Delta 21 by Delta en Delft Integraal/Delft Outlook

DELTA 21 JULY 6 2015

Independent magazine Peter Russel:

‘I am honoured by this appointment’ Love

Dating a Dutchie Exchange students

What resources are available

TU Delft Alumni in the Netherlands

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

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TU Delft

8 Delta Nr. 21

July 6

2015

“Anurag Bhattacharya works as an Architect and Parametric Design Specialist. The first idea was to photograph him in front of a building he has been working on, but the construction of those buildings is still in the very early stages. So we decided to use a rendering instead.” (rendering © ZJA Zwarts & Jansma Architects ) (Photo: Sam Rentmeester)

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COLOPHON

Delta is the independent newspaper of TU Delft.

Editorial staff Frank Nuijens (editor-in-chief) - @franknu, Katja Wijnands - @kwijnands, Dorine van Gorp - @dorinevangorp, Heather Montague, Molly Quell - @mollyrene, Saskia Bonger - @ sbonger, Tomas van Dijk @tomasvd, Connie van Uffelen @connievanu, Jos Wassink @joswashere Contributors Saskia Bonger, Ailie Conor Anne Blair Gould, Auke Herrema Job Hogewoning, John Mahnen Folkert van der Meulen Bosma Heather Montague, Robin Pascoe Damini Purkayastha, Connie van Uffelen, Caroline Vermeulen Marco Villares, Photos Marcel Krijger, Sam Rentmeester

Magazine concept and design Maters & Hermsen, Leiden Lay out Liesbeth van Dam, Saskia de Been Address Universiteits-bibliotheek, Prometheusplein 1, 2628 ZC Delft, 015 278 4848, delta@tudelft.nl Advertisements H&J Uitgevers, 010 451 5510, delta@ henjuitgevers.nl Printer Mediacenter Rotterdam Distribution 8,000 Year 47 ISSN 2213-8838 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter on the website. More information at: www.delta.tudelft.nl/colofon

COVER

INTERVIEW

TU DELFT ALUMNI

PETER RUSSEL

Dutch universities recruit plenty of international students, but what happens to them after they graduate? The Dutch government wants more of them to stay. We talk to five who have.

The new Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment is Canadian and the first non-Dutch dean at the university. Right now, he’s in sponge-mode and is trying to take in all he can.

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28 REPORTING

ENGLISH PAGES

LOVE

EXCHANGE STUDENTS

It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t an unfamiliar story. An international moves to the Netherlands and falls in love with a local. Or they meet on holiday and eventually relocate here. What does it take to make those relationships work?

The university hosts a variety of exchange students throughout the year and for varying degrees of time. Some university resources are available to these students and some are not.

Delta 1 is published on Monday, August 31, 2015

MORE COLUMN NEWS MASTER SPORTS PARTY SPOTTERS SURVIVAL GUIDE WHAT'S HIDING IN DELFT

04 06 15 16 17 30 32

OPINIONMOLLYQUELLNATIVEENGLISHSPEAKER

Delta I often like to joke to my colleagues that my only qualification for my job is to be a native English speaker. While I mean it in jest, it is the true. The top requirement for the job as International Editor for Delta was to have nativelevel fluency in English. My skillset is one of many required by a university as large and as diverse as TU Delft. With an institution of this size, resources abound. Unfortunately, the downside to working for an institution of this size is that very often, as we say in English, the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. It’s not a criticism of TU Delft per se as nearly every large organisation I’ve ever worked for has had a similar problem. My colleagues and I are often unaware of many of the boundless resources offered by the university and our colleagues who work in it. A few years ago, at an after work borrel, a colleague from IDE mentioned that she was excited that her department had just gotten a 3D printer. Another staff member remarked that his department had also recently purchased one, followed by yet another colleague expressing the same sentiment. In tthis small gathering, there had been three purchases of 3D printers in a matter of months. As I doubt those printers are constantly in use, these resources likely spend much time sitting by idly. And it’s not just resources. Numerous times, someone has told me that they are initiating a buddy or mentor program to help new international students integrate. Various fraternities, faculty organisations, the Central International Office, HR, even a few religious organisations. And frankly, there are not a lot of religious organisations around. I have seen various initiatives over the years to improve the internal communications at the university. All the project management software, social media, newsletters and disruptive technologies have not fixed this very basic problem. Large institutions everywhere struggle with it. My fellow colleagues at Delta, who are also English-language editors, and I frequently share with one another what we consider hilarious blunders of the English language published around the university. Considering there is a pool of native-English speaking professional editors and writers here at the university, the resources are available to prevent these mistakes before they happen. There’s no need to refer to a grant recipient as an “it” as one faculty did in a press release. Or refer to your “passionated” colleagues. Or to claim that you “made” a picture. There’s no 3D printer in my office (and honestly, how do those things even work?) nor am I starting a buddy program for new students. But, I am a native-English speaker. So are my colleagues. And we’re here for you.

TU Delft Elco van Noort is a graduate of TU Delft and since 1987 has held a number of different roles at the university. Currently, he is the head of the Central International Office (CIO). The CIO is responsible for the admission of international students at the university, as well as representing their interests and providing the necessary support.

1 Are international students important to TU Delft?

yes

2 Does TU Delft adequately integrate international students?

3 Have you ever been an international?

yes

5 Which question would you like to go back to? 2 - “When international master's students and settled regular students hardly mingle, real integration is challenging. It will be best achieved with a fresh common start. A true mixture of people from various backgrounds will enhance general performance, stimulate internationalisation at home and prepare everybody for a future in an international working environment.” (AC) (Photo: Sam Rentmeester)

4 As a Dutch person, do you think international students feel represented by you?

yes

192 The number of female professors currently on staff at TU Delft. This equates to about 19% of the total number of 999, which includes assistant, associate and full professors. Women have been historically underrepresented in higher academic positions, especially in science and technology. In comparison, 26% of students and 28% of PhD candidates at TU Delft are female. Efforts to improve gender balance include a fellowship recruitment programme to

Molly Quell is the International Editor of Delta.

attract female talent to the university and the fact that gender has been included as one of the criteria in the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation. (HM)

Delta editor-in-chief Frank Nuijens was happy with the presentations from both TU Delft and Leiden University students regarding the University Medium 3.0 project. Delta is undergoing the process to improve how it interacts with its readership as well as developing more of a digital presence. Currently Delta publishes 20 print magazines per year (plus this special edition in English) which is available in full online. There is also a website updated with more and expanded content, plus a Facebook page and Twitter account. Nuijens thinks that will change as Delta adjusts to a more digital era. To get some ideas for how Delta can better represents itself, Nuijens invited students from Leiden and Delft to present their ideas for the future of both the magazine as well as journalism in general. Don’t worry, dead trees aren’t going anywhere. Delta is looking to develop version 3.0. Offline is 1.0, online is 2.0 and looks to be 3.0.

SHORTS A quick look at some of the online content and on-going series at www.delta.tudelft.nl

Honkball

Performers at the 2015 Fringe Festival showcase their talents on the Markt in Delft. Originating in Edinburgh, the Fringe Festival hosts a variety of performances, from musical to theatrical, in different venues around the city. (Photo: Sam Rentmeester)

People you should know Professor Karel Luyben has been TU Delft’s Rector Magnificus since 2010. With a background in biotechnology, his current role includes being chair of the Executive Board. In addition, he has presided over the establishment of the TU Delft graduate school, a technology fellowship to attract women scientists and a number of research institutes. Luyben has been vocally committed to making TU Delft an international university, and was even seen a few years ago protesting cuts to education spending. If you are interested in meeting him in person there are several ‘meeting the rector’ sessions organised for students every year.

