Um webmagazine 01 2014 by Maastricht University

magazine 01/February 2014

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

www.maastrichtuniversity.nl

About education and research at Maastricht University

Nanobiologist

Peter Peters becomes the first university professor in Maastricht - p6

Maastricht University:

a love story

Farewell interview with vice president André Postema - p10

man’s world – long

It’s a but not for

Discussion on gender and science - p12

Content

Further 04 Leading in Learning - Two economics master’s in 18 months 06 University professor - Peter Peters: Reading a paper on the moon

Professor-Student

10 Farewell interview - André Postema: Maastricht University: a love story 12 Debate - It’s a man’s world –but not for long: discussion on gender and science 16 Research and society - Susan Rutten: When marriage becomes a prison 20 Portret - Jan, Frans and Ton Nijhuis: Three brothers, three professors. 24 Research - Ronald Knibbe and Dike van der Mheen: Alcohol consumption increases, but prevention still lags behind 26 Publication - Peter Peters: Schönberg’s loss 28 International - Christoph Rausch: ‘Civilising’ Africa with prefab architecture 30 Off the job - Thomas Cleij: A porcelain vase for a regiment

Alum Armand Lumens

He studied international management in Maastricht University’s early years. As it turns out, his time at UM kicked off a fantastic career: the Limburg native is now a top executive at Shell. “We recruit staff from all over the world, but I always pay special attention to people from UM.”

34 Alumni - Alinde Verhaag: Living the international dream, locally 36 University Fund - Limburg Fund for Rehabilitation established - News News 9, 15, 23 and 38

Profile

Colophon

Education and research at Maastricht

• Maastricht Centre for Human Rights

Publisher: © Maastricht University

University is organised primarily on the

• Maastricht Centre for Taxation (MCT)

Chief Editor: Annelotte Huiskes

basis of faculties, schools and institutes.

• Maastricht European Private Law

Editorial Board: Luc Soete (President),

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

Institute (MEPLI)

Marja van Dieijen-Visser, Diana Dolmans,

• The Maastricht Forensic Institute (tMFI)

Fons Elbersen, Roy Erkens, Arvid Hoffmann,

• Maastricht Graduate School of Law

Jos Kievits, Madelon Peters, Hildegard Schneider,

• Montesquieu Institute Maastricht

Sophie Vanhoonacker, Fancy van de Vorst.

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

Texts: Jos Cortenraad, Annelotte Huiskes, Femke Kools, Loek Kusiak, Jolien Linssen, Hanna McLean, Hans van Vinkeveen. Photography: Harry Heuts (p9), Herman van Ommen (p15), Jeronimus van Pelt (p9), Sacha (cover, p2,3,4, 6,7,8,10,14,16,19,20,21,22,25,26,27,29,30,32), Alinda Verhaag (p34), Appie Derks (p38) Translations and English editing: Alison Edwards Graphic concept: Vormgeversassociatie BV, Hoog-Keppel Graphic design: Grafisch Ontwerpbureau Emilio Perez, Geleen

School of Business and Economics

Print:

• Graduate School of Business and

Pietermans Drukkerij, Lanaken (B)

Economics (GSBE) • Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) • Network Social Innovation (NSI)

Maastricht University magazine is published in February, June and October. It is sent on demand to UM alumni and to external relations.

• Limburg Institute of Financial Economics (LIFE) • The Maastricht Academic Centre for Research in Services (MAXX) • Accounting, Auditing & Information Management Research Centre (MARC)

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

• European Centre for Corporate Engagement (ECCE) • United Nations University - Maastricht

Cover: Peter Peters rides his tractor from his father’s farm to his grandfather’s farm in Hunsel,

Faculty of Law

Economic Research Institute on Inno-

Limburg.

• Institute for Globalisation and

vation and Technology (UNU-MERIT),

With special thanks to Jean-Pierre Pilet.

International Regulation (IGIR) • Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO) • Institute for Corporate Law, Governance and Innovation Policies (ICGI) • Maastricht Centre for European Law (MCEL)

Foundation • Social Innovation for Competitiveness,

ISSN: 2210-5212

Organisational Performance and human Excellence (NSCOPE) • Marketing-Finance Research Lab

webmagazine.maastrichtuniversity.nl

Exciting times for Maastricht Maastricht, early 2014; the eve of the European elections. All eyes are trained on Europe, ready to bear witness to the developments to come. On the one hand, Europe seems to be bringing together antiEurope parties more than ever before. After the elections in May 2014, these parties may constitute the largest group in the European Parliament. By ‘constitute’, of course, I do not mean they share a common vision. The traditional parties are therefore not too worried. But the climate will no doubt become grimmer, full of invective and punctuated by the occasional scuffle, as we have already seen in recent years. On the other hand, at Europe’s doorstep, a hundred thousand Ukrainians have for weeks been battling their president and government to remain an associated member of the European Union. Within Europe, the EU is becoming merely a plaything to Eurosceptics; outside it, it is a beacon of good governance, human rights and freedom of expression. Last year, the Faculty of Law marked the 20th anniversary of the official signing of the Maastricht Treaty with a special conference in the Maastricht town hall. The treaty, with its economic and monetary union, has resulted not only in increased financial transparency through the introduction of the euro, but also in greater political transparency. Never before has Europe been paid such attention in public opinion, national debates and - it is hoped - soon also the discussions surrounding the European elections. In both cases, financially and politically, this increased interest is undoubtedly also greatly exaggerated. Now that the storm over the euro crisis has settled, it is becoming ever clearer that the international financial markets overreacted in their estimation of the bailout risks of euro countries with large public debts. As the Leuven professor De Grauwe has nicely demonstrated, financial markets tend to overestimate these risks, just as they underestimated the risks between 2001 and 2010 when the interest spread on government bonds between euro zone countries was in fact limited.

Politically, this transparency has manifested itself in a revival of the nation state; a resurgence of faith in one’s own national, political identity. As a result, the ‘other’ - the foreign, and so also European, identity - is seen as a threat or even a danger. Here again I refer to a Belgian, the politician Guy Verhofstadt, who expresses constant surprise that the relatively recent concept of the nation state is suddenly being trotted out again in political discussions on Europe. This is the case even here in the Netherlands, where only this year we celebrate 200 years of the Dutch state, to which Limburg has only belonged since 1839. Taken together, this financial and political transparency feeds the increasing sense of distrust between northern and southern Europe; between national and European identity. It is something that Schumann, Mitterand, Kohl and Delors could not have suspected: that European integration could spawn a revitalisation of nationalism. For Europe and for Maastricht, these are exciting times. Luc Soete Rector Magnificus, Maastricht University

Luc Soete

Leading in Learning

Joana Tremoceiro and Matthijs Rameckers

Two economics master’s in 18 months By Jos Cortenraad

Maastricht University has been offering a double degree programme since summer 2012. Students with a bachelor’s degree in economics can obtain two master’s degrees within 18 months: one in Maastricht and the other from one of five carefully selected partner universities. Joana Tremoceiro from Portugal and Matthijs Rameckers from the Netherlands were among the first graduates - and they are already nostalgic about the programme. Rameckers and Tremoceiro have the same motives for applying. Having completed their undergraduate degrees in 2012, both are looking for a broad master’s programme that also offers international experience. After his exchange semester in Copenhagen, Rameckers is keen to soak up some southern European culture, while Tremoceiro is interested in Maastricht’s Problem-Based Learning (PBL) system. International A double master’s degree in two countries for the price of one, not to mention saving a whole year - what could be better? “Not much,” Rameckers smiles, “but the subject matter is of course the main motivation. And if you’re accepted, you get to study at a second top university in addition to Maastricht. That’s good for your CV, and it gives you the international experience you need

nowadays. I deliberately chose Portugal to broaden my horizons. I’m planning to look for a job in Paris, Amsterdam or London. A Master of Science from Maastricht and a Master of Management from Lisbon should give me the best possible chances.” Tremoceiro, too, expects to have no problems finding a job - even in Portugal, where the economic crisis has led to unprecedented unemployment levels. “I’d prefer to work in Portugal, and I’m confident it will happen. The country needs highly educated people. A bachelor’s degree from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa is worth a lot; it’s the best business school in Portugal. And a double master’s degree with an international focus opens even more doors. That’s why I signed up for the programme and because Maastricht is a top university.”

Special Tremoceiro chooses Maastricht, Rameckers Lisbon; and so after a rigorous selection process in September 2012 they find themselves starting out at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. It is the beginning of what they describe as a “very special period”. Their initial connection quickly turns into a deep friendship. “We all had three years of study behind us, so we were quite happy being independent. And yet we immediately felt this special click”, explains Rameckers. “Italians, Germans, Dutch, a French and a Portuguese student. Completely different in almost every way. But from day one we were a team. Eating together, studying together, going out together. I never expected the programme to have such a social impact.” Value Tremoceiro nods. “That closeness from Lisbon continued in Maastricht, where we followed the second part of the programme from February 2013. We became very tight. Of course all 11 of you have the same goal. A double master’s degree is tough; you need one another. So the social factor is important, in Maastricht perhaps even more so than in Lisbon. The Universidade Nova de Lisboa still uses the traditional teaching format: the lecturer lectures, the students listen and take notes. In Maastricht you sit down together with the tutor or professor and discuss the issues from all angles. PBL gives you nowhere to hide. Every person in the group is important. I really enjoyed the discussion, the interaction. You learn to debate, listen and collaborate. I’m not saying you don’t learn that in Lisbon, but you learn differently. For me, that was the added value of doing a double degree at two completely different universities.” Interrupting Rameckers was used to PBL. So did he struggle in Lisbon? “Not particularly. We could interrupt, ask questions. The professors weren’t used to that, but didn’t make an issue of it. I’m also not a priori against the lecture system. Certainly in this programme it wasn’t a problem.

In Portugal we did more theoretical subjects: HRM, Statistics, Financial Management. I didn’t find the content overly difficult, but it was a lot of work. It gave you a solid foundation. Then in Maastricht we had courses like Innovation Management and Leadership, which lend themselves more to PBL. I learnt a great deal from the combination of both education systems - and from the contributions of the other students.” Nostalgic The 11 participants of the first double degree cohort defended their theses in January. Tremoceiro examined import and export strategies for companies, while Rameckers explored service provision and trend analyses. After their graduation in Lisbon, they all went their own separate ways - with a touch of nostalgia, that much is clear. “We have this special bond”, says Rameckers. “I expect we’ll still see one another regularly.” Tremoceiro hopes the same. “I’m happy I made this choice; I would genuinely recommend it to everyone. Also because Maastricht is such a beautiful, historic city. It’s so compact, you can reach everything on foot or by bike. I think we should hold our reunions here.”

The Maastricht University School of Economics and Business collaborates in the double degree programme with universities in Lisbon (Portugal), Louvain (Belgium), Nice and Lille (France), Brisbane (Australia) and Kingston (Canada). Participants follow two curricula and receive two master’s titles. The selection criteria are tough, taking applicants’ motivation and ambition into account as well. The programme costs the same as a regular master’s degree. For more information, please visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/faculties/sbe/ targetgroup/education/doubledegreeprogrammes.htm

University professor

Peter Peters

Reading a paper on the moon By Femke Kools

Peter Peters rides his tractor from his father’s farm to his grandfather’s farm. His grandfather is also called Peter, as are many of the eldest sons in the Peters family. With fitting pride, this Peter shows off his ancestral land in Hunsel, Central Limburg. Well into his teens, it seemed that he, like his forefathers, would spend his life on this land. Until he was bitten by the research bug, that is. Now a professor of Nanobiology, he is one of the world’s leading experts in nanomolecular research on the immune system. “Quite the contrast, isn’t it?”, he says from his oldtimer. Peters recently became Maastricht University’s first ‘university professor’. 6

Peters stays with his partner in Hunsel almost every weekend. On the grounds of his father’s farm, now occupied by his brother, lies a small but pretty outbuilding fringed by an orchard and a barn for the restored tractor. As young as eight, Peters would drive around the property helping his father. To those with a keen eye, it was clear even then that he was more researcher than farmer: “I’d secretly tinker with the plough depths, trying to improve the crop yields.”

Sleepless night At the age of 16 Peters saw a bull mount an artificial cow, and he was allowed to look at the sperm cells through a microscope. A whole new world opened up to him - on several fronts. “There wasn’t much in the way of sex education in this village. But more importantly, I was fascinated by the lab environment and the image of those living, moving sperm cells.” After a sleepless night, he informed his father that farming wasn’t for him. “He understood; he too would have preferred to study rather than take over his father’s farm.” As the only child in the village who wanted to study, Peters faced a great deal of scepticism. But his parents were supportive. During primary school, the headmaster and pastor did not appreciate his rebellious attitude towards the bible (“These days I’m a committed Darwinist”). After two difficult years, his father announced the family would from then on be attending church in the neighbouring village of Thorn. His mother would throw the angry letters from the pastor, unopened, into the stove.

It is to such experiences that Peters accredits his tremendous drive when he found himself in a lab at last. Via a technical high school and vocational training as an analyst, he ended up in a research lab in the Utrecht Pathology Institute. “I became passionate about research, to the extreme. I didn’t want to go home; I’d just work in the lab from early morning till late at night on my research on lymphoma. I didn’t see it as work, but more as a hobby.” That feeling persists to the present day. Discovering secrets Peters went on to study Medical

Biology at Utrecht University. He still remembers how it felt when he looked through an electron microscope for the first time. “I thought to myself: I want to do this for the rest of my life. You see everything in a thousand times more detail. Now the secrets of cells would be unveiled, I was sure of it, and I decided I wanted to know everything about them.” Today he is among the world’s 100 leading experts in his field. He still studies the immune system; specifically, the role of white blood cells in infection and the development of cancer.

and fifteen years at the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam. “Proteins are the workhorses of the cell. We know that cancer is caused by an abnormality in our DNA code, which is then translated into a protein. But we don’t know what protein structures look like in 3D, or what’s going wrong with them.” 3D structure To illustrate: the commonest genetic mutation is cystic fibrosis. A single abnormal line on the DNA gives a chloride pump in the intestines and

lungs a slightly different 3D structure, making it dysfunctional.

“Tumour cells are actually degenerate cells that have learned to escape the immune system. Our task is to discover how they do that, and how you can train the immune system to break them down.” To understand what goes wrong in such cells, fundamental knowledge about the workings of cells at the nano scale is needed. This is still uncharted territory, which Peters has never stopped exploring: after his PhD in Utrecht, he spent three years doing research in the USA

University professor

“Like a pebble in a faucet, this blocks the chloride emissions to the pancreas, resulting in a disturbed water balance, cystic fibrosis and early death. So you want to know how that works, and how we can reset that protein to its original form - because it is possible to influence protein structures.” In recent years, Peters has made important breakthroughs in the localisation of protein complexes in the cell. In the journal Cell in 2007, his group also published pioneering results on the workings of protein complexes in the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Peters and others are still working on further fundamental research based on this finding, aiming to improve the vaccine currently used against tuberculosis.

Reading the newspaper Peters’s relocation from Amsterdam to Maastricht dovetails with Maastricht University’s ambition to become a major player in scientific imaging. Brains Unlimited, with its Tesla 7 and 9.4 scanners, is a unique facility in the Netherlands. Peters’s lab in Maastricht will be just as unique, with four highly advanced microscopes for making and analysing cell preparations.

“My microscopes have to be so powerful and so stable that I could read a newspaper on the moon.” He will collaborate with researchers from related disciplines in Maastricht. He will also be closely involved with

new study programmes, aiming to recruit the best students for PhD research in his lab. As a ‘university professor’, his teaching and administrative tasks will be limited. “For me,

this title stands for academic freedom, uninhibited creativity and innovation. The output? Good publications and valorisation of knowledge.” Bureaucracy and meetings are not his forte: beyond discussions with his research team on their progress, endless formal meetings are his idea of a nightmare. “I’m passionate about my research and about training young researchers. I’m always thinking up new experiments, even when I’m on the tractor.”

City of Maastricht To laypeople, the nanomolecular world is quite alien. One millimetre of tissue contains a million cells, and in every cell thousands of proteins work together in complexes. We can now identify the proteins, but how they come together in the form of a protein complex with a certain function remains a mystery. In the coming decade, Peters hopes to

unravel the 3D structure and function of these protein complexes. “Compare a cell with the city of Maastricht. We know that in this city there are bricks, tiles, tree leaves and branches, but we don’t know which components together form a house. Improvements in technology will help, but we still have to make choices: Which street in Maastricht will we research? What is feasible and, above all, relevant for medicine?”

Peter Peters Peter Peters (1957) has been university professor in Nanobiology at Maastricht University since 1 January 2014. He is currently establishing a research institute specialising in advanced macromolecular imaging, a project that falls under the umbrella of the Kennis-As Limburg investment programme. More information about the Institute of Nanoscopy: www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/institutes/instituteofnanoscopy.htm

38th Dies Natalis: Maastricht University: a love story On Friday 10 January 2014 Maastricht University celebrated its 38th anniversary, or Dies Natalis. The Dies celebration coincided with André Postema’s farewell. After two terms as vice president of Maastricht University, Postema is stepping down from the Executive Board. He bid farewell to UM with a speech entitled ‘Maastricht University: a love story’.

André Postema

The ceremony also saw five honorary doctorates awarded to outstanding individuals nominated by the respective faculties. The recipients were professors Peter J. Barnes, Paul Craig, Amy C. Edmondson, Peggy Levitt and Jürgen Hennig. Honorary doctorates

Education Prize, Student Prizes and Dissertation Prize Jaap Bos, Gwen Noteborn and Sjoke Merk from the School of Business and Economics won the Wynand Wijnen Education Prize 2013 for the remarkable contribution they made to UM education with their Finance Video Project.

Mark Verheijen (FHML), Eefje de Bont (FHML), Matteo Bonelli (FL), Maiko Messelken (SBE), Steve Mélon (FASoS), Nils Reimer (FHS) and Roy Lardenoije (FPN).

On behalf of the Stichting Wetenschapsbeoefening, the Student Prizes for the best theses of 2013 were awarded to

Dissertation Prize 2012/3 for the best dissertation was awarded to Dr Heleen Bouman.

On behalf of the Professors’ Fund, the Dissertation Prize

NWO Rubicon grant for two UM projects Nineteen young researchers have been granted funding to conduct research abroad through the Rubicon programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Maastricht

Truze Lodder appointed chair of Maastricht University Supervisory Council

University is involved in two of the projects: the Maastricht researcher Dalena van Heugten-van der Kloet will spend two years in Oxford, and Mariëtte Boon from Leiden will spend 15 months in Maastricht.

Boon is the only Rubicon recipient to remain in the Netherlands; the programme allows for research on specifically Dutch topics to be conducted at research institutes within the Netherlands.

The Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Jet Bussemaker, has appointed Truze M. Lodder as chair of Maastricht University’s Supervisory Council from 1 January 2014 to 30 November 2015. Lodder has been a member of the

Supervisory Council since 1 December 2007. She succeeds Ad H.A. Veenhof, who served two terms as chair from 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2013.

Farewell interview

André Postema

Farewell to the finest university in the Netherlands By Annelotte Huiskes

In 2005 André Postema relocated to Maastricht. His wife, a gynaecologist, had already worked in the Maastricht academic hospital for five years. Postema had been shuffling back and forth between Maastricht and Utrecht, where he was vice president of Capgemini. When their children arrived, it was time to settle in Limburg - and so began his eight-year term as vice president of the university’s Executive Board. In January, during the Dies Natalis ceremony, Postema took his leave with an address entitled ‘Maastricht University: a love story’. “That genuinely reflects my experience here”, he says. “I think Maastricht is the finest university in the Netherlands, and I also think I had the best job in it.” 10

Vice president of UM, vice president of Capgemini - does he perform best behind the scenes, playing second fiddle, so to speak? “Not in the least”, he responds with surprise. “That’s just a coincidence. As vice president in Maastricht I was responsible for overall operations, so I was heavily involved in all sorts of areas. And as there were no strict boundaries between the board members’ portfolios, we all approached them together. Which is fortunate, because it meant I was able to play a role in education and research as well.” A student-centred research university When Postema took office, UM had a particularly strong teaching record. This meant that, with the introduction of the bachelor/master system, it ran the risk of becoming a bachelor’s university. “My first major battle here was to make

UM a student-centred research university”, says Postema. “That was really a joint effort in which the faculties played a crucial role. Over the last eight years we’ve grown from 11,000 to 16,000 students. The intake of master’s students is now roughly the same as that for bachelor’s students, and the number of PhD defences has doubled. What’s more, our indirect government funding and contract funding for research have also doubled. We’ve achieved our goal, and I’m extremely proud of that. I was able to be here and be part of it. Now it’s important to further strengthen our regional and Euregional role. To this end the focus will be on developing the sciences at UM. We want to be a key player in the Euregional labour market in the fields of materials and the bio-based economy.” With flying colours Postema’s major task as vice president was to free up money for the primary processes (research and education) by making cutbacks in the secondary processes (operations and administrative support). “In recent years the service centres have had to work with the same annual budgets, while the university has grown substantially in size and funding. And yet, we’ve been able to maintain high-quality service provision. Our service centres are still rated highly in staff and student evaluations, which is to their credit. And we’re financially very healthy. Actually, it was an exciting part of my job, this game of juggling different sources of funding and maintaining quality.” The outcome of UM’s 2013 institutional accreditation procedure was also positive. “We came through all aspects of the accreditation with flying colours. That’s a compliment to the university; we’ve got a good thing going here.” Sciences Postema was closely involved with the development of the sciences at UM and on the Chemelot Campus. “The university was initially founded with a focus on medicine. Yet, given

Limburg’s economic profile, chemistry would have been a more logical choice. Since 2009 we’ve put this firmly back on the agenda. Not by establishing traditional, monodisciplinary programmes and research lines, but rather by exploring the very boundaries between scientific fields. For instance, the Maastricht Science Programme will deliver its first graduates this year. This is a fantastic, extremely successful programme - I’d sign up for it in an instant. We’ve launched two new science master’s, one in bio-based materials and one in systems biology. And we’ve established a unique link with the Chemelot site, where we’ve had a campus since 2010. In this way, we’re working in our own way to develop a strong faculty of sciences. I see that as typical for UM. We’re pioneers and we dare to swim against the stream. That’s how we became great, and I take a lot of pleasure from that.” Educational innovation In addition to strengthening UM’s anchoring in its region, another spearhead of the Executive Board is educational innovation. These two elements, after all, were the motives for establishing the university in the first place. “Educational innovation is a real challenge. The landscape is changing rapidly; small-scale, active learning is no longer UM’s exclusive domain. Add to that the vast opportunities for life-long-learning and eLearning. To respond to this, we need to better organise educational innovation at UM and put many more incentives in place. The first steps have already been taken.” Growth UM will continue to grow, Postema predicts. This growth will come not through the existing programmes, but through new programmes and avenues of research. “The investment programme Kennis-As, which we developed in collaboration with the Province of Limburg, will serve as the vehicle to put this in motion. And we’re not talking only about programmes in the health and life sciences. The School of Business and Economics is launching a new Bachelor in Emerging Markets Business, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is developing a Bachelor in Global and Regional Studies (both working titles). The latter will become a major pillar of the faculty alongside Arts & Culture and European Studies. So even in the inner city, we haven’t yet reached full capacity.”

André Postema André Postema (1969) studied history and economics and has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the NIBC Bank and Ernst & Young/Capgemini. He served as vice president of Maastricht University’s Executive Board from 2005 to 2013.

Debate

It’s a man’s world - but not for long By Femke Kools

The fact that men and women differ in many ways should be taken into account in scientific research more often, according to the European Commission. Therefore, researchers applying for a grant from the new European framework programme Horizon 2020 must indicate how their study design addresses sex and gender differences. The Maastricht researcher Ineke Klinge led the EU project Gendered Innovations, which developed a checklist to help researchers meet this obligation. How do three UM professors view this development? Hans Nelen, professor of Criminology, Faculty of Law: “Our Criminology programme mainly attracts women, yet virtually all theoretical models explaining crime relate to men. One theory is that social ties play a role in steering people away from criminality, and because women approach social ties differently, they’ll be dissuaded from taking part in crime. This would be an interesting avenue for research

specifically on women, but only a handful of studies have been done. Of course, that’s also because 80% of the crime we’re aware of is committed by men. Moreover, our researchers are commissioned to work on projects by a particular ministry or the European Commission - we have to keep the pot boiling, after all - and then the research question typically revolves more around the problem groups.

I study organised crime; fraud, money laundering, corruption and integrity. Business executives who engage in such activity are also still largely men. As machismo probably plays a role in these types of crime, we could hypothesise that having more women at the top could lead to less corruption, because we’d likely see a different type of organisational culture.

Now that I think about it, that would also be an interesting research question. There are indeed a few female professors in my field who regularly address gender issues, so I recognise that it’s also partly to do with your mindset. As for the EU’s requirement to explicitly consider sex and gender differences, my concern is that you’ll end up with a gratuitous, throwaway line in every application. It’s useful to consider for some research questions, but not necessarily for others.” Arno Riedl, professor of Public Economics, School of Business and Economics: “My group is interested in social preferences, which includes malefemale differences. One of my PhD students - male, incidentally - is studying why so few women work in executive positions; which factors play a role in this? Women are risk averse, according to previous research, and the hypothesis is that they shy away

from competition. Our experiments show that in a typically ‘male’ task, men indeed perform better in a competitive setting than women. We’re now exploring this finding further: why do women perform less well in a competitive setting, and are there environments in which they embrace competition? This research shows that if men and women get to choose, they both prefer a female competitor. It also demonstrates that women enter into competition just as frequently as men. So women are not averse to competition, as previously thought; they simply shun competition with men. As for the Horizon 2020 requirements, I’m ambivalent. Of course malefemale differences shouldn’t be overlooked, but I find it a bit strange to have to explain why you’re not researching something. Wouldn’t you then also have to indicate why you’re not looking at children, or minorities, or seniors? As an economist I find that inefficient. In my view a grant

application should focus on demonstrating the importance of the research for scholarship and society, and sometimes addressing gender differences is relevant and sometimes not. I’d be afraid that a token section on this would only create more work. If the European Commission wants more research on gender differences, it should provide funding for that research.” Annemie Schols, professor of Nutrition and Meta-bolism in Chronic Diseases, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences: “I often come across research that doesn’t do justice to male-female differences. For example, the composition of weight plays an important role in my field: we know that the degree to which fat, muscle and bone are affected by disease and the consequences of this for everyday functioning differ between men and women. Yet in order to reduce variability, studies typically only

Debate

include men. So the implications of such research only apply to men, but the titles of the resulting articles rarely indicate this. With a multidisciplinary team funded by ZonMW, the Dutch agency for health and healthcare research, we’re investigating strength training for obese adolescents. The question is whether this is more suitable for them than conventional exercise programmes, which tend to focus on endurance training. The first step is to study how girls actually perceive strength training. It may be that this is completely the wrong type of intervention for girls, or that it will need to be modified for them. I think the research question for every study should consider the role of gender. It’s fine if you can demonstrate that it’s not relevant for your research, but you should at least consider it. In addition, research proposals should identify the social relevance or the patient perspective in the research. Sometimes these just become standard sections, so that’s something assessors should be alert to. But there’s always the danger that we lose ourselves in our own research; that we have a blind spot for why we’re doing it at all. So it’s no bad thing to be reminded again through these sorts of requirements.”

Ineke Klinge: “I’m pleasantly surprised by these responses: the three professors are clearly engaged with this topic, and as Hans Nelen’s response indicates, even just stopping to think about it yields interesting research questions. That’s one of the goals of Gendered Innovations: to help researchers develop a sort of radar for sex and gender differences. But indeed, only where this is relevant. Arno Riedl is right to emphasise that research proposals have to explain the relevance of the study for society. The problem is that, to date, the research results found for men are extrapolated to entire populations. The basic premise of Gendered Innovations, and of the European Commission’s standpoint, is that you have to be aware of the relevant differences. And as Annemie Schols rightly points out, the EC should ensure that assessors are trained to recognise standard phrasing that is essentially meaningless.” Dr Ineke Klinge works in the Department of Health, Ethics and Society (HES) at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML). www.genderedinnovations.eu

Inhibition of NOX4 gene can prevent diabetic kidney disease The enzyme NOX4 plays an important role in the development of diabetic nephropathy, or the kidney damage caused by diabetes. Inhibiting this gene can therefore prevent or delay the onset of diabetic nephropathy. This has been demonstrated by an Australian-Dutch research team led by Professor Harald Schmidt from Maastricht University and Professor Karin Jandeleit-Dahm from the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. The results were recently presented during the World Diabetes Congress in Melbourne, and have been accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Diabetic nephropathy is found in people with diabetes mellitus, arising through damage to the small blood vessels throughout the body, including in the kidney filters. This kidney damage can lead to a loss of renal function and, ultimately, to the need for renal replacement therapy. The risk of cardiovascular disease is also greatly increased, and the damage to the small blood vessels has negative effects on the nerves in the body and the retina of the eye. People with diabetic nephropathy often die prematurely of heart disease. Harald Schmidt

Schema therapy best treatment for personality disorders Schema therapy - a type of psychotherapy that incorporates elements of cognitive behavioural therapy, experiential therapy and psychodynamic therapy is more effective at treating personality disorders than conventional methods. This is the conclusion of a randomised controlled trial conducted by Maastricht University researchers and published

recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry. A significantly greater proportion of patients (80%) recovered after schema therapy, compared with clarificationoriented treatment (60%) and treatment as usual (50%). The results did not differ between patients with different

personality disorders. During the follow-up measurements, the schema therapy patients showed fewer depressive disorders and higher general and social functioning. Further, fewer participants dropped out of schema therapy compared to treatment as usual, suggesting that schema therapy is more accepted as a form of treatment.

Marja van Dieijen-Visser joins hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Board of Directors Professor Marja van Dieijen-Visser was

appointed to the Board of Directors of the Maastricht academic hospital (azM) in mid-January 2014. She joins Guy Peeters (chair), Albert Scherpbier (vice chair) and Lou Brans Brabant on the board. Van Dieijen-Visser served as head of the Central Diagnostic Laboratory from 2011.

She was a general manager within the azM from 2006 until 2013, most recently of the Result Responsible Unit for Imaging and Laboratories. She has also held numerous other managerial positions at the Maastricht UMC+, including as chair of the department heads committee (Stafconvent) and chair of the Central Programme Committee.

Marja van Dieijen-Visser

Van Dieijen-Visser will continue on as professor of Clinical Chemistry at UM, specialising in research on cardiac biomarkers.

Research and society

Susan Rutten

When marriage becomes a prison By Jolien Linssen

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Till death do us partâ&#x20AC;? - or divorce, we should perhaps add to that most famous of all marriage vows. In the Netherlands, one in three marriages ends in divorce. And the Dutch government has plans to permit divorce without judicial intervention, which means - in some cases at least - separating is set to become even easier. However, the end of a civil marriage does not necessarily imply the end of its religious equivalent. This is a serious social problem for religious and migrant communities in our multicultural society, and can even lead to instances of marital captivity. 16

“It is mostly women who find themselves imprisoned in a marriage”, explains Susan Rutten, associate professor at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Law. “This means they want to get out of their marriage, but are prevented from doing so, even if a Dutch judge has granted a civil divorce.” The reason? In certain communities, religious marriage is deemed more important than civil marriage. As long as a woman is unable to annul her religious marriage, her community will continue to consider her married. The problem of marital captivity has been identified in the Netherlands in Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and Catholic groups, as well as among migrants. “For some migrant women, a divorce declared by a Dutch judge may not be acknowledged in their country of origin”, says Rutten, who received a €400,000 grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) last summer. She will use the money to coordinate her research project ‘Marital captivity: Bridging the gap between religion and law’ over the next five years. “Although the phenomenon is not new, marital captivity has only been put on the political agenda in recent years. My research group will investigate the legal policy needed to adequately address this issue.” Judge This is a challenging task. As the individuals involved rarely speak out, little is known about the extent of the problem. Nonetheless, Rutten is clear about the possible consequences of marital captivity. “Women who are tied to their religious marriage may be unable to start a new relationship or family. This can lead to social exclusion, and in more extreme cases they may be locked up in the house, left behind in their country of origin or, conversely, prevented from visiting or returning to their homeland.” In short, these women are hampered in their participation in Dutch society: a situation that calls for legal action. Judges and legislators are typically loath to interfere in religious matters. “Yet in the past we have seen some of these socalled ‘chained’ women going to court”, Rutten points out. “They were unable to dissolve their religious marriages because their husbands refused to cooperate. So they asked not for a divorce, but for their husbands to be ordered to consent to a religious divorce. And they succeeded, because the judge ruled that the men’s refusal to allow a separation was unlawful.”

Although this may sound like a straightforward procedure, reality is often far more complicated. “In such cases the judge is not only interfering with religion, but also with the marriage between two individuals. What’s more, it’s highly unusual for a judge to encourage divorce. To adequately address these dilemmas extensive research is needed, and I’m glad the NWO has given us the opportunity to do it.” Idealist A topical social problem like marital captivity cannot be scrutinised from the proverbial ivory tower. Rutten and her team will therefore collaborate with several social partners, including the Clara Wichmann Foundation, the Association for Women and Justice, and the women’s knowledge institute Atria. “In addition, professionals from migrant and refugee organisations as well as women’s shelters are keen to share their expertise”, Rutten adds. The idealist in her comes to the fore: “I’m first and foremost an academic, but from the very start of my career, I’ve felt the need to do research that is socially relevant. So it’s very rewarding to see our project being supported by a wide range of groups in society.” Five years hence, Rutten and her colleagues’ research will result in two research papers and a PhD thesis, which will also be published in the form of reports accessible for nonacademics. “It’s very important for our findings to be accessible both by social organisations and by the government”, she says. “Ultimately, our goal is to make a difference in society.”

Susan Rutten Susan Rutten (1960) studied Dutch Law at Utrecht University. She has been working as an assistant professor and senior researcher at Maastricht University’s Department of Private Law since 1991. She obtained her PhD on Moroccan succession law and Dutch private international law in 1997. Her research has since focused on the meaning of Islamic family law in the Netherlands and Western Europe, with an emphasis on human rights. She is frequently invited to lecture on this topic in the Netherlands as well as abroad

Professor-Student

“Pavlov,

does that ring a bell?” By Hans van Vinkeveen

According to ‘eating professor’ Anita Jansen, a scientist must also be a writer. Those who write clearly think clearly, she teaches her PhD candidates. And apparently, they listen: Karolien van den Akker is barely halfway through her PhD research, but has already won the Publication Prize of the journal De Psycholoog. “I can’t stand ‘authority arguments’”, says Jansen. “You know, of the sort: I’m a professor so that’s how it is.” “Even at the mere hint of a milkshake in a virtual environment, we humans start drooling”, the psychologists laugh. The interview is permeated by their infectious humour. “Pavlov, does that ring a bell?” jokes Jansen, professor of Psychology, in response to her PhD candidate’s explanation of an experiment. Van den Akker had tested participants in virtual reality: “In one environment they were given sips of milkshake; in another they got nothing. Very quickly, even just seeing the ‘milkshake environment’ made them produce saliva.” “That’s how a new eating habit is learned. It only takes a few such connections for your body to start demanding something tasty”, explains Jansen. “These are very robust learning processes that Karolien has demonstrated in the lab.” Van den Akker’s PhD research focuses on the conditioning processes involved in habitual eating; that is, eating out of habit in the absence of

hunger. This is an example of classical conditioning, “a learning process that was identified a century ago, and that sounds simple”, but is nevertheless a complex process. Jansen gives an example. “A certain environment serves as a predictor or ‘cue’ for tasty food. But some people always eat in response to this cue, while others only do sometimes. Is this a difference in learning, in particular unlearning? And what role does a previous successful or failed attempt to lose weight play in this? Karolien tries to map these learning processes.” Brainstorming They meet once a week. “That’s quite a lot for a busy professor like Anita”, says Van den Akker. “We talk about new research and ideas, and I get a lot of freedom to conduct experiments. It’s always a nice atmosphere, sitting and brainstorming together.” Jansen: “Karolien is a perfectionist. She immerses herself in the subject

matter, knows a great deal about conditioning and also knows how to apply this in our eating research.” The ‘eating professor’ sees coaching as her most important role. “I make sure she keeps going in the right direction, and I put the brakes on when needed. This or that may be interesting, but sometimes you have to put it aside for the time being. Our first goal is to solve the main problem. We’re working on a great line of research and strong papers. And it’s also important that Karolien can continue on in this way in academia.” Do they have differences of opinion now and then? They certainly do and the question promptly gives rise to a difference of opinion on the exact nature of those differences. “No, no, no”, Van den Akker exclaims in response to her supervisor’s example. “It was about whether you feel hungry simultaneously with

Karolien van den Akker and Anita Jansen

the onset of preparatory physical responses, or whether that comes afterwards.” Isn’t she intimidated by Jansen’s status? Laughing: “Anita can certainly be very persuasive. But hierarchical? Not that I’ve noticed, though I don’t know if that’s the intention or not.” “That’s the intention”, Jansen confirms. “I can’t stand ‘authority arguments’; you know, of the sort: I’m a professor so that’s how it is. I’m about good substantive arguments. My aim is that within four years Karolien should know more about conditioning than me. She’s already well on her way.” TED-genic Jansen can’t tell her PhD candidates often enough how important it is to write clearly. “A scientist has to be able to write well. It forces you to think. If you can explain a complex topic on paper, then you’ve understood it.” Jansen also sees this as a good way to sell your science. “You

have to continue to communicate ideas and explain why they’re so interesting. That said, I don’t think everything needs to be valorised. The risk is that soon enough only research with direct social relevance will receive funding. We have to allow room for research on the square centimetre by nerdy scientists who may not be able to explain it to managers and the general public. We don’t all have to be TED-genic.” Paramount for Jansen is that the content of a paper is interesting. But it also needs a clear introduction and a catchy title. It should clearly identify the problem. And it should be concise: indeed, the shorter the better. Van den Akker: “I wrote very carefully in the beginning, with lots of ‘maybes’ and ‘it could be thats’. I’ve learned this isn’t necessary in every sentence, and in pieces for a wider audience it’s just confusing.” Each text therefore goes back and forth between the two.

Jansen’s writing tip: “I always say, you should do what you think is good. It’s your article after all.”

Karolien van den Akker Karolien van den Akker (1988) is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Maastricht University. She studies the conditioning processes involved in eating behaviour, focusing on habitual eating. She also examines the interaction between learning mechanisms and dieting to figure out how people can successfully lose weight in the long term. Anita Jansen

Anita Jansen (1960) has been professor of Psychology at Maastricht University since 1999. Together with her ‘eating group’, she studies eating behaviour, eating disorders and obesity in the broadest sense: from brain activity and cognitive processes to behaviour patterns and healthcare interventions. She received a prestigious Vici grant for her research on obesity.

Portret

Frans, Ton and Jan Nijhuis

“We were adults in miniature” By Femke Kools

The three gowns - two red ones from Maastricht University and a black one from the University of Amsterdam - are lugged along in grocery bags for the photo session. It’s not often that three brothers, born into a middle-class family, all become professors. “True. But you might do better to ask why only three of the seven of us became professors”, jokes the oldest of the three. Gynaecologist Jan Nijhuis (UM), psychologist Frans Nijhuis (UM) and cultural scientist Ton Nijhuis (now UvA, but formerly of UM) talk about injustice, courage and long hair. 20

A unavoidable fixture in the lives of the Nijhuis family, and thus also for young Frans, Jan and Ton, was ‘the business’. The Eibergse Bazar, their parents’ brainchild, was a luxury brand for household items, toys, leather goods and more. At 15, Ton did the bookkeeping, and 11-year-old Jan ran the Christmas cards department. “Buying, selling, stamps; I was responsible for all of it, and every evening Father would ask how much I’d sold”, says Jan. “Another brother was in charge of the fireworks department. We were all adults in miniature. The business was everything, and for us that hasn’t changed. Your work is everything.” Mother Nijhuis The store employees were a common sight around the house, and often ate with the family. Their mother taught them not to judge. “A mason can make straight walls; I can’t”, says Jan, the gynaecologist. While their father had the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit, ‘Mother Nijhuis’ was a beacon of intelligence and tolerance. He couldn’t stand the boys’ long hair; she convinced him to let them work in the store regardless. She was a walking encyclopaedia and a safe haven, accepting everyone just as they were. In their free time, the family read widely and had constant debates. “Sometimes they got quite heated,” says Frans, “but it never led to conflicts.”

childhood by the GP’s waiting room, was always going to choose medicine. As for Frans, he doesn’t dare say why he plumped for psychology. In any event, he was the first to join Maastricht University, as a work and organisational psychologist, in 1980. Ton followed four years later, starting out at what was then the Faculty of General Studies. He was tasked with studying whether “someone should do something with history … It seemed like a good idea to me, and in the end I was able to spend two years figuring out exactly what.” The result was the programme Science and Culture Studies, the predecessor of today’s Arts and Culture degree. It was Frans who had alerted Ton to the vacancy, but otherwise there was no connection between their appointments in Maastricht. Today, Ton and Frans still see at UM the pioneering spirit they

encountered early on in their Maastricht careers. Or, as Jan puts it: “Maastricht has guts. Guts to keep on making progress, and not to sit back and think the work is done.” “Because it’s so young and remote, UM has had to prove itself again and again”, Ton adds. “But that’s what keeps it vibrant and growing; that and the fact that it’s always attracting new student groups. This is what makes it different from an established university in the Randstad.”

Baby The ‘adults in miniature’ largely raised one another. Ton was the baby of the family, taught to walk by his brothers and taken along to the pub from an early age. “He carried a lot on his shoulders, because he was pushed into work very young”, says Jan. “But as soon as he got started in discussions at the bar, he’d suck me in with this vast, detailed knowledge about anything and everything.” Ton’s brothers still call him the smartest. With three cum laude degrees (political science, history and philosophy) and a cum laude PhD, they may be right. Partly thanks to the household debates, Ton initially opted to study political science. Jan, fascinated from

Portret

Impact factor Ton left Maastricht for Amsterdam in 1999. Around the same time Jan, then working as a gynaecologist at the St Radboud Hospital in Nijmegen, got a call inviting him to become a professor at UM. “I saw it as a great new opportunity.” Although Frans and Jan both defended their PhDs in 1984, and Jan and Ton both gave their inaugural lectures in 2000, the three view these events as independent. “We didn’t push one another into academic careers”, says Frans, and adds, laughing, “We’ve never compared impact factors.” Jan explains: “Only later, when all three of us got involved with management and the like, did our career paths start to converge. And when my eldest son defended his PhD two years ago, we three were all together in the corona, which was of course a lot of fun.” Passion All three are passionate and enthusiastic about their work, which has no doubt contributed to their academic success. Frans is the listener, according to his brothers; something that also becomes clear during the interview. “He’s the psychologist, after all”, they joke. Ton is flamboyant, but a thinker: his comments during the interview are all measured and well considered. Jan, his brothers say, is a born organiser with a strong radar for injustice. He relays an anecdote about how, as a 10-year-old, he reported his teacher to the police for child abuse. “We weren’t beaten ourselves, because we were the Nijhuis boys, but I thought some of the other kids were hit far too hard and too often. I couldn’t bear it; it had to stop.” His parents were not in the loop. “Mother bumped into the teacher at church and heard that I’d turned him into the police. After I explained why, she said: You did the right thing, but next time it’d be nice if you could tell me too.” Their father died young; Mother Nijhuis survived to see Frans and Jans defend their PhDs and Frans give his inaugural lecture. Two other brothers took over the Eibergse Bazar until they retired, its closure marking the end of an era.

Frans Nijhuis Frans Nijhuis (1949) has been endowed professor of Inclusive Labour Organisation (the Atlant chair) at UM since 2010. Previously he was endowed professor of Psychology of Labour and Health (1994-2010). Jan Nijhuis Jan Nijhuis (1952) has been professor of Obstetrics at UM since 1999 and is head of the MUMC+ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Ton Nijhuis Ton Nijhuis (1958) has been professor of German Studies at the University of Amsterdam since 1999 and scientific director of Amsterdam’s Germany Institute since 2002.

COPD drug may improve memory A medication currently used for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will soon be tested by Maastricht University researchers in elderly people with memory problems. Earlier results suggest that the drug roflumilast not only relieves COPD symptoms, but also improves the memory. The research group, led by Dr Jos Prickaerts, has been on the hunt for a drug to combat memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease for some time. At present more than 250,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from dementia,

175,000 of them with Alzheimer’s. This figure is expected to double in the coming decades, making dementia the country’s costliest healthcare problem. The drugs currently available for Alzheimer’s patients inhibit progressive memory loss only temporarily. Once they stop working, the process continues unabated. Halting this process - not to mention reversing it - has so far proven impossible. Research has shown that the nerve cells and the connections between these cells break down in Alzheimer’s patients. The

drug roflumilast is thought to act on these connections, thereby strengthening the memory. Therefore, the Maastricht University Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry is set to launch a study on people aged 60 to 80 with memory problems. Participants will take either the drug or a placebo, then do a computer test. If the researchers are able to demonstrate the expected effect, the next step will be to conduct a study on actual Alzheimer’s patients. The present study is part of a joint venture with a pharmaceutical company.

Mark Post wins World Technology Award for cultured beef project

Mark Post

Maastricht University professor Mark Post received the World Technology Award for the Environment at the World Technology Award Gala in New York. The award recognises his development of the world’s first hamburger from cultured beef, which he presented to the press and public in August 2013.

The World Technology Awards are presented annually in 20 categories. Other winners included the Dutch artist/ designer Daan Roosegaarde (Arts), Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (Policy) and Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen (Media & Journalism).

Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials launched at Chemelot The Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM) was recently launched at the Chemelot Campus. At a meeting on the campus on Wednesday 6 November the initiators, Maastricht University and RWTH Aachen University, introduced the professors of the AMIBM project team and announced that the tender for the research equipment had been issued. The partnership with the Fraun-

hofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (Fraunhofer IME) in Aachen has also been further developed, and a strategic plan has been drawn up detailing the future research programmes. UM and RWTH Aachen University announced their plans to establish the AMIBM in December 2011. This institute will be Chemelot’s research hotspot for acquiring, producing, refining and

applying high-quality natural materials with new or improved properties, which

will be extracted, processed and upgraded from plants or bacteria for medical and technological applications.

Research

Alcohol consumption increases but prevention still lags behind By Loek Kusiak

Excessive alcohol consumption fosters risk behaviour and addiction. But government action is often a long time coming, observe addiction researchers Ronald Knibbe and Dike van de Mheen. Health services for alcoholics may have greatly improved, but they are no substitute for changing drinking behaviour and preventing alcoholism in the first place. And until the government takes action, researchers must stay on its case. Excessive drinking among young people takes its toll in the form of fatal traffic accidents, aggression and public nuisance. As of 2014, the legal age for buying alcohol in the Netherlands has increased from 16 to 18. “And rightly so. Five to seven years ago that was unthinkable. Scientists were laughed at; policymakers refused to take us seriously”, says Knibbe. “You have to keep on hammering away with your message.” Research on addiction prevention benefits health and ultimately saves lives. This is the shared conviction of Knibbe, emeritus professor of Social Epidemiology of Alcohol and Drug Use at Maastricht University, and his successor Van de Mheen, endowed professor of Healthcare and Preven-

tion of Risk Behaviour and Addiction. “Young people already known to the youth services are extremely vulnerable to substance abuse”, says Van de Mheen. “This is an underestimated problem, although that’s not to say these young people will necessarily become addicted. Today we no longer view addiction as a behavioural problem, but rather a brain disease.” Self-control Substance abuse and addiction, according to Knibbe, have been problems throughout history. “In 1880 people drank a lot, and in 1980 too. You also saw a lot of heroin addicts on the streets in the eighties, a problem that has decreased dramatically thanks to better addic-

tion care. Now we have new drugs,

like ecstasy and cocaine. What’s more, the average alcohol consumption tripled between 1960 and 1980, for both men and women. One in ten people aged 16 to 70 drinks too much and has problems with alcohol abuse. The better educated drink wine, while young people opt for beer or breezers, sometimes very early on.” Alcohol abuse and binge drinking often arise through group behaviour. Yet research shows that lecturing young people about drinking for the ‘wrong’ reasons has little effect. “Instead, we have to promote selfcontrol among young people, and social control via parents, teachers and associations”, says Knibbe. “The ban on serving drinks to intoxicated

Ronald Knibbe and Dike van de Mheen

people also has to be enforced. Many fights were fought over this ban until it finally came into effect.” Active commitment “Influencing the behaviour of substance abusers requires patience”, says Van de Mheen. “But it can be achieved, in combination with the appropriate legal measures. Compare it with smoking. The smoking ban in the hospitality industry took forever to come into effect. But afterwards, many people quit smoking. Increasing the legal drinking age to 18 is also a major societal change, but one that’s now accepted. Early closing times for bars and clubs reduces alcohol consumption even further. All this knowledge we now have, we must dare to implement as a society.” This, Van de Mheen emphasises, will require still more commitment and involvement from governments, schools, police and social workers, based on sound insight into the lives and experiences of vulnerable young people. “There are already examples of successful healthcare interventions, including just meeting with young people to discuss their alcohol or cannabis use. For older people - the silent drinkers - GPs have programmes that help them to identify problems before it’s too late. And online self-help, where people can test whether they’re developing an addiction, can prompt

them to seek help sooner. There’s still a long way to go, but good collaborative initiatives have already been set in motion in youth care, education and neighbourhood addiction prevention. Youth care and addiction care were once viewed separately, but now these sectors work together more often.” Knibbe: “Thanks to insights acquired through scientific research, the past decades have seen a big push for professionalisation.”

Health benefits The government should spend more on prevention, according to Van de Mheen. Of the total healthcare budget, less than 5% is earmarked for prevention. “It’s foolish to cut that even further. You have to start with prevention during primary school to see real health benefits and lower school dropout rates.” “Governments and health agencies are often unwilling to take on board scientists’ recommendations for preventing substance abuse. This can be frustrating”, reflects Knibbe, a veteran of 30 years of research. “I’ve often said to policymakers: You could prevent so much, but you don’t. So you should feel guilty about the consequences.” Van de Mheen: “Policy decisions are only marginally based on scientific arguments. You have to continue to report on your findings, say it a thousand times.”

“Indeed”, agrees Knibbe. “Measures

to prevent substance abuse and influence behaviour pay off, and at the same time we shouldn’t bully and judge users. These are messages we have to keep on putting out there.”

Dike van de Mheen Dike van de Mheen (1963) studied Health Sciences at UM, where she is now endowed professor of Healthcare and Prevention of Risk Behaviour and Addiction. She is also director of the IVO, the national research institute for addiction problems (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, hard drugs, etc.) and endowed professor of Addiction Research in the Department of Public Health at the Erasmus Medical Centre. Ronald Knibbe Ronald Knibbe (1947) started his research career in Maastricht in 1979. He remained at UM until his retirement in June 2012, from 2000 as professor of Social Epidemiology of Alcohol and Drug Use. His addiction research focuses on the Netherlands as well as other European countries.

Publication

Peter Peters

Schönberg’s loss By Annelotte Huiskes

Groningen, early 1980s. The sociology student Peter Peters - now a lecturer at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - attends a performance of modern classical music for the first time. The Schönberg Ensemble performs chamber music by Anton Webern, conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw. It is a revelation; Peters is deeply moved by the intensity of the performance. A few years later he meets De Leeuw, a veritable ambassador of contemporary classical music, in the flesh. Many meetings later, Peters would write the musical biography Klankwerelden. De twintigste eeuw van Reinbert de Leeuw (‘Sound worlds: The 20th century of Reinbert de Leeuw’), which was published for the conductor’s 75th birthday. Peter Peters has been interested in music since childhood, playing piano from the age of 10. He considered studying at the conservatory of music, but eventually opted for sociology in Groningen. “I wasn’t good

enough, and my piano teacher at the time said: ‘You have broader interests, you won’t be happy there.’ She was right, but music has always remained important for me, as a music journalist writing for the NRC and NOS,

and even as a cultural studies lecturer here. For example, I now give lectures on music and memory. Maastricht also has an incredibly inspiring musical environment that brings together amateurs and professionals. In this faculty alone you have all sorts of people who make music. I sing in a choir with three of my colleagues. And I’m playing the piano a lot again, as well as the organ. With no pretentions, but with pleasure. Last December I performed with the Schütz Monteverdi Consort in Maastricht and Roermond.” In the mind of the composer Although Peters himself mainly plays older music, he still thinks the modern classical repertoire has a lot to offer. “Twentieth century music is very exciting and often difficult to perform. It calls for enormous technique, and musicians really have to surrender to the music, as Reinbert de Leeuw and his Schönberg Ensemble did. They performed with great inspiration a lot of music that had never been played before. De Leeuw actually sought collaboration with contemporary composers such as Ligeti, Kagel, Cage, Louis Andriessen and

many others. This was out of the ordinary, because most conductors prefer to perform their own interpretations. Not De Leeuw: he wanted to get to the bottom of the composer’s intentions. That gave rise to fascinating meetings and truly special performances. I chronicle that unique performance practice in the book, and I hope it invites readers to go and listen to the music.”

Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Wagner and Mahler - new worlds of sound open up, and at the same time, the wonderful world of harmony is lost. But according to De Leeuw, Schönberg himself also saw atonality as a loss that he struggled with his entire life. All 20th century composers face this problem: how can they still be understood in this new language?” Cutbacks Relinquishing tonality gave rise to new types of music and even orchestras. As symphony orchestras could no longer cope with the musical language of contemporary composers, ensemble culture took root. De Leeuw spurred on the development and popularity of ensemble culture in the Netherlands and managed to find an audience for contemporary classical music. “He initiated me into this type of music, and many others with me. People from all over the world made their way to the Netherlands”, explains Peters. “But it’s ensembles like the Asko/Schönberg Ensemble that suffered massive blows in the recent cutbacks. ‘After Mahler things get complicated, there’s no audience for that’, so the reasoning goes. So everything that De Leeuw and others carefully built up is being torn down again. That’s a real problem, because it means a lot of music will be lost. It’s as if you were to say: Amsterdam doesn’t need the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum has enough art.”

Sound worlds is based on a series of seminars, chaired by Peters, that De Leeuw gave for Leiden students between 2007 and 2009. “During the workshops, De Leeuw explains his views on how the music should be performed. The workshops were recorded and I edited them. You could see it as a sort of stylised monologue.” Musical language Contemporary music is complicated not only for the performers; the audience, too, often finds it difficult and inaccessible. According to De Leeuw, over the years composer and audience have grown apart. Until well into the 19th century, music was typically composed in a language that everyone recognised: the tonal system. Composition and performance were closely related, and usually united in the same person. The turning point for 20th century music was embodied in Arnold Schönberg. He turned his back on the tonal system, and headed into a sort of no man’s land where anything was possible. Just as Malevich’s black square shook the very foundations of the art world, so too did Schönberg’s music. “The loss of tonality pioneered by Schönberg has two consequences. Because there’s no longer a universal musical grammar that everyone understands - think of the music of

Peter Peters Peter Peters (1960) is assistant professor at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He has published on music, time, mobility and travel in technological culture. He was lector of the Faculty of Arts at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences from 2008 to 2013. ‘Klankwerelden. De twintigste eeuw van Reinbert de Leeuw’ was published by Leiden University Press.

International

‘Civilising’ Africa

with prefab architecture By Hans van Vinkeveen

Modern architecture was brought to Africa in the 20th century to ‘civilise’ this ‘underdeveloped’ continent. It was primarily a manifestation of (failed) colonialism. In his PhD dissertation, Maastricht University (UM) researcher Christoph Rausch spotlights the heated debate over modern heritage in Africa. What should be preserved? And would you really want to preserve ‘innovative’ architecture that is now well and truly outdated? plan: to fabricate these buildings on a large scale in France and transport them to the colonies. In the end, only three prototypes were ever produced.

On the cover of Rausch’s dissertation, an image shows an empty foundation surrounded by straw huts. This is Niamey, the capital of Niger, West Africa. Conspicuously absent is a prototype of the Maisons Tropicales, prefabricated bungalows designed by the French architect Jean Prouvé in the late 1940s. These were lightweight, aluminium constructions, built from separate modules that were easy to take apart and transport. An inventive natural cooling system made them suitable for the tropical climate. The

The Maisons Tropicales are a prime example of modernistic ideas of architecture, Rausch explains. Modern architects wanted to create buildings that would transcend cultural differences and function all over the world. Standardisation and efficiency as the solution to social problems, as it were: “Prouvé’s prototypes were hailed as an effective way of pulling Africa out of its state of underdevelopment.” Fifty years later, all that remains is an empty foundation. The prototypes, today worth several million dollars each, are exhibited in Western museums and admired as icons of industrial modernism. Maisons Coloniales The Maisons Tropicales were primarily a manifestation of colonialism, with innovative architecture that was considered superior to indigenous constructions. Prouvé himself called his tropical houses Maisons Coloniales.

He also designed other buildings using the same construction system: prefabricated school buildings were to civilise the natives, and a courthouse would enforce the colonial laws. “His system of prefabricated architecture is a symbol of modern colonialism”, Rausch explains. “As such, it’s a modern project that is archetypal for the architecture of the 20th century. A colonial project, which ultimately failed. To the local population, the prototypes were frightening, alien objects.” In the early 2000s, the Maisons Tropicales were removed from Africa and put on display in international art exhibitions. The heritage movement protested vigorously, but in vain. As UNESCO saw it, the colonial buildings were modern heritage that had to be restored on site, in their historical and (post-)colonial context. Ironically, according to Rausch, UNESCO’s attitude stemmed from a universal belief in ‘progress’ that differed little from that of the modernistic architects: “UNESCO claimed that putting modern architecture on the World Heritage List would bring about progress and

Christoph Rausch

reduce poverty, for example thanks to tourism. This was reminiscent of what had happened earlier, in 19th century colonial Africa. People wanted to discover and civilise the continent all over again, but this time through the idea of modern heritage.” African culture Based on three field studies, including one on the Maisons Tropicales, Rausch reveals the clash of opinions in the debate on modern heritage. The debate mainly focuses on what this means in Africa. Who defines modern heritage, and what is the objective in preserving it? “On the one hand, you have the experts who consider modern architecture in Africa to be colonial heritage. And on the other are the advocates of ‘African’ culture, who feel that what they built in the same era is also modern and worth preserving.” The outcome of this ideological struggle remains undecided. An intriguing question colours the background to this topic. Why should you want to preserve modern architecture like the Maisons Tropicales at

all? “The ‘modern’ in modern architecture stood for new and progressive. People were breaking with tradition and with the past. If a building lost its function, it had to go. The irony is that this was hindered by the heritage movement, which had emerged in opposition to modern architects for the conservation of old architecture. They believed that outdated modernistic buildings had to be saved from demolition too: ‘Stop, this is also valuable, let’s keep it’, was their attitude.” And so the previously opposing values of modernity and heritage - demolition versus preservation - melt together into the idea of modern heritage. Failed modernism Ultimately, the debate on the Maisons Tropicales raises a fundamental problem. Prouvé’s houses did not bring about the envisioned social changes. They were not accepted in Africa and thus did not prove to be an expression of a universal culture. Moreover, they were part of the failed experiment of colonialism. In short, the modernistic project failed. Should we not therefore reject the notion that modernity

stands for progress and development? Rausch concludes that in defining modern heritage, we need to develop a different understanding of the present; one in which everything, including the one-sided concept of modernity, is subject to change. “The question that ultimately remains is: how can you identify and preserve a modern heritage about which there are multiple, divergent stories, which themselves constantly change in meaning over time? That is my dissertation in a nutshell.”

Christoph Rausch Christoph Rausch (1981) is a humanities lecturer at University College Maastricht. He was a visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2011. His work focuses on cultural heritage practices in a globalising world and the practices governing the contemporary art world. His dissertation, ‘Rescuing modernity: Global heritage assemblages and modern architecture in Africa’, is based on multi-sited anthropological fieldwork.

Off the job

Thomas Cleij

A porcelain vase for a regiment By Annelotte Huiskes

During his PhD in chemistry in Utrecht, Thomas Cleij could only process his research data in the lab at night; by day, the equipment was being used. That meant killing time until the data had been processed. Out of boredom, he would surf the internet. In 1997 that was a lesser beast than it is today. Amazon and Ebay were still in their infancy - and for Cleij, that was no bad thing. He became one of the first sellers of antique Chinese and Japanese porcelain on the internet.

“I was in the lowest price range, between fifty and a thousand euros. My wife Jennifer and I would buy the porcelain at auctions in the Netherlands and send it all over the world. With this I was more than able to finance my PhD. We took photos of thousands of pieces of porcelain against the backdrop of a blue sheet in the small park next to our house in Utrecht. Digital photography hadn’t been invented yet, so it was quite time consuming. But because so many pieces passed through our hands, we learned a great deal.” As dean of the Maastricht Science Programme, these days he has little time for the business. But if he sees something nice, he buys it for himself. Last week, at the Maastricht auction house Dickhaut, he snapped up a special Japanese plate for just €30. “It was on display as a 20th century Chinese plate. I let them know it was Japanese, from the 18th century. I often advise them in that way. Thirty euros is a good price.” Dutch cultural heritage In the Japanese and Chinese porcelain trade, swindling is rife. “I’d guess that 80% of the items sold online today are fakes, and that’s a conservative estimate. Many people can’t tell the difference, but I find it easy. That was also part of our success: we only sold the real thing. China only started making highquality copies in the last 10 years; until then the fakes were really obvious.” Downstairs in the living room, the most beautiful pieces are on display in cabinets; upstairs are the pieces they have bought on sale over the years and will part with for a good price. Lovingly, he picks up a small plate with a finely painted scene and holds it up to the light. “Look how beautiful it is. It’s translucent, so thin - something like this can only be made in China.” Cleij grew up around porcelain. His parents sold antiques as a hobby. Interested in porcelain and stoneware since childhood, as a teenager he found himself intrigued by archaeology. During excavations, he would be called in as a specialist to identify shards. Later, he opted to trade in 17 th and 18th century

Honeymoon Cleij and his wife went to Japan on their honeymoon. Naturally, they headed for the region where porcelain used to be made; the city of Imari, for example, which still has a thriving porcelain industry. Only some contemporary Japanese porcelain came home with them. “Still, it’s quite an art to get 15 pieces of porcelain on a plane”, he laughs. China and Japan, as it turns out, are not the places to be for antique porcelain hunters. “The Dutch took everything away in the 17 th and 18th centuries. In China, porcelain was the exclusive

domain of the imperial court and the top officials; the working class had no claim to it. The rest was made to export, the main buyer being the Netherlands. So any ‘antique’ porcelain you’ll find in China today is fake, or at least is no older than the 19th century. The same goes for Japan; there, too, it was an export product used to bring foreign products into the country. But the Japanese began buying their porcelain back much earlier, peaking in the 1980s. So in Japan, you now have museums where you can see lovely antique porcelain. The Chinese were then still too poor; they’re just getting started now.” Fashion Like most things, the porcelain trade is subject to fashions. When Cleij and his wife started out, buyers were mainly interested in Chinese, rather than Japanese, porcelain. “So our own collection started with leftover Japanese porcelain that we couldn’t shift.” These days he is less a seller than he is a collector and specialist in Chinese and Japanese porcelain. “I just think it’s beautifully made, and there are often great stories behind the pieces. For example, I have a plate from the collection of August the Strong, a prince from Dresden who was one of the earliest porcelain collectors. His pieces all have a particular mark on the bottom; that’s how you can recognise his collection. August would have traded part of his regiment for a couple of porcelain vases, so the story goes. His collection is now one of the most famous in the world, so it’s just fantastic to stumble across any of it.”

Chinese and Japanese porcelain because it was lucrative. “Back then you could buy it cheaply in the Netherlands and there was an international market for it. It’s Dutch cultural heritage; we used to be the main trading partner of China and Japan. All that crockery was shipped here by the Dutch East India Company, which is why by far the most can be found in the Netherlands. Although there’s also some in England; the English also did a lot of sailing in the area.”

Armand Lumens

Alum and Shell executive

Armand Lumens scouts talent in Maastricht By Jos Cortenraad

Armand Lumens studied international management in Maastricht University’s early years. Back then, Problem-Based Learning was brand new, an unknown entity, and he and his fellow students were pioneers. “My teachers were young and passionate; I learned to solve problems and to work with others.” As it turns out, his time at UM kicked off a fantastic career: the Limburg native is now a top executive at Shell. Chief Internal Auditor and Executive Vice President of Risk Management, reads his visiting card. It sounds important. “It’s certainly a very special

job”, Lumens smiles. “I manage a team of more than 200 specialists who assess the risks that Shell runs worldwide, what our weaknesses are and

how the company deals with them. Are we vulnerable to a cyber-attack? What financial risks do our projects face? Are our investments sound?

Visit us at www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni

How risky is it, drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic? Nothing is sacred, because a company like Shell cannot allow an oil disaster or a financial scandal. Society won’t accept that, to say nothing of our shareholders. My role is very independent; I advise the board and report to the Board Audit Committee on risk measures and strategy.” Thorn Lumens calls himself a thorn in Shell’s side. “Shell carries a huge amount of responsibility. It has more than 100,000 employees, and is a sizeable economic force: its turnover is sometimes higher than the gross national product of the countries it operates in. Projects for gas and oil extraction can last 20 or 30 years. And every year, Shell invests some 30 billion in new projects. You cannot and should not leave anything to chance. An oil spill, like the one BP had a few years ago, could destroy the company. Risk management and auditing are therefore of the utmost importance.” Lumens may enjoy a great deal of autonomy in his job, but it is clear the company has his full support - and has done for more than 20 years. He found himself at Shell through an international internship programme and never left. “I’ve had every opportunity. I’ve worked in the oil trade, retail and acquisition of small and large petrol station chains and gas companies in Rotterdam, in Paris and across Europe. The best job was constructing a gas plant in Bulgaria. It wasn’t easy, but within three years the plant was up and running and we were breaking even.” Growing up in Landgraaf, he never imagined taking on the role of con-

struction boss. “No, I studied finance. But at Shell that’s not all that matters. They like testing people, finding out what you’re good at. After Bulgaria I moved on to improving supply chains, specifically establishing alliances. Collaborating with other parties is vital for Shell, even with competitors like Exxon, BP and governments. Shell has the technology and the expertise; countries have the gas and the oil. Oil corporations are indispensable when it comes to acquiring and exploiting raw materials in a responsible manner. We need each other in the world.” Ladder In recent years Lumens has been climbing the Shell ladder, solving the ‘reserve crisis’ and overseeing the merger between Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Transport. Where his rise will end, he dares not say. “CFO? Who knows, there are plenty of possibilities, but it depends on so many factors. What I do know is that, right now, I have a fantastic job that allows me to see the whole world. Shell is very innovative, technology driven. We’re constantly seeking new frontiers with better exploration and extraction methods. In the Arctic we now have hundreds of people, 23 ships and several aircraft. Sure, oil is finite. But the reserves will certainly see us through the coming 100 years. There’s so much gas and oil in the seabed in Africa and South America. And no matter what the outside world may say, we cherish the environment. Risk management, remember?” Lumens found himself at Maastricht University more or less by accident. “At that time you still had to be placed in a particular city. Rotterdam and Groningen were my preferences, but I was given Maastricht. In hindsight,

that was lucky. We were pioneers; Problem-Based Learning was really right for me. And we had those young, passionate teachers, who are now at the top of their games: Luc Soete, Steven Majoor, Jan van de Poel, Laurie Bollen, Geert Hofstede. I learnt such a lot; the international approach especially appealed to me. That’s what makes UM so special. I also had a lot of fun. I come back often and am always amazed how much of the old town survives. The brown cafes, the restaurants. I live near Geneva now, but I consider Maastricht home.” Scouting There is a concrete element to Lumens’s love of Maastricht and its university. As head of Shell’s UM alumni team, he regularly visits the city to give guest lectures and to scout talent for his employer. “Shell has an average of 3000 vacancies. We recruit staff from all over the world, but I always pay special attention to people from UM. The launch of the new science programmes in chemistry is an excellent development: research in biomaterials is very interesting to us.”

Armand Lumens Armand Lumens (1968) studied International Management, specialising in accounting and finance, at UM from 1987 to 1993. He obtained his master’s in Finance in London in 2006. Alongside his work at Shell, he is a security adviser to the Dutch police force and chair of the audit committee of the Waterland Hospital in Purmerend.

Living the international dream, locally By Hanna McLean

Landing a job is tricky these days, especially for young university graduates. Still, you shouldn’t give up on your dreams: in life’s very unpredictability, you may find your path. Alinde Verhaag, head of case analysis at Eurojust in The Hague, is the perfect example. After heading to Maastricht in 1989 to study French and Spanish, Verhaag soon realised something was missing. “Languages were nice, but not as a career”, she recalls. “I decided to do law instead, and got my degree in law and European studies. The exchange programme appealed to me, and was part of why I stayed.” Fresh start Like many new graduates, she fought to find a job in an organisation she was passionate about. “I didn’t want to work in a law firm. I wanted to work for the UN, but it’s hard to find a position there straight out of university.” Verhaag landed on her feet: she was offered an internship at the UN in Geneva, and then in The Hague at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. “My studies prepared me well because they gave me a sound foundation.” Still, she needed certain practical skills: “Life is more pragmatic than in books. You can rely on learned knowledge, but you also have to consider things pragmatically.” Working in an international environment proved tough initially, but Verhaag knew she was in the right place. “There’s always something you can’t prepare for. Even if you study in an international city like Maastricht, you still need to learn hard lessons to prepare for multiculturalism

in a global setting. As a Dutch person, I needed to become more culturally sensitive.” From the courtroom to Kosovo Following her internships, Verhaag was hooked. Still, she wanted to go further. “I was keen to get out of the courtroom, so I went to Kosovo, where I worked as head of the Human Rights Division in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.” Verhaag’s time in Kosovo proved trying. After a year, with all that was going on around her, she realised how important family and friends were. “It was difficult to work in Kosovo immediately following the conflict. You’re trying to defend human rights in a place that has been torn apart by a war fuelled by the intolerance of different ethnic groups towards one another.” To this day, Verhaag carries vivid memories of her time on the ground. “I remember a school teacher in his 70s who couldn’t leave his house because he was the only Serb in his town. My team developed courses on human rights for the local school and taught people how to monitor trials to ensure due process”, she recalls. “At night there was a curfew, and on many occasions I could hear gunshots. The power was usually out at night and the temperature in my house never rose above 15 degrees Celsius.”

Visit us at www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/alumni

Welcome to Eurojust Following this intense period of fieldwork, Verhaag returned to the Netherlands to try her hand in a national environment. It didn’t quite work out. “It wasn’t always easy for my coworkers to relate to my unusual background. I think once you work in an international environment, the way back is extremely difficult. It was also a challenge to have to deal with the complaints by citizens against the police and judicial authorities; I couldn’t help but feel that in comparison to Kosovo, people have no idea what a good life they lead in the Netherlands.” Verhaag began looking elsewhere, and stumbled across Eurojust. “I finally got the chance to work in an international environment in my own country! It’s an exciting job.” Today, she heads a team of 20 people from all over Europe. Needless to say, her days are busy. “Eurojust supports the judicial authorities of the EU member states in their cross-border investigations for prosecutions. My team and I ensure that these national representatives and the ‘desks’ that support them work together smoothly. It’s diverse and flexibility is a must.” Leading such a team must be difficult, but for Verhaag it seems to be second nature. “It’s easier to deal with people from different cultures because I’ve grown accustomed to understanding where they come from. My colleagues see the quality of my work and are prepared to follow. It all flows quite smoothly.” “Of course, it’s also hard”, she continues. “I always need to be aware that my colleagues are not in their home country and need more time to deal with life in The Hague. They sometimes have difficulties with Dutch culture because it’s not what they’re used to. So me being Dutch and relatively direct can sometimes create an issue.” As long as she feels challenged, however, Verhaag is staying put. “I certainly see myself here for another five years, maybe more”, she says. “But it’s important to keep learning. Once you stop learning, you have to move on.”

Alinde Verhaag

Alinde Verhaag Alinde Verhaag (1970) is the head of Eurojust’s Case Analysis Unit. She previously worked as an analyst at Eurojust, and from 2002 to 2006 as a legal researcher at the Dutch National Ombudsman. She graduated from Maastricht University in 1995.

University Fund

Limburg Fund for Rehabilitation established

The Limburg Fund for Rehabilitation was launched last December, instigated by the regional reintegration services provider Adelante and operating under the auspices of the Limburg University Fund/SWOL. Its objective is to support and promote rehabilitation research and education, especially in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. The fund will also foster interaction between UM and practitioners in the rehabilitation sector. To this end, a key focus will be on collaboration between the university’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Adelante’s knowledge centre, which specialises in adult rehabilitation and work reintegration, child rehabilitation, audiology and communication. The fund will achieve its objectives by raising funds from third parties for research and education projects. Commercial partners are invited to contribute financial support for special projects.

The fund’s expenditure will be assessed by an advisory board composed of R.J.E.M. Smeets, professor of rehabilitation medicine at Maastricht University; T.C.M. Joosten, manager of the Adelante knowledge centre; and J.M.P. Essers, Adelante board of directors. “Adelante, the university and the department have been collaborating for years to bring rehabilitation to a higher level”, says Joosten. “The launch of this fund is therefore a logical step and underlines our joint ambitions and our intention to further intensify this cooperation.”

Support for locked-in patients Professor Rainer Goebel and Dr Bettina Sorger have developed methods for brain-directed communication based on neuron activation. Before they can be used with patients, these communication techniques must first be improved. One possibility for improvement is the use of ultra-strong MRI scanners, of 7 or even 9.4 Tesla. These scanners are extremely sensitive and can measure brain activity to a high degree of accuracy. The results of this research will have a major impact

on the development of alternative means of communication for patients with locked-in syndrome. The Limburg University Fund brought the researchers from the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience together with the Zabawas (Zanen Bakker Wassenaar) Foundation, which has now donated €45,000 to this ambitious project. Projects supported by Zabawas, which is financed through donated family capital, are required to be of benefit to Dutch society.

Nerdalize wins entrepreneurship prize by University Fund Limburg Data centres are expensive: the building, cooling and infrastructure of data centres account for more than half their total costs. Servers generate a lot of heat, which is regarded as a waste product. Nerdalize, a startup company launched by Maastricht University alumni, puts this heat to good use by warming homes with it, and cuts costs by using homes as data centres. For this cheap, innovative, creative and above all sustainable concept, the young entrepreneurs won the Local Hero 2013 award last November.

The jury, consisting of professionals, entrepreneurs and alumni, had high

praise for both their business plan and for markets, for example Norway (which their video pitch and live presentation. is famous for being “green”). The award, worth €10,000 in seed capital, is an initiative of the Limburg University Fund/SWOL to stimulate entrepreneurship among UM students. Nerdalize will spend its prize money wisely on patent applications, product development and investment in new

This was the second time the Local

Hero has been awarded. The ceremony took place during the Global Week for Entrepreneurship, organised by the Limburg University Fund and the Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship (MC4E).

Honour to whom honour is due An independent committee will dedicate a memorial to Dr Sjeng Tans. On 9 January 2016, the 40th anniversary of the university, the committee will unveil a work of art memorialising “our man in Maastricht”. Tans played a crucial role in the foundation and development of Maastricht University as a lobbyist and politician, as UM’s initiator and inspiration, and finally as its first president.

Local and regional partners are invited to jointly fund the artwork. The Maastricht city council and Maastricht University have already contributed €25,000 and €20,000, respectively. To lend further support to the initiative, the Dr Sjeng Tans 2016 Foundation has been established under the auspices of the Limburg University Fund.

If you would like to support this special fund, please transfer your contribution (with the reference ‘Fonds Dr. Sjeng Tans 2016’) to the Limburg University Fund/SWOL, account number 65.36.63.242. For more information, please visit www.ufl-swol.nl

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.

Reappointment of FHML dean and vice dean Albert Scherpbier

Nanne de Vries

The Executive Board has reappointed professors Albert Scherpbier and Nanne de Vries as dean and vice dean, respectively, of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. Their appointments are effective as of 1 January 2014 for a period of four years. Scherpbier, professor of Quality Promotion in Medical Education, has been

dean of the FHML since 1 May 2011. Prior to his appointment as dean, he served as scientific director of the FHML Institute for Education and as the faculty’s dean of education. De Vries, professor of Health Education, has been vice dean of the FHML since 15 May 2012 and previously chaired the Department of Health Promotion.

Breakthrough in fundamental heart failure research Scientists from Maastricht University discovered an important fundamental process in the hearts of patients with advanced heart failure, allowing for a better understanding of how this disease develops. In previous research, genes that play a role in the development of an embryonic heart were found to be sporadically activated in the failing

heart. UM’s Professor Leon de Windt and Dr Paula da Costa Martins led an international team of researchers that demonstrated which protein (transcription factor) is responsible for this undesirable process. The finding was published in the leading journal Nature Cell Biology.

This research is of a fundamental nature; according to De Windt, therefore, the discovery cannot be directly applied in patient care. “But to develop new drugs or treatments for heart failure, which are sorely needed, you first have to understand the underlying mechanisms that cause the disease.”

Prestigious award for UM research on green real estate The Maastricht University researchers Piet Eichholtz, Nils Kok and Erkan Yonder won the 2013 FIR-PRI Award for Best Research Article for their article ‘Portfolio greenness and the financial performance of REITs’. On Wednesday 13 November Yonder, a PhD candidate, accepted the award on behalf of the team during a ceremony at the French Social Investment Forum (FIR) in Paris. It is the fourth time UM researchers

have brought home this prestigious award. “This underlines our leading position in the field of sustainability and financial markets”, says Eichholtz. The study examines the effects of the sustainability of commercial real estate on the business performance of REITs (real estate investment trusts) in the United States. Eichholtz, Kok and Yonder shed light on the net benefits

of green buildings in the real estate portfolios of investment funds. Eichholtz: “This is the first article that shows that sustainability leads to better financial results from real estate portfolios. This result is therefore extremely important for institutional investors around the world.”

Content

Further 04 Leading in Learning - Two economics master’s in 18 months 06 University professor - Peter Peters: Reading a paper on the moon

Professor-Student

Alum Armand Lumens

34 Alumni - Alinde Verhaag: Living the international dream, locally 36 University Fund - Limburg Fund for Rehabilitation established - News News 9, 15, 23 and 38

Profile

Colophon

Education and research at Maastricht

• Maastricht Centre for Human Rights

University is organised primarily on the

• Maastricht Centre for Taxation (MCT)

Chief Editor: Annelotte Huiskes

basis of faculties, schools and institutes.

• Maastricht European Private Law

Editorial Board: Luc Soete (President),

Institute (MEPLI)

Marja van Dieijen-Visser, Diana Dolmans,

• The Maastricht Forensic Institute (tMFI)

Fons Elbersen, Roy Erkens, Arvid Hoffmann,

• Maastricht Graduate School of Law

Jos Kievits, Madelon Peters, Hildegard Schneider,

• Montesquieu Institute Maastricht

Sophie Vanhoonacker, Fancy van de Vorst.

School of Business and Economics

Print:

• Graduate School of Business and

Pietermans Drukkerij, Lanaken (B)

Economics (GSBE) • Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) • Network Social Innovation (NSI)

Maastricht University magazine is published in February, June and October. It is sent on demand to UM alumni and to external relations.

• Limburg Institute of Financial Economics (LIFE) • The Maastricht Academic Centre for Research in Services (MAXX) • Accounting, Auditing & Information Management Research Centre (MARC)

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

• European Centre for Corporate Engagement (ECCE) • United Nations University - Maastricht

Cover: Peter Peters rides his tractor from his father’s farm to his grandfather’s farm in Hunsel,

Faculty of Law

Economic Research Institute on Inno-

Limburg.

• Institute for Globalisation and

vation and Technology (UNU-MERIT),

With special thanks to Jean-Pierre Pilet.

Foundation • Social Innovation for Competitiveness,

ISSN: 2210-5212

Organisational Performance and human Excellence (NSCOPE) • Marketing-Finance Research Lab

webmagazine.maastrichtuniversity.nl

magazine 01/February 2014

www.maastrichtuniversity.nl

About education and research at Maastricht University

Nanobiologist

Peter Peters becomes the first university professor in Maastricht - p6

Maastricht University:

a love story

Farewell interview with vice president André Postema - p10

man’s world – long

It’s a but not for

Discussion on gender and science - p12