Stichting Vooruit, a foundation for children with disabilities.

Given her background as a paediatrician, it comes as no surprise that Stumpel is committed to improving the lives of disabled children. She sees it as a form of social engagement that is part and parcel of her role at the university. “Back when I was doing my paediatric training I came into contact with children who’d been diagnosed with all sorts of syndromes”, she says. “And as a newly graduated doctor in the ‘Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis’ in Amsterdam, I found that I had a particular interest in children who had something special about them.”

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Fascinating content In the 1980s Stumpel was, together with a number of other paediatricians, closely involved in getting clinical genetics off the ground as a new medical specialism. “The content of the field is incredibly fascinating. Traditionally, paediatricians were largely responsible for the field until it became a recognised medical specialism in 1987.” When Stumpel moved to Maastricht University in 1985, the field was still in its infancy. “DNA testing was barely possible. The technology in this area has boomed since the 1990s,

and we’ve seen - and are continuing to see - huge leaps forward.” In 2002 Stumpel was the first female clinical geneticist in the Netherlands to be appointed professor, specialising in syndrome diagnosis and specific developmental disorders.

Stichting Vooruit The expertise Stumpel has gained in the last few decades as a clinical geneticist and paediatrician stands her in good stead for her work as chair of the Stichting Vooruit, which is dedicated to children with disabilities. This foundation has existed since 1959, albeit under a different name (the Stichting ter behartiging van de belangen van het gebrekkige kind).

Its aim is to support scientific research, projects in developing countries, and practical projects for children with disabilities at the paediatric rehabilitation centre Adelante (on the site of the former Franciscan Order in Valkenburg).

“We encourage people to submit all kinds of project proposals, as long as the resources will be used for the benefit of our primary target group - children with disabilities”, Stumpel explains. “For instance, we funded a project for children with spastic hands at Adelante, and we also sponsored the Global Exploration Project, an international exchange project in which 10 school students from Adelante participated. In the new incarnation of the Stichting Vooruit we’re also involved in fundraising ourselves.

After all, there’s no shortage of things to do, and money can only help!”

Kabuki syndrome Stumpel is UM’s expert in the field of syndrome diagnostics. She focuses on rare disorders, such as Kabuki syndrome. “This is a congenital disease that affects around 70 children and adults in the Netherlands.

Some of these children are involved with Adelante. I helped to launch the Dutch Kabuki network as its medical adviser”, she says. “Maastricht is the national expertise centre for Kabuki syndrome. The gene was only discovered in 2010, and we’ve since drawn up

guidelines for parents and professionals on how to provide Kabuki kids with the best medical guidance possible. We can’t make them better, but we can advise them and their families as well as possible.”

Right to diagnosis In Stumpel’s experience, parents struggle with the same sorts of questions when something goes wrong with their child. “The basic premise in clinical genetic diagnostics is that every individual with a developmental disorder, whether or not coupled with structural defects in organs or appearance, has the right to a diagnosis. Parents tend to have three main questions: What’s going on? How did this happen?

And what is the chance it will happen again if we have another child? Parents want a diagnosis - they see that as the answer to their questions, and they want it as fast as possible. Sometimes the problem is immediately clear, and we can then provide answers.

But that’s not always the case. In some situations it can take a considerable amount of time to trace a small chromosomal abnormality or a particular mutation. That was what happened with Kabuki syndrome, so only very recently were we able to identify the gene defect. Today’s genome diagnostics mean that we can find genetic causes for mental disabilities that never used to be possible.”

Societal objective “In my view, what we do within the MUMC+ in terms of gaining knowledge, publishing academic articles and supervising PhD candidates should also have a societal objective”, says Stumpel. “Chairing the Stichting Vooruit is part of this. I see it as an opportunity to be able to do something for children with disabilities.”

See also www.stichtingvooruit.nl

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Marike Jager

“To really sing you need guts”

By Annelotte Huiskes

It all started in Maastricht: Taking to the stage for the first time while still a student of Health Sciences. Overcoming her shyness to perform her own songs at Studium Generale’s Open Podium nights. And one thing led to another. She won the Grote Prijs van Nederland at the annual Dutch music awards in 2003, performed on the talk show De Wereld Draait Door and at the Dutch music festival Lowlands and released three albums. In her own words, “choosing is the hardest thing there is” - but singer/songwriter Marike Jager seems to have chosen exactly her own path.

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Visit us at www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni

“Looking back, I always wanted to be on stage, but doing what I wasn’t really sure. When I was eight my mother took me to see a ballet performance; our seats were right at the front. I thought it was so incredibly exciting. I saw all those beautiful men and women breathing and sweating and I can still remember thinking I wanted to do something like that too.”

In primary school in Leusden, Utrecht, she loved being - in her own words - the centre of attention: “I was always smack bang in the middle in photos.” But that changed when she went to high school.

“I became much more introverted.

When a friend gave me a small Spanish guitar for my 15th birthday, I’d only play it in my room with the door shut; no one was allowed in.

Sometimes I’d head over to the dyke looking for a long stick to use as a microphone stand, and then I’d perform in secret on my own - quite cute, actually.”

Audience After high school Jager was unsure what to study, so she took a year off to travel. “With my guitar, because that was really important to me; it was something to hold on to.

A whole world opened up for me.

You’d be walking along a beach filled with backpackers who really want you to play something. Because I was anonymous, I dared to play for other people for the first time. The big hit was ‘Een man weet niet wat hij mist’

by De Dijk. Everyone found that really funny because of the Dutch. It took years before I dared to use my own voice. To really sing you need guts.”

When she returned, Jager decided to study Health Sciences in Maastricht.

“Actually I still didn’t know what I

wanted, and the programme was so broad it allowed me to put off the final decision again.” She joined the theatre group Alles is Drama. “That helped to bring me out of my shell.

But there’s a difference: when you act you’re playing someone else, whereas with your own music you’re more or less naked on stage.”

Breakthrough Eventually she debuted in the Kumulus theatre in 2001, at the age of 21. “In the Open Podium programme you get 15 minutes to do whatever you want. For my first performance I’d written three songs.

I loved it - it gave me a huge kick.

From that moment I just kept on going back with new songs.”

She quickly formed a band with other students called HeyDay. Together they won the student song festival, played on the local radio and toured the region. “On Queen’s Day we got the chance to play at the Vrijthof, which is still probably my biggest stage performance.” But after two and a half years, Jager split with the band. It was a difficult choice, but she had decided to work more seriously on her career. A few months later she won, solo, the Grote Prijs van Nederland. It was a huge moment that opened many doors for her.

Barely on the train back to Maastricht, she took a call from a record executive.

“I felt very honoured. In the end it didn’t come to anything because he wanted to set me up with a jeans brand and make hits, and that was not the direction I wanted to go in musically.”

Together with her partner Henk Jan, her band’s keyboardist, she launched the label Morning Coffee Records.

These days she is writing songs for a new album that she hopes will be released some time next year.

Chimpanzees What’s more, Jager is a qualified mental health professional. “It was clear to me that I preferred the psychological side of the field, not the biomedical side. I thought human behaviour was fascinating, so I chose that. It also gives me a sense of constantly doing something with my studies. What I liked the most was sitting on the Sint Pietersberg with friends having endless discussions about the study material as it related to your own life. And I still do that.

Recently a friend from my studies came to live nearby; he’s now doing behavioural research on chimpanzees.

We can stroll along the Waal talking about it for hours. Ultimately everything comes down to behaviour.”

Her memories of Maastricht are happy ones. “I did so many fun things in Maastricht: acting, making music, studying, being very much in love.

All wonderful things. So it’s great to come back now and then.” And that she does - in September, she was the star musical act at the ceremony for the Opening of the Academic Year at the Vrijthof theatre.

But the ball was rolling, and today Jager makes regular appearances on television and radio, not only as a musician but also as a presenter.

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Hans Petri (l) at a skills lab in 1979

Alumni circles:

contacts for life

By Charlotte Groven

Graduates of Maastricht University (UM) settle all over the world. The saying “out of sight, out of mind� does not apply to them - they stay in contact with one another and with the university via alumni circles. The committees of these circles are composed of active alumni who organise regular get-togethers, from informal drinks to theme meetings, workshops and master classes. There are circles in the Netherlands, Europe and around the world, and their number is rising steadily.

With a rapidly growing alumni population, the alumni circles are livelier than ever. We asked three generations of committee members what their alumni circle means to them.

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Visit us at www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni

Hans Petri (59) belonged to one of the first cohorts of medical students at the university, which at the time was still called the Rijksuniversiteit Limburg. “You only realise later how special it was.” Looking back on his time in Maastricht, he grows nostalgic. “The teaching was innovative, and I enjoyed the small scale and the luxury of having access to staff with more than enough time for discussion and guidance.” After graduating from the medical programme, he also did his PhD research in Maastricht. Since the day he went to work in England as a consultant and GP in St Albans, he has been an active member of the London Alumni Circle. In this way, he keeps in touch with his alma mater and its “offspring”.

Lonneke Smeets (36) is a committee member of The Hague Alumni Circle. As a senior business adviser at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, she spearheads the Maastricht enclave in The Hague. A native Limburger, she headed to the city after graduating from the economics faculty in 2000, and found her feet immediately. With networking in her blood, the choice to join the committee was an easy one.

At just 25, Evelien Gigengack is the youngest active alum.

Her part-time job as a student assistant in the Alumni Office

sparked her enthusiasm for alumni networks. After graduating from International Business, she moved to the Randstad in 2012 and, together with an enthusiastic young committee, helped to breathe new life into the Amsterdam Alumni Circle.

Motivation For recent graduates just embarking on their careers, the informal network is more important than ever. But for Gigengack, it’s not just about career opportunities.

“What I love is working together with the committee to offer interesting theme meetings that add value to your work, inspire you and broaden your horizons.”

Petri’s circle provides him with some much-needed Dutch practice, despite the 30 different nationalities represented in the London group. He and other circle members also act as coaches to young graduates. A visit to this circle has become a regular part of the trip organised by the study association FOCUS for master’s students in International Finance.

“I enjoy being able to guide them in their first steps towards a career”, he says. “It’s an example of good alumni policy.”

Networking is second nature to Smeets. “Some people wonder why they should come to a meeting. I don’t know anyone there, they think. But we’re connected through our shared history.

It never takes long to break the ice. When I see how many

Lonneke Smeets (m) at a meeting of the The Hague Alumni Circle

Evelien Gigengack (m) and the comittee of the Amsterdam Alumni Circle

relationships have developed through our meetings and how much networking goes on - it’s great, that’s why I do it.”

Own signature

Although UM is the common denominator for all alumni circles, each has its own signature, coloured by the profiles of its members, the sectors they work in, their average age or the number of different nationalities.

The London circle mainly consists of alumni who work in banking and doctors who have settled in the countryside.

The Hague circle, by contrast, has a political flavour. “We enjoy keeping abreast of the developments in research at UM”, says Smeets. “I see it as a challenge to throw light on these new developments during our meetings, keeping in mind what our members find interesting.” In Amsterdam, the members are primarily graduates of economics or marketing.

After the South Limburg circle, Amsterdam has the most recent graduates.

In addition to informative meetings, the circles also have a social function. From Jack the Ripper walks, pub quizzes and drinks to skating at the Utrecht Science Park, they are an easy and accessible way for graduates to get in touch with their former peers. “Here in Amsterdam, the circle can serve as a familiar island in a new environment”, says Gigengack.

Business card Alumni are important to the university. UM is proud of its active alumni community and grateful for so much involvement and commitment, both in and outside the university. In addition to the circle committees, enthusiastic alumni sit on the board of the Limburg University Fund, various faculty councils and even the editorial board of this magazine, as well as playing an important role in student recruitment. They are our business card.

For an overview of all alumni circles and their activities, please visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni.

35

University Fund

Grants awarded in 2013/14

This academic year, nine students have been able to take part in a master’s programme at Maastricht University (UM) thanks to grants awarded by the Limburg University Fund. Below is an overview.

Grant sponsor

Recipient

Country

Programme

LLTB

April Boessen

Netherlands

Master in Health and Food Innovation Management (Venlo), FHML

Elisabeth Strouven

Ainom Tedla

Sudan

Master in Global Health, FHML

Wenjun Yu

China

Accountancy track, Master in International

Foundation Océ

Business, SBE Otto Workforce

Krzystof Zychowski

Poland

Master in Global Supply Chain Management and Change (Venlo), SBE

Jo Ritzen Scholarship

Cloé Rabiet

France

Master in European Law School or Master Fund in Globalisation and Law, FL

Jo Ritzen Scholarship

Sonya Bendriem

France

Master in Human and Decision Science, Fund SBE

Friends

Grace Mao

China

Master n Globalisation and Development Studies, FASoS

Alumni

Ali Syed Mustafa

Pakistan

Master in Global Health, FHML

University Fund

Rekha Varrier

India

Cognitive Neuroscience track,

Limburg Scholarship

2-year Research Master, FPN

Loop mee met Zweit veur Leid!

4 januari 2014

– Nooit meer bang voor pijn –

SLEEP

MOOD

PAIN

ACTIVITY www.ufl-swol.nl

www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/running

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Afraid of pain no more The Limburg University Fund recently became a network partner of Zweit Veur Leid (‘Sweat for Suffering’), a charity walk and foundation that raises money to alleviate or prevent suffering. Together with Maastricht students, staff and residents, the fund will put in the hard yards on Saturday 4 January for patients with chronic pain.

One in five adults in Europe suffers from chronic pain. In 60% of people this tends to last between 2 and 15 years; in 21%, it can

extend beyond 20 years. For sufferers, the fear of pain and the pain itself affect their everyday functioning; for example, they avoid certain movements and social activities. Many end up isolated, sleep poorly and have a negative self-image. The project Nooit Meer Bang voor Pijn (‘Afraid of Pain No More’) tries to get these patients out of this negative spiral. Would you like to contribute to this good cause, or join us on the charity walk? Please send an email to sandra.vdtillaard@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Academic funding In the first eight months of this year, the University Fund pledged €80,000 in grants for 30 research projects. The funding committee supports projects

that contribute to the university’s international profile and that fit within its priority research fields. In addition to the support offered by other sources,

the Fund itself chips in to help UM researchers continue their projects.

Fund provides crowd-funding platform The mission of the Limburg University Fund is to involve partners in and raise funds for UM research and education.

This happens in many ways and involves various types of sources. For example, crowd funding (focused on financial support) and crowdsourcing (focused on other forms of support and cooperation)

can be effective tools to generate interest and involvement in special projects.

The fund also cooperates with Flintwave, a platform aimed at acquiring financing for and promoting engagement in science projects. Flintwave gives UM academics the chance to present their case for support and raise

awareness of their project among “the crowd”. In this way, it encourages

external parties to invest their time or money in particular science projects or developments.

For more information, please see www.ufl-swol.nl.

Management changes The board of the Limburg University Fund has seen a number of personnel changes in recent months. Peter Thijssen, Executive Council member and treasurer, and the general board members Ward Vleugels (CEO of QPark), Joep van de Voort (partner at Ernst & Young) and Piet Eichholtz (UM professor of Real Estate) resigned after coming to the end of their two permitted terms on the board. They made a major contribution to the innovation and development of the fund.

The new board members are Loek Winter, professor of Health Care Entrepreneurship; Rob Bauer, professor of Institutional Investors; Jan Klerken, CEO of Scelta Mushrooms; and last but not least, Richard Pluymaekers (managing partner at Ernst & Young) as the new treasurer. These appointments also give a boost to the share of UM alumni on the board.

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.

37

Grant for research on human capital in high-tech sector Three Maastricht University (UM) researchers have been awarded a TOP grant of € 750,000 by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Andries de Grip, Lex Borghans and Thomas Dohmen work at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) and the Department of General Economics at the UM School of Business and Economics. Their

research revolves around on attracting and retaining talent for the High-Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM) top sector. How can we train enough technical staff and attract and retain these ‘high potentials’?

The researchers will collaborate with various schools and companies to uncover the decisive factors in develop-

ing the human capital needed to strengthen international competitiveness in the HTSM sector. The research focuses on selection processes related to the education, profession, sector and labour migration of those who determine the supply of talent. It also looks at how companies can make optimal use of this in their recruitment and staffing policies.

Lies Wesseling appointed extraordinary professor on the Special ‘Opzij’ Chair

Lies Wesseling

Per 1 September 2013, Lies Wesseling has been appointed to the Special ‘Opzij’ Chair in Cultural Memory, Gender and Diversity. This rotating chair is sponsored by the feminist magazine Opzij.

Her research is on the cultural framing of inter-country adoption between 1950 and 2010 and on the cultural remembrance of forced child migration in the

British Commonwealth and the Dutch colonial empire. She persistently focuses on the arts, most notably on children’s literature, life writing and film, as memorial practices and as repertoires for identity construction. On a meta-level, she is interested in the cross-border mobility of stories about children who were forced to cross borders.

UM breaks into top 100 of prestigious THE World University Rankings Maastricht University (UM) has broken into the top 100 of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) World University Rankings 2013/14, rising from 115th to 98th place. Earlier this year UM also shot into the top 10 in the THE’s second ever ‘100 under 50’ ranking, which identifies the best universities established within the last half century. UM’s rise in the world rankings is mainly due to its improved scores for research quality

38

(citations) and international outlook (e.g. percentage of international staff and students). Last year UM climbed a spectacular 82 places, from 197 th to 115th.

UM president Professor Martin Paul, sees these results - especially the high score in the area of knowledge transfer - as an important confirmation of the university’s strategic direction. “Within the ‘Kennis-As Limburg’ initiative, UM,

the Maastricht UMC+ and Zuyd Hogeschool, together with the Province and the business sector, will invest more than half a billion euros in innovations in Limburg’s knowledge infrastructure in the coming 10 years. To this end we expressly seek collaboration with the business world”, Paul explains. “This is a prime example of our industrial engagement, which the THE spoke of so highly.”

Profile

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Education and research at Maastricht

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University is organised primarily on the

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Chief Editor: Fons Elbersen

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General Editor: Annelotte Huiskes Editorial Board: Luc Soete (President),

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Sophie Vanhoonacker, Fancy van de Vorst.

Texts: Jos Cortenraad, Charlotte Groven, Annelotte Huiskes, Femke Kools, Loek Kusiak, Jolien Linssen, Hanna McLean, Graziella Runchina, Hans van Vinkeveen.

Photography: Edward Bekker (p26,27), Harry Heuts (cover, p7,11), Herman van Ommen (p38), Shuan SadreGhazi (p28,29), Sacha Ruland (p2,3,4,6,8,9,12, 14,16,19,20,22,24,30,32,33), Moniek Wegdam (p38) Translations and English editing: Alison Edwards Graphic concept: Vormgeversassociatie BV, Hoog-Keppel

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Cover: Detail building Brains Unlimited and

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Tesla MRI scanner.

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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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