As Mayor of Delft since 2004, Bas Verkerk is responsible for issues related to the city. So whether you are new to Delft or have lived here all your life, he is someone worth knowing. His mayoral office hours are every Thursday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 so you can visit him with civic issues, and you can even go to him with your concerns about security and international policy. Among other responsibilities, he is an advisory member of the Delft University Funds foundation, so if you are applying for a grant you may want to be extra nice to him.

Mark Rutte was elected as Dutch Prime Minister in 2010 and has been leader of the People’s party for freedom and democracy (VVD) since 2006. He is the first liberal Dutch Prime Minister in almost 100 years. Considered economically right-wing, he is committed to austerity. His recent support of the bill to ban the burqa in some public areas means he is a polarising politician and not always that popular with students. Aside from his political career, ever the quintessential Dutchman, Mark Rutte has received extensive international media coverage for riding to work and meetings with foreign dignitaries on his bicycle. (AC)

America’s favourite pastime visited TU Delft when a group of bachelor’s students from the 3mE faculty built and tested an automatic pitcher. Speeds reached 188 km/hr and prizes were awarded not only for precision and accuracy, but also for technical performance, innovation and light-weight mobility. delta.tudelft.nl/30089

Cooking Competition

TU Delft makes eating garbage look (and taste) good. The university, along with Unesco-IHE, Inholland and the Haagse Hogeschool, competed in a cooking competition to use food that would otherwise be thrown away. delta.tudelft.nl/30098

LDE Partnership

“We’ve become really fond of each other,” says Carel Stolker, University of Leiden rector and steering committee chairman of the partnership between the universities of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam. delta.tudelft.nl/30088

Edcasting

MOOCs are already behind the times. The newest innovation in online learning is a new platform for sharing educational ideas, similar to Twitter, called EdCast, that was launched by Edx. delta.tudelft.nl/30039

Ocean Energy Website Interested in the field of ocean energy? All of the information is available on a new website recently launched by TU Delft: www.oceanenergy.tudelft.nl. There you can find information about the university’s research into the field and related events. delta.tudelft.nl/30088

NEWS

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TU Delft

A new kind of nature Scientist? Artist? Engineer? Theo Jansen, TU Delft alumnus and creator of generations of extraordinary beach beasts rejects any kind of label: “The line between art and engineering exists only in our minds.”

ansen has spent the past 25 years making new forms of life - enormous, animated constructions that stride over the beaches of the Netherlands powered only by the wind. Called strandbeesten in Dutch, these ‘beach beasts’ are made almost entirely from the pale yellow plastic tubes used in buildings in the Netherlands to house electrical cables. And the beasts are impressively large, up to 12 metres long and four metres tall. “They need to be big otherwise they blow away on the beach”, explained Jansen.

SHORING UP THE SAND DUNES Originally driven by the idea of creating a life-form that would reinforce low-lying Dutch coastlines against tidal erosion, Jansen has since become more focussed on the evolution of his animals, as he calls them. “But I’m not trying to copy existing creatures”, he said, “I want to make a new kind of nature.” Since 1990, Jansen, a former

Theo Jansen with one of his creations. ((Photo: Theo Jansen)

writer for TU Delta, has created some 40 species of these huge mechanical creatures, which have evolved over the generations; some have sported propellers, others had sails, and one even a hammer for anchoring itself to the beach on windy days. “Every generation has something new”, said Jansen, “an experimentation or a mutation.”

SECRET RATIOS Perhaps the most extraordinary characteristic of these beach beasts is their remarkably organic mode of locomotion, which in some ways

resembles the scuttling of a gigantic many-legged spider. But this complex walking mechanism was devised entirely by Jansen back in the early 1990s. Using an ancient Atari computer, he designed a genetic algorithm that would come up with the optimal ratio of lengths of different parts of the leg, giving the most efficient and, as it turns out, the most beautifully natural movement. “This is the core of my work”, said Jansen. “The secret to these animals is the relative proportions of 13 lengths of tube.”

REPRODUCTION Having perfected the ratios that drive the leg system, Jansen later published these numbers on the internet so that now, hundreds of students all over the world are creating their own beach beasts. “In a sense,” said Jansen, “you could say that the beasts are using students for their own reproduction.” Meanwhile, as some of Jansen’s beautiful creations make their way to their next exhibition in Boston, visitors to the Netherlands can watch Jansen and his other strandbeesten in action on the beaches of Scheveningen in July and August 2015. (ABG)

Lonely, worried or can’t concentrate? Being a student isn’t always the carefree life it’s made out to be. Leaving home and, in some cases, moving abroad, is stressful. TU Delft has a new psychologist to help international students - confidentially and free of charge.

sychologist Nienke Streng, who has worked in different countries, has just joined the TU Delft team and will focus on helping international bachelor's and master's students with these kinds of issues. Streng noted that students from other cultures

often have different expectations. “There is often enormous pressure from the family to succeed,” she said. According to Streng, in some cases, the family can only send one person away to study, so the student feels a huge sense of responsibility. “Students become so stressed”, she said, “they can’t perform properly, and this becomes a vicious circle.” According to Paula Meesters, one of five psychologists on the TU Delft team, they see about 10% of all students and PhD candidates. One major issue for students is what Meesters refers to as unrelenting standards and dealing with the fear of failure. Some students also have psychological problems such as anxiety, depression or personality issues. In fact, Meesters said around 30% suffer from depression and anxiety accounts for another 30% of problems. Sometimes students uncover functional disabilities

such as dyslexia, attention deficit problems or autistic spectrum problems, which have previously gone unrecognised. “Here at the university, we have a large support system for people with those kinds of difficulties”, said Meesters. “For example, we can make special arrangements for taking exams.” Also trained in Trauma Related Therapy, and Mindfulness techniques, the psychologists stress that if you’re struggling but are unsure whether you need a psychologist, come anyway. “Sometimes it only takes one or two sessions – strictly confidential and completely free of charge - but it’s important not to wait too long,” said Meesters. (ABG)

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TU Delft

New apartments for PhDs next to train station International PhD candidates and other knowledge workers often have trouble finding suitable housing in Delft. Now a group of three buildings will be built in the railway redevelopment area Spoorzone especially for them.

ach of the three buildings will contain 110 apartments for international PhD candidates and other knowledge workers from abroad. There will also be room for ‘hip trendy shops, restaurants, flexible workplaces for start-up companies and a private underground parking’ according to the project’s website. And the building will even include gardens will be on the roofs. In the design of the Rotterdam architectural office Barcode Architects, the three buildings are centred on a public courtyard. “This new hidden ‘city jewel’ relates subtly to the urban characteristic of Delft and more specifically to the famous historical ‘Prinsenhof’ located more north at the Phoenixstreet”, according to the project propsal. Their winning design was selected by a jury of project developer ERA Contour, urban designer Jaap van den Bout (Palmbout - Urban landscapes) and city architect Wytze Patijn. The Spoorzone area in which this project – Plot 5 on Ireneboulevard – will be built will be totally redeveloped now that the train tunnel is finished. Next to Plot 5 there will be a city park. The inhabitants will be only minutes away from Delft Central Station and TU Delft. The construction of Plot 5 is scheduled for 2017-2018. By that time, more information will available on how to rent an apartment there. (SB) barcodearchitects.com/project/delft-veld-5

TU Delft installs 10,000 m2 solar panels on campus In a giant step towards improving sustainability in its university buildings, this summer TU Delft is placing 10,000 m2 solar panels on rooftops all around campus – enough to generate one million kilowatt hours per year.

y 2020, all the universities in the Netherlands must improve their energy efficiency by 30%. This means that use of fossil fuels must be reduced through energy savings, more efficient fossil fuel conversion and the introduction of renewable forms of energy. While aiming to reduce its total energy use by 40%, TU Delft has set itself the specific target of generating 25% of the energy that it does need sustainably.

So the university has begun installation of 10,000 m2 of solar panels on the roofs of 14 buildings all around the campus, giving TU Delft the largest solar panel surface area of any Dutch university. Moreover, when this phase is complete at the end of September TU Delft also plans to install solar panels on the roofs of student residence halls. The construction and maintenance of this university solar energy plant also means that TU Delft can be used as a sustainable testing ground. “Thousands of researchers and students work on sustainable innovations at TU Delft on a daily basis”, said Anja Stokkers, Director of Facility Management & Real Estate at TU Delft. “This makes the campus an excellent testing ground, providing an environment in which to conduct sustainability projects.” This includes research by Professor Miro Zeman’s team in the TU Delft Photovoltaic Materials and Devices group, which is working on

Solar panels could be coming to the roof of a building near you. (Photo: Bernd Sleker)

increasing the yield of solar cells and photovoltaic systems. Meanwhile, TU Delft has decided to make energy use on campus as open and transparent as possible by means of its website: www.energymonitor. tudelft.nl. On this site anyone can look up the current and historic energy con-

sumption for each faculty on campus, making it easier to assess the impact of measures to improve energy efficiency. In fact, students and staff are even invited to make suggestions regarding energy efficiency on campus. (ABG)

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? So, you moved to the Netherlands and worked hard to earn your degree. Now what? Many international students return to their home countries after graduation, but that is not necessarily by choice. According to a Dutch government statistic, 70% of international students would like to stay in the Netherlands for work, but only 27% actually do. This loss of intellectual capital has become the focus of governmental action plans at both the Dutch and EU levels.

here is a growing realisation that internationalisation at all academic levels raises the quality of education and research and is essential for economic growth. Dutch universities are successful at attracting top international students, but there is a need to develop programmes that encourage them to stay beyond graduation. One such governmental programme currently being implemented is called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Make it in the Netherlandsâ&#x20AC;?. The main goals of this plan are to make sure all international students feel welcome, to encourage as many as possible to work in the Netherlands after graduation and to ensure that all international students maintain a bond with the Netherlands even if they return abroad. To achieve these goals, a plan of action was laid out in 2013 and is still being executed at schools across the country. Steps include making it easier for internationals to learn Dutch, helping internationals to connect with Dutch students and society using things

like buddy programmes and internationalising student bodies and societies, and trying to simplify practical matters like administrative obstacles to studying and working here. According to Dr. Anka Mulder, Vice President for Education & Operations at TU Delft, the university is a regional frontrunner in the project. "In close cooperation with the municipality of Rotterdam we are trying to show companies not only how smooth hiring internationals can be, but also to show them the added value international talent can have for their companies," she said. "At the same time we guide international students in their approach and route to opportunities to enhance the chances to find job-opportunities." Whether the programme is having a positive effect on the statistics remains to be seen. To provide some personal insight on the issue, here are the stories of five international TU Delft graduates who decided to make it in the Netherlands. >>

Text: Heather Montague Photos: Sam Rentmeester

CARMEN GUGUTA (ROMANIA) MSC PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, 2004 PhD Pharmaceutical Solid State Chemistry, 2008 (Radboud University, Nijmegen) Carmen Guguta clearly remembers the day she arrived in the Netherlands from Romania. “It was raining and grey,” she said. “I didn’t think I would be able to live here because it felt so dark, so sad.” Some eleven years later, she is happily living and working here with no plans to leave. During her undergraduate studies at Ovidius University in Romania, a TU Delft project collaboration piqued her interest in the Netherlands. Knowing that materials for research were more readily available here than at home made it an appealing opportunity. Once here, her colleagues and professors in the TU Delft chemistry department helped her to integrate, and despite her initial feelings about the weather, she ended up having what she describes as “the best experience of my life”. After finishing a master’s, she knew she wanted to pursue a PhD and opted for Radboud University in Nijmegen, where her research was related to pharmaceuticals and solid state chemistry. During her studies, she met her future husband, a TU Delft PhD candidate from Mexico. They married halfway through their PhD programmes and now have a son together. While working on her thesis, Guguta’s professor told her about a position with a Dutch-based pharmaceutical firm. Although she hadn’t thought much about it, in the end the decision to stay was easy. Currently employed as a Product Manager by Technobis Crystallization Systems, Guguta said that she feels like her work is meant to help people. Fluent in Romanian, Spanish and English, Guguta continues in her quest to learn Dutch. After completing a course, she now meets with a taal coach every week to improve. “I felt a real need to speak Dutch with buying a house here and having a child here,” she said, even though she uses English at work. Guguta and her husband think about leaving sometimes. “When we go back to our countries we realize how good we have it here,” she said. “We would consider relocation, but we are very happy here.”

ANURAG BHATTACHARYA (INDIA) MSC ARCHITECTURE, 2013 When the time came for Anurag Bhattacharya to go to university, he wanted to do something outside of his comfort zone. So he left central India and went 2,000 km away from home to study architecture at the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. During an internship exchange programme in Romania he met a student from TU Delft,

YUXIN GUAN (CHINA) MSC MEDIA AND KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING, 2007 Originally from Shandong province in China, Yuxin Guan came to the Netherlands in 2005 to pursue a master’s degree. A good friend had studied in the Netherlands and suggested he learn more about the educational opportunities here. From the TU Delft website, Guan was intrigued by the Media and Knowledge Engineering programme. “It was quite new and I had never seen it in another university,” he said. Although he is sad that the programme has since merged with computer science, he was fortunate to finish his degree in it. Moving here for Guan had its challenges. The most difficult part, he said, was the language. His English was lacking when he arrived and he spent much of the first academic quarter getting up to speed. Fortunately he was able to improve enough to make lots of friends within the two-year programme. And Guan describes his academic experience at TU Delft as nothing short of amazing. “We focused on learning some really cool techniques

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TU Delft

a turning point that would take him even farther from home. Ready for a new adventure, he enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft to pursue a master’s degree. Aside from wanting another international experience, part of the reason he opted for TU Delft was the flexibility to choose different studios, or modules, within the faculty. Bhattacharya’s studies were focused on non-standard and interactive architecture, as part of an innovative research

which can change our digital life,” he said. “Lots of topics I learned from that program are still really modern even now, after 10 years, such as virtual reality and 3D visualization.” After graduating, Guan spent a year doing research at TU Eindhoven, before landing his current job as Senior Software Engineer with ASML. His work now focuses on designing software for the next generation of lithography machines. Though he has started learning Dutch at work and said he is at a basic level, the motivation to continue is not very high because English is the common language. After eight years of working here, Guan doesn’t see any reason to leave. “Life is quite peaceful here,” he said. “The Netherlands is a nice country for R&D and work with a pure international environment.” In 2008, along with two friends, Guan created outpie. com, an online community to help Chinese students here. Later this year Guan plans to found an online traveling platform that offers customized travel services helping Chinese people get to know the Netherlands and Europe.

group called Hyperbody. This unique form of architectural design focuses on building components and buildings becoming dynamic, acting and re-acting in response to environmental and user-specific needs. “It’s not just about walls and windows, but it’s about how a building adapts to its users,” Bhattacharya said. Earning an impressive score of nine on his thesis, Bhattacharya decided to stay in the Netherlands after graduation. Although he hasn’t learned to speak Dutch, he found work in English as an Architect and Parametric Design Specialist for Zwarts and Jansma Architects in Amsterdam. Noting that design and construction technology here is quite ahead of that in India, he was also attracted by the healthy work/life balance enjoyed here. For incoming international students, Bhattacharya said he would encourage them to travel a lot. “If you’re here, experience things, make diverse friends, tap into it,” he said. And what does the future hold for him? “I see myself here for some time, but I definitely want to go back to India,” said Bhattacharya. He hopes to start his own firm focusing on computational design that maintains a collaboration with the Netherlands.

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CAMERON ROBERTS (USA) MSC OFFSHORE ENGINEERING, 2014 Boats and water have always been interesting to Cameron Roberts, so it was only natural that he wanted to design ships for a career. He knew he wanted to go abroad, so after finishing his undergraduate work at Florida Institute of Technology, he just had to decide where. After considering countries that were good at offshore engineering, he decided the Netherlands was the best choice. “The Dutch excel at this kind of work,” he said. During his time at TU Delft, Roberts’ studies focused on floating structures. With an intentional plan to stay here after graduation, he took advantage of a special one-year visa that allows international grads an opportunity to find work. Roberts landed a job as a Naval Architect with a company called Seaway Heavy Lifting. The Dutch offshore contracting firm installs platforms and wind turbines for the oil & gas and renewables industries around the world.

ANGELA GRECO (ITALY) MSC CIVIL ENGINEERING, EXPECTED GRADUATION 2015 Shortly after getting married in 2011, Angela Greco moved with her husband from Naples, Italy to the Netherlands . They both wanted to study abroad, but since Greco didn’t speak English only her husband was able to enroll. While he studied, Greco spent her first year here learning English. “I was a little depressed because I wasn’t studying,” she said, “but in the beginning we were in love with

TU Delft

The work environment is quite international with English being the common language, according to Roberts. Although it’s inevitable that people speak Dutch sometimes, he said it hasn’t been a problem for him so far. He did try learning Dutch while at the university, but found that the Delfste Methode didn’t work for him. With an offer from the company to sponsor him, Roberts is considering going back to learn the language. Moving here wasn’t much of a culture shock to Roberts, who said he has always been able to adapt to new environments. He felt that TU Delft did a good job of getting the international students together, which helped his transition. Although he has met many locals, he said that most of his friends are also internationals. “I find it easy to meet Dutch people, but it’s not always easy to get close,” he said. Roberts likes living here and said it was an easy decision to stay here. “I like the bike culture and the work climate is far more accommodating here than in the US,” he said. In the foreseeable future, Roberts intends to work toward gaining permanent residency.

Delft. It was beautiful, like a dream.” In 2012, Greco started a master’s in civil engineering at TU Delft and the following year her husband was offered a job with Shell. Only three days after the offer, Greco discovered she was pregnant and worried about the future. But with a sense of determination, she got through what she describes as “a hard year” and finished her exams before her son was born. With a desire to learn Dutch, Greco tried classes, but found more success with a private tutor. She then accepted an internship with an

agreement that the people would only speak Dutch to her, and now she is fluent. Though English is good enough in many fields, Greco felt that the ability to work in building engineering would require Dutch. As part of the TU Delft Prêt-à-Loger team, Greco participated in the international Solar Decathalon competition in 2014, where the team won first place in the sustainability challenge. With the goal of designing a zeroenergy house, the team created a solution for typical Dutch row houses. Out of this experience, Greco and two teammates have started a small business to offer design and consulting services related to home energy efficiency. In addition, Greco worked as a coach helping other TU Delft internationals settle into life here. Although she misses warm weather, food and spontaneous visits from friends, Greco plans to continue with the life and career she is developing in the Netherlands.

Internationalisation should be the by-product, and not the goal of an excellent university according to new Dean of the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (BK). Peter Russell, a Canadian national, is currently the only nonDutch dean at TU Delft.

’IT'S A GREAT PRIVILEGE’

Text: Ailie Conor Photos: Marcel Krijger

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TU Delft

How does it feel to be appointed as the new dean of architecture at TU Delft?

Alumni Affairs - How did you juggle everything?

“It’s a great privilege. It’s a brilliant faculty full of interesting people, interesting students, and there is a really robust culture in the faculty so it is a great challenge to see how you can make something that’s already excellent even better. As such, I am honoured quite a bit by this appointment.”

“I think part of the secret is to let people who are good at things do their jobs. In the architecture office where I am a partner my job was not to be the architect and to design all the details, my job was to be a liaison for possible clients, to ensure that we secured some of our commissions. Our heating plant was the work of two other partners in the office, who did the façade that won a number of awards. Allowing them to do what they do well, that’s how you juggle. You basically get out of the way, and let people who are good at things do them. And make sure that they receive the accolades that they are due, and not always be the person up front. That’s why the architecture office doesn’t carry my name – I never wanted that.”

What has the reaction to your appointment been like? “One of excitement, and warmth, and curiosity, and I’ll say welcomed unrest.”

What has your experience been here so far? “I haven’t seen or understood everything yet so I am still in ‘spongemode’, just absorbing everything and learning about how the university works. As someone who is coming completely from the outside I am asking each person to describe the faculty, and from those descriptions I get a complete understanding of how things work. You figure out in the ‘organogram’ of the faculty that there are a lot of arrows and connections that aren’t made official, and I am trying to understand those right now.”

What do you expect will be your biggest challenge in the near future? “I don’t know if it’s much of a challenge, but the challenge of the faculty is to maintain excellence amid a group of faculties that are considered our equals worldwide, that are all really good. It is easy to rest on your laurels or to sit back and think ‘well we made it to here’ – we were number 3 in the last rankings and number 1 in research. It is a very human thing to do, to say job well done, pat yourself on the back and take a break. But actually that is the point when you need to understand what we could be doing better, and maybe even how we might do things differently, in order to get to a different level of excellence. And that is going to be difficult.”

You were appointed not only because of your experience in the field, but your international experience – why do you think this is? “Throughout my career I have been able to see how universities work from the inside, whether it’s in Germany, Switzerland, or North America. So that experience at least means that as soon as something comes up about a methodology, about how we might want to frame something or work something out, I have a very wide pallet of experience, or at least knowledge of different ways of going at the same problem. I think the wealth of that knowledge is what I bring. And that doesn’t mean we have to do things differently, it just means that we can be sure that we are picking the best way.”

While at RWTH Aachen you - among other roles – were a partner in an architecture firm and Rector’s emissary for

’I think part of the secret is to let people who are good at things do their jobs’

As the only international dean at TU Delft, do you feel there is extra pressure on you? “I feel that maybe there is more light being shone in my direction. It is clear that I am not a Dutch citizen, I wasn’t brain-washed by the Delft system of thinking, so I have on the one hand responsibility, and the expectation that I bring some other ideas, but on the other hand I have the freedom to be able to think outside the box.”

Do you have any plans or views regarding making English the primary language of instruction in this department? “I think that it’s very easy to have this polarising argument, because you can talk about the importance of language in culture, and you can also talk about the importance of language in enabling people to have robust career options. I think that for me personally, it is almost unavoidable that a certain degree of all of the studies should be made available in English, so that students who have finished their high school diplomas in English or bilingual programmes and have worked to be fluent in both languages have that option to continue. If we don’t they will go somewhere else, and those are probably the best students. And so you want to be able to encourage them, be able to give them the challenges that they seek.”

You have to learn Dutch fluently as part of your appointment. Do you think international students moving here should have to as well? “It shouldn’t be a question of should they have to or not. I think that they, coming to live and work and be a part of this community, should want to respect the culture they are coming to – part of that is not only learning how to order a glass of beer in the local language, but perhaps even being able to More on page 14

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’Architects are the people who dream of crazy ideas, and sometimes we are even allowed to get them built’ discuss local politics, or things that affect everyone in their day. I know that for many it is difficult, and they have to make an effort. But I think that is why you come to a university like TU Delft – to make an effort.”

TU Delft is moving more and more towards internationalisation. Do you think it is doing enough to attract and integrate international students? “I really can’t give an opinion about that. For my appointment it was all taken care of, but I assume that perhaps the dean of the architecture faculty receives better treatment than a student from Zaire. What I can say is that it has to be clear that internationalisation in itself can’t be a goal. To have people from different countries is nice, but adding up the number of flags you fly in front of the main building because you have employees with those passports is like the tail wagging the dog. You want the best people, and if you can make it attractive for people from the entire world to come, then you will get the best people and they will not come just from the Netherlands or Germany, they will also come from Suriname or Canada.”

You mentioned the English language debate can be polarising. Do you think some Dutch staff feel threatened by this drive towards English? “Even in Germany this question raised heated debate, about the beginning of the end of the German language even though there are one hundred million native speakers in Europe alone so it’s not as if it’s going to die off tomorrow, or even in 100 years. But I would say everyone identifies their personal identity with their mother tongue. When you look into a mirror and ask ‘Who am I?’ you ask that question usually in your mother tongue, and of course it is threatening if your tongue is in theory degraded or declared not as good as another one. But then again you have to frame the why first; why would you have English in a bachelors. There is a new generation of young people in the Netherlands who are fluent in English, and when they are probably thinking already about an international career why would you then require them to park their English at the side, when

CV Peter Russell was born in Canada, originally studying graphics and engineering before making his move to architecture. He has done a great deal of work at universities around Europe, and before his appointment to TU Delft in 2015 was Professor of Computer Supported Planning in Architecture at RWTH Aachen, as well as the dean of architecture from 2005.

He was a founding member of the European architectural research network ARENA, and is currently leading a group of people trying to establish the solar decathlon in Europe as a European Commission funded project.

you could offer them a range of possibilities and let them choose how much challenge they want to take on.”

What improvements do you have in mind for the BK department? “I have some ideas about what would help TU Delft remain a top five architecture school world-wide, but I’m not about to announce that right now, because I haven’t even met everybody on the management team yet. Walking in with big plans would be a complete faux pas, that’s why I said I’m in ‘sponge-mode’. I first want to understand how the faculty has worked till now, what do people in the faculty see as their challenges. I think that a robust plan of action can only work once I have understood how the faculty is working – and then like a typical architect, integrate those factors with ideas for a new or different design. And then to integrate and fuse those into a synthesis that will be at least understood if not accepted by everybody.”

Do you have anything to add about your hopes for the architecture department? “Aside from being high in the rankings I think that this faculty can play a really strong leadership role in research activities taking place across faculties. Although maybe architects are intimidated by the amount and scope of research that is done in say, physics, chemistry and biology, architects are the people who dream of crazy ideas, and sometimes we are even allowed to get them built. And we are good at that. And so I would hope that the faculty can be a source of inspiration for all sorts of new research. Whether it is going to biologists to say ‘make me a living breathing paint’, or asking the chemists to ‘make me a façade that can repel or absorb water, or clean the air’, or asking the physicists whether I can make an exothermic or endothermic wall. Those are three of the natural sciences where people are working on inter-stellar physics and solving cancer, but there are also other questions that often come up through those fields where it takes a designer, or someone with a vision to come and ask a silly question. And you then all of a sudden realise, 'Hey, we actually do have something like that I’m working on, I never thought of that application for it.' And that’s what spurs on industries that radically change all sorts of things.” <<

THE MASTER

Victor Valk

Recycling water hyacinth as food, fertilizer and biogas

“The problem with water hyacinth”, said Valk (24), “is that it doubles its population in just seven days, and it adapts easily to polluted water.” As a result, water hyacinth forms huge, floating mats, hectares across, which are so dense that fisherman can’t fish, ships can’t get through and everything living in the lakes and ponds beneath slowly dies. Meanwhile snails and mosquitoes thrive in this choking mass of weed, bringing malaria and schistosomiasis to communities throughout the tropics and subtropics. Sponsored by Dutch shipbuilders, Royal IHC, and engineering consultants, Witteveen+Bos, Valk decided to look into the economic feasibility of reusing water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, as an industrial product. “I began by asking myself – what are the currently available technologies, which of these technologies can be used in remote areas, and

what is the potential demand for recycled products in the places where it grows?” Valk soon concluded that the main processing options for water hyacinth are to extract the protein for use in animal feed and then turn the waste into fertilizer and biogas. Having developed a promising theoretical business model, Valk then travelled to Kisumu Port in Kenya, where water hyacinth has brought trade to a near standstill. “Ironically”, said Valk, “when I arrived, the hyacinth was less of an issue than normal because according to the locals, the winds change in October, blowing water hyacinth out of the bay and into Lake Victoria.” Undeterred, Valk carried out research on market prices, and then developed a practical business model for shredding the plants, removing the moisture and extracting the proteins. And his conclusion? “It would be economically feasible to process water hyacinth crops into animal feed, fertilizer and biogas in Kenya,” said Valk, “particularly if the processing plant is situated close to the lake. Because water hyacinth is 95% water, being close to the source would reduce transport costs considerably.” Meanwhile, Valk’s sponsors, Royal IHC and Witteveen+Bos, will be taking this idea further: “A lot depends on new technologies”, explained Valk, “so it’s a question of whether it can be implemented straightaway.” (ABG)

RESEARCH Valorisation of water hyacinth as a renewable source of animal feed and biogas: a business case for lake Victoria, Kenya

SCORE

7.5

(Photo: Sam Rentmeester)

Water hyacinth is a serious pest. A freefloating plant with lavender flowers, this weed is choking tropical fresh waters, suffocating lakes, blocking shipping and hurting local economies. So why not turn it into animal food suggests civil engineer Viktor Valk.

IN THE SPORTLIGHT

SPORTS

Harm Verheul SPECS

1.97 cm WEIGHT

96 kg Birth Year 1994

faculty: Aerospace Engineering

The European Games

Yellow 'korf' (basket) attached to post 3.5 metres above the ground

Team: Paal Centraal 2

other sports

Ball - must have at least two colours

gliding

Club shirt Paal Centraal 2

(Photo: Sam Rentmeester)

Korfball shoes

Why korfball? “I hadn’t done any physical sport for a couple of years so when this academic year began, I decided to start again. As I used to play korfball when I was younger, I decided to start to pick that up again rather than learning a new sport.” What’s your level? “As the second team at Paal Centraal, we play reserve 4th class.” Strong points? “Because I’m nearly 2 metres tall, I’m good at rebounding. That’s important in korfball. As attackers, you can create more chances, and as a defender, you can block an attack by the opposition.” Weak points? “Because of my height, I sometimes find it difficult to defend against smaller people who can get around me because I’m just that bit too slow.” Injuries? “I haven’t recently had an injury but my fingers often get bruised by balls which don’t quite go the way they’re supposed to during the rebounding.”

Highlights/prizes? “Because I’ve only recently started korfball again, I haven’t won many prizes but we did reach a respectable third place in the outside competition.” Why should someone play korfball? “Korfball is one of the few mixed (males and females) sports, which gives it a different feel from non-mixed sports. And because you switch from defence to attack and back again during the match, there’s a lot of variation and you don’t get bored.” Why are you a member of Paal Centraal? “A student sport society is a nice mix of serious sport – with one or two beers! That’s why I chose to become a member of Paal Centraal.” Ambitions within korfball? “For the 2nd team to become champions!” What annoys you in korfball? “When players push the boundaries of what the referee will allow.” (ABG)

In case you missed it, the first European Games took place in June in Baku, Azerbaijan. These were the final continental Games to be initiated in the world, joining the family of Olympic-style competitions including the Asian Games, Pan-American Games, All-Africa Games and Pacific Games. The movement to create a continental competition has started and faltered many times in the past. The father of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin envisaged such a collection of continental games. One of the benefits was to allow cities, who might otherwise never have had the chance to stage the Olympic Games, the opportunity to bring the experience to their communities. Case in point, Baku, which made a bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and later the 2020 Summer Olympics but failed to become a candidate city both times. All of this begs the question: is this what the Dutch National Olympic Committee, the NOC*NSF, had in mind when they threw their hat into the ring to bid for the 2019 version? Considering they were the only country willing to host, they managed to win the favor of the European Olympic Committee (EOC). But they fell out of the same favor when the Dutch Minister of Sport, Mrs. Edith Schippers, denied federal funding for the Euro-Olympics. Among her objections, Schippers doubted the elite sports credentials of the games. She has been around long enough to have independent sources who would have told her that 3-a-side basketball, while an interesting promo, is unlikely to produce dream team caliber participants and beach soccer is still something Eurosport uses to fill dead airtime in the summer months. The prospects of the rather obscure sport of Sambo, a hybrid combat sport from Russia, were just not enough to tempt her to sign the check, estimated to be some 58 million euros. What was good enough for the Caucasian capital seems to be a bad fit for the Netherlands. What seemed to be the coming out party for a country which is not exactly a beacon of light in terms of free speech was not deemed the proper anesthetic for the proposition that the hosts of the 1928 Olympics most likely will not host the 2028 version. One thing is clear, The Hague has sent a very obtuse message to the (almost all male) club in blue blazers – go big or go home! John Mahnen is the sports writer for The Holland Times.

What: Museum Night, View to Eternity Where: Delft When: November 6, 2015 Tickets: €10 pre-sale, €12 on the day Party Grade:

PARTY SPOTTERS

Chicken saté As an international student in the Netherlands, you might have noticed that there isn’t that much of a national cuisine around these parts. The secret is, we don’t really have one! Yes, we do have some nice products like bitterballen and stroopwafels, but complete dishes? Not so much. The Netherlands has been part of the Holy Roman Empire, the French Empire, the Spanish Empire and so on. We have taken our recipes from many places and so our cuisine is a mix of all of them. One of the recipes adopted by the Dutch is none other than the humble saté. Chicken saté with peanut sauce Ingredients: chicken thigh, deboned (150 grams per person), ketjap manis*, garlic , onion, red pepper, sambal oelek*, ginger syrup , sunflower oil, lemon, crunchy peanut butter, salt and pepper, *Asian sauces available in most grocery stores

MUSEUM NIGHT 2015 - ‘BLIK OP ONEINDIG’ Whether you are a new arrival to TU Delft or have been too busy studying to get out, a great way to discover what the town has to offer is Museum Night. This annual event turns the historic centre into one big museum celebrating culture and the visual arts. For a few hours on one evening, thresholds are lowered and barriers disappear when the artistic and cultural side of the town is showcased in a dynamic, interactive way. Apart from the accessible urban exhibition spaces presenting the v isual arts, the event also caters to visitors who want to shop, dine out and party. Visitors wearing their entry pass LED lights bring a singular atmosphere to the streets and squares. They can simply walk around, take a canal hopper boat or shuttle buses to move more quickly between the venues. The programme is still being finalised, but organisers Nina Voets and René Jacobs are confident that the sixth edition will be a success again. Building on the previous years' proven format, they expect around thirty organisations to participate. The compact town centre will open up, allowing easy exploration within one overarching concept - View to Eternity. In 2014 the event attracted around 3,700 visitors and finished with 1,000 party goers at the monumental Armamentarium building. “There is broad participation by museums, galleries, artists, TU Sports and Culture, theatres, the local art house cinema, cafés and restaurants, so it is a fabulous way to get acquainted with the Delft cultural scene in one go”, said Jacobs. Voets added, “It's an inspiring night out. The party is always unique, at a special location with Dutch and international DJs and a diverse mix of people of all ages. A oneoff, not to be missed.” Also unique are the Tussenruimtes, the Interspaces, where young and upcoming artists are given the chance to display their installations and performances at a special location. And in an effort to attract internationals, themed guided tours in English will be available. With so much on offer in a limited time, the challenge is to choose a route to make the most of it. Rushing around trying to see it all may cause you to miss the special atmosphere with Delft as the backdrop. If you are pushed for time the organisers recommend not missing the special one-off events. And, of course, the after party as the grand finale to the evening is a must. Look out for the finalised programme which should be available in September. museumnachtdelft.nl

Material: big bowl, saté sticks, grill pan, sauce pan The recipe is quite straight forward. Start by soaking the saté sticks in some water. This will keep them from burning. Cut the chicken thighs into chunks of about 2 to 3 cm. For the marinade, in a bowl, mix the ketjap, crushed garlic, roughly chopped onion, the zest of the lemon and the juice of half a lemon, a chopped red pepper, a splash of oil and some of the ginger syrup. Put the chicken in the marinade, cover it and leave for at least 2 to 3 hours to infuse. In a saucepan, combine a couple of spoons of peanut butter, a spoon of sambal, some ginger syrup, crushed garlic and some water to make it a sauce and heat until mixed and smooth. Add salt, pepper and sambal to taste. Put the chicken on a stick and grill until cooked over a medium heated pan. Don’t be afraid of a bit of a char, its normal! Serve with a big bowl of basmati rice and some piccalilli!

Keep cooking! Job Hogewoning

INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE AMUSING

Text: Caroline Vermeulen Photos: Marcel Krijger

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The world today is more accessible than ever with endless opportunities for study, work and travel abroad. So it’s no surprise that the number of couples entering intercultural relationships has risen. Such relationships face highs and lows of their own, in addition to the usual challenges any couple faces. We spoke to four internationals with Dutch partners to find out their stories and experiences. MAR MUÑOZ APARICI AND WOUTER NEISINGH Spanish architecture master’s student, Muñoz Aparici, met her boyfriend during her search for accommodation. “I started to apply to houses advertising only for guys, it didn’t worry me. I got into a Virgiel fraternity house, and I actually got Wouter’s room for six months, whilst he went to Switzerland,” she said. “It’s very different dating a Dutch guy, they’re caring. I like that people here in the Netherlands are honest, sometimes too honest, but it’s nice that you know how to handle people. The Dutch guys I know are confident and motivated, prone to making decisions

and doing things with their life. I also found it interesting, they sit and ask - so are we in a relationship now? It’s really straightforward,” explained Muñoz Aparici. There are challenges too. “It’s difficult with the language with family. His family speaks English, but it’s uncomfortable because they’re doing it just for me. It’s the same the other way around when he’s in my home town, as he doesn’t speak Spanish,” she said. Disagreements are also inevitable. “I know it’s a cliché, but food is an issue. It took me a while to make him understand I don’t like bread, and I don’t like

eating bread every day. I never ate it on a daily basis before, and I’m not going to do it now. I have gotten used to eating at Dutch times though, so I found a balance I guess.” The biggest concern is what the future holds. “I’m finishing my master’s study, but my boyfriend is just finishing his bachelor’s. He has longer in Delft than I have, I’ll likely leave in the next six months or so. My main focus is my career, I’ll see what my options are. We want to stay together, but we’re not sure how yet. The problem with our generation is we have so many options,” she said. >>

SILVANIA PEREIRA AND JAN VAN NEERVEN Pereira is a Brazilian associate professor in the Imaging Physics Department at TU Delft, married to a Dutch professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics. They met 20 years ago in the US where she was doing her PhD, and he was a post doc. After a two year stint in Germany, the couple relocated to the Netherlands. Sabbaticals in Australia and Spain have added to the mix. “I have never lost my own culture, in the same way, I never lost the culture of my Italian grandparents. I grew up in Brazil, a country of immigrants, where my best friend was Japanese. It’s interesting, a mixing of culture. You try to adapt and find the best of both sides. Eventually, you get to something that’s your own version of it; you need that balance. In our case we share everything 50/50, we’re equal,” Pereira said. How did her family feel about her international life? “It was no problem at all, they saw it as an opportunity to travel,” said Pereira. The couple has two grown children that have Dutch and Brazilian citizenship and speak Portuguese as well as Dutch. “I think they feel they are Brazilian too,” she added. Food is not an issue, Pereira simply does her own thing. “I like to cook,” she said, “I was raised in a traditional Italian family way, my mother made everything by hand, so I grew up doing that, and I grow my own vegetables. We basically don’t eat Dutch

DEIRDRE CASELLA AND ARJEN SUKKEL Casella, an American, originally came to the Netherlands 20 years ago as an au pair. A competitive rower at the time, she met her husband during her second year in the country via the rowing club. Casella is an external PhD candidate in the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. The couple has a 4-year-old daughter.

food at home. My husband is fine with that, he’s not so attached to Dutch food.” Looking back on her early years in the Netherlands one thing stands out: “The weather. It’s so dark the

“Having your most important intimate relationship be with someone of a different cultural background really asks that you step back and recognise that you do things differently. It can be from really mundane things to really significant things. I think that’s a positive thing - not taking myself so seriously, letting go of things, learning that there are better ways of doing things,” she said.

winter here, very long periods without sun. That I really had to get used to,” she said.

Casella also sees the language as a positive. She speaks Dutch, and her daughter is bilingual. “It was very intimidating at first. I was nervous when the phone rang, you were at the mercy of whoever you got on the other end of the line. Twenty years ago it was less common to expect to receive customer service in English. Learning the language made a huge difference,” she explained. Language differences have also led to some comedic moments. “On the plane back from the US when my daughter was 2-years-old, she’d drawn on the table with crayons. I handed Arjen a baby wipe to clean it off which didn’t work. I suggested that he put some elbow grease into it. So he literally rolled up his sleeve and started scrubbing at the table with his elbow!” When it comes to visiting family and friends in the US, it’s not easy. “Now we have a child, budget is an issue. There are also people you ought to see, and people you really want to see, but you can’t do everything each trip. Equally when my mum comes here it’s not just for a coffee or overnight, it’s for at least a week,” said Casella. One difference of opinion has been over medical care. “He thinks Americans are much more likely to self-diagnose. The point at which I actually seek medical help is quite a low threshold, whereas his is a really high threshold,” explained Casella.

LAURENT ROSSET AND GEERTE BAARS Both master’s students in architecture, Italian Rosset and his girlfriend met via their study. In their community as master’s students it’s easy to speak English, it’s their common language. In private, however, it can be difficult making yourself understood in a language that isn’t your mother tongue. “If it starts to get tense or sad it’s hard, you have to be patient,” said Baars. “I think in English I start to simplify everything sometimes, or at least the way I know it is simple. You need more explanation. Now we try to be more transparent and say what we really mean. If I don’t understand, I say so,” added Rosset. There are bonuses to an intercultural relationship. “It’s immediately more challenging and interesting, which is good,” said Baars. “In a way you discover more about your own culture, when explaining or sharing it, you then realise and appreciate those values more,” said Rosset. He explained that internationals, including the Italians, tend to keep to their own communities: “In my first six months here I hardly met or hung out with Dutch people at all, but after meeting Geerte that changed.” Cooking and food has been a source of amusement for the couple. “Now she trusts me when I say we’re going to use just two ingredients for a pasta!” laughed Rosset. The Italians are proud of their food. “Every time someone from Italy comes here we ask them to bring a big suitcase full of food. It’s not that

the food here is bad, it’s just different,” he said. What does the future hold? “I really have no idea, a lot depends on where I can find work. We’re both young, and we’ve agreed that our relationship doe-

sn’t need to limit us in the future. We want to stay together, so we’ll find a way to somehow make it work,” Rosset said. <<

We also asked the experts for their tips and views on the subject, reflecting on their professional experience. THE CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST Alexandra Sips runs her own company specialised in soft skills training for engineers. She also teaches cross-cultural communication in the ‘Succeeding in a global workplace’ course in the graduate school at TU Delft. “I think that one of the first errors people make is forgetting that when you translate words from your own language, they can have a different meaning. Once you make the mistake of not translating well, not just the words, but the energy behind them, it can lead to an attribution error. This is a psychological phenomenon. You put a negative association to the personality of the person, whereas in fact it’s just a communication mistake,” she said. “There are some communication styles that roughly differ per culture, and they can stem from deep values within a culture. It’s important to know your values and those of your partner, and where they come from, to understand why you act the way you do. Once you’re conscious of things it’s easier

to be flexible about them, in order to deal with conflict,” said Sips. “The Dutch are very confrontational, they think if you don’t say it then it’s not a problem. They also value practicality very deeply.” Sips explained that some qualities make for successful intercultural communication - patience, tolerance, objectivity, empathy and respect. There are also some emotions universally recognised in every culture - anger, fear, happiness, sadness, disgust and surprise. “Try to avoid the idea that your culture is superior to your partners. Always keep in the back of your mind how your communication style can be perceived. Think about your words and gestures, try to avoid slang and expressions which get lost in translation,” she concluded.

THE PSYCHOLOGIST Jim Bender, psychologist and relationship therapist, came to the Netherlands from the US in 1981 for love. His experience of his own relationship with his Dutch wife, coupled with his professional background, make him an ideal candidate to comment on this topic. He described some of the issues people run into in intercultural relationships. “There are important factors like age and life phase. You’re more adaptable when you’re younger, and you can grow together,” he said. “If you’re lucky you have an equal situation that you develop organically. Dependence is important - financial and emotional. If you’re very dependent on your partner for a social life, for example, that doesn’t feel equal. There’s the potential for isolation.” “Dutch is a key issue, if you don’t learn the language what does that mean for your integration? How you integrate can determine how happy you are. How long do you plan to stay? That impacts how you invest in your life here. Don’t fool yourself that it’s temporary,

it might not be,” stated Bender. “Another variable is your own character and adaptive capabilities, are you flexible or strict in your traditions and culture? We all have these traits, but you don’t notice until you’re with someone that has a different way. I’ve seen a number of times that the partner from another country feels like they’re sacrificing, and the Dutch partner feels guilty. That’s not a dynamic that’s productive,” he explained. Bender stated that there are a lot of variables, and depression and other psycho-social problems can be common and to be mindful of that. “When you’re in love, life is beautiful, wherever you are. That beginning point when you fall in love is wonderful, but it comes to an end sooner or later, usually sooner. Being in love lasts six months, if you’re lucky a year, and then reality starts coming in,” he said.

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Testing the teachers At TU Delft, it’s not just the students who sit for exams. In April, 24 staff members, including assistant professors, senior faculty and even some managerial staffers, sat for a test. Spread out over a few days, the test was divided into two rounds and was conducted by a team of experts. Sounds daunting? For some of the professors, it was. For others, it was an interesting process to gauge their English language skills.

alled the English Language Test, the test is conducted on campus by a dedicated, accredited department. It is mandatory for all postgraduate teaching staff and all new appointees are required to take the test within the first year of their employment.

WHY TEST THE TEACHERS?

The test is closely linked to the overall internationalisation of the university. Around 2006-2008, almost all MSc programmes at TU Delft began being taught in English. With more international students gravitating to the Netherlands and a wide group of staff from the world over, English became the second official language of the university. In keeping with that, the university set certain requisite standards for academic teaching staff to ensure that students got the best quality education from an international group of teachers. “Back then the board of governors of the university decreed that all teachers needed a high level of English, at least a high-level C1 as per the Common European Framework for Reference (CEFR), to be allowed to teach MSc courses. Ideally, the university would like 50% of the teachers to be C2, which is the highest grade allotted per CEFR ranking,” said Pauline Post, director of the university’s language centre, ITAV (Instituut voor Talen en Academische Vaardigheden).

TU’S LANGUAGE CENTRE Initially, these tests were conducted in Leiden, but in June 2011 the university set up a language test of its own, to be conducted under

’The test is not just for Dutch staff; TU’s international employees from non-English speaking countries also have to take’

the aegis of ITAV. Besides English language testing and classes, the centre also teaches Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch. At the English centre, there are seven examiners, each with a degree in Linguistics or English and teaching experience. “As the university took over the testing, we asked one of the world’s leading language testing experts, Dave Allan (the founder of the Norwich Institute for Language Education), to come in and train the teachers. Each and every one of us went through intensive training at the time. And, we invite him every year to ensure that the testers are regularly tested too,” said Liza Berry, who runs the English Language Test for Lecturers at ITAV. In 2012, TU Delft received formal accreditation from NILE for the Assessment of Spoken English, making it the first and, so far, only university in the Netherlands to have the recognition. Besides conducting the test, the ITAV communications department offers courses on academic presenting, scientific writing, debating techniques, among other things.

OPEN TO EVERYONE The English Language Test is conducted five times a year and up to 24 people can take it at a time. While it is mandatory for all teaching staff, including PhDs who take tutorials or lectures, managerial and support staff can also opt to test their language skills. The test is not just for Dutch staff; TU’s international employees from non-English speaking countries also have to take the test. There have been candidates from Korea, Spain, Russia, Chile, Iran and several other countries. “We are very cognizant and appreciative of international differences. Accents are not a problem, we only look at how well they can communicate,” said Berry. In case anyone scores below a C2 or a high-C1, they can take some classes at the language centre and people who score B2 or lower (“which is rare,” said Berry) are guided to outside centres for further improvement.

TESTING CAN BE TRICKY The test for teachers has been carefully designed keeping in mind the kind of candidates that take it. Teachers are assessed on pronunciation, range, accuracy, interaction and communicative effectiveness

Text: Damini Purkayashta

’Given how international our students are, it’s good for the university to have teachers with a high level of English’ over two rounds. The first round is a 45-minute online test that covers grammar, listening, vocabulary and reading. The next one is a spoken section, a 15-minute interaction during which candidates answer general questions, describe some photographs and discuss a few basic concepts of their subject. “There is an interviewer who talks to the candidate and an assessor who sits aside. Candidates are often apprehensive about it and some are even surprised by how pleasant the experience is,” said Berry. Specialised tests had to be developed to fit this framework. “You have to be aware of the different range of skills involved when it comes to people working at a postgraduate level. It’s also important to make sure that the test tasks are appropriate to that repertoire of skills,” said Dave Allan, who has worked on creating similar testing frameworks around the world. The testing team at TU Delft continues to meet with Allan annually “to analyse the previous year’s results and ensure continuing inter-rater reliability so that the test remains fair for all who take it and remains reliably linked to the CEFR.” Over the past four years, Allan has noticed a change in the attitude of staffers at TU towards testing. “Initially there was an understandable reluctance to being graded and only people really confident came in for the testing.” As people understood the test and the merits of it, candidates came in more willingly.

SO, HOW DO THE CANDIDATES FEEL? Sander Hartjes, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, also studied at TU Delft. He has noticed a marked difference in the aerospace faculty over the years. “When I was at TU we had a lot of professors who spoke poor English. Now, a significant part of our staff is international, from various countries including Portugal and Ukraine. All the education in our faculty is in English and within the faculty we hardly ever speak in Dutch. Given how international our students are, it’s good for the university to have teachers with a high level of English,” he said. Joyce Kooijman, a teacher in the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, took the test during the March-April session. “I did it voluntarily as I was already giving lectures in English and wanted to

see what my level was. I was apprehensive at first, not about English, but because it had been a long time since I’d taken any test whatsoever.” Both Kooijman and Hartjes said their test scores were something they would add to their resumes. Asked if there’s a pattern to the kind of candidates that score well, Berry said the results are sometimes surprising. “There are many older people for whom the test was a breeze, and enough younger colleagues who find it more difficult. Many biases fly out the window when you start to test, which actually makes it more enjoyable than some would think.”

GOING GLOBAL English-language testing is not just limited to the Netherlands. In 2013, the Belgian government conducted a test for 3,000 university teachers and between 10-20% of them reportedly failed. Called the Interuniversity Test of Academic English (ITACE) for Lecturers, the test was created in collaboration with several Belgian universities, including KU Leuven and University of Antwerp. ITACE also follows the CEFR scoring system. “They have also invited ITAV to be a part of the brainstorming session on it. The news about our training and testing is spreading.” said Berry. Several Italian universities have also approached NILE for similar tests. With the cost of higher education in England increasing and more students looking at travelling to the continent to study, having teachers proficient in English increases a university’s attractiveness. In the past decade, European institutes have started collaborative projects and research with China and several countries across South America, making it important for staffers at all levels to have a good grasp of the language. At the same time, a number of universities and cultural centres from South American countries have approached NILE. “With the increasing pace of globalisation of education, English is being seen as the lingua franca. The Netherlands has been an interesting front runner in this regard,” said Allan. <<

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BOOK REVIEWS

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The non-native Dutch Speaker

A novel about the deposition of the Shah and the return of Khomeini and the political division that grips Iran seen through the eyes of the Aqa Jaan family. Abdolah fled Iran and was given political asylum in the Netherlands in 1988.

Caroline Vermeulen is a freelance writer for the English pages of Delta. Originally from the UK, she has been living in the Netherlands since 2008.

THE DINNER BY HERMAN KOCH Novelist Herman Koch’s fifth novel takes place in a wellknown Amsterdam restaurant popular with the upwardly mobile. Two brothers and their wives meet for dinner and as the evening wears on some very unsavoury truths emerge – one of their sons has committed a disgusting and cold-blooded crime. Witty and a real page-turner.

IN MY FATHER’S GARDEN BY JAN SIEBELINK The book, which won the 2005 Literatuurprijs, follows Hans, a father and gardener who becomes more and more obsessed with fire and brimstone Calvinism as the story progresses. Set in several parts of the Netherlands, the book does a wonderful job depicting the Dutch countryside and living conditions.

THE DISCOVERY OF HEAVEN BY HARRY MULISCH This book is truly about ‘life, the universe and everything’ and consequently the plot of the Discovery of Heaven is far too convoluted to explain in a few lines. But it’s a Dutch classic and a long read which should take up most of your holidays.

MAX HAVELAAR, OR THE COFFEE AUCTIONS OF THE DUTCH TRADING COMPANY BY MULTATULI Max Havelaar is a civil servant in the Dutch East Indies who, appalled at the cruelty and corruption of Dutch colonial rule, writes an inflammatory book about what he has witnessed. Multatuli’s book is said to have hastened the demise of colonialism and the name Max Havelaar lives on in a 21st-century fair trade food label.

THE DARKROOM OF DAMOCLES BY WF HERMANS Hermans’ novel tells the story of a man whose double / alter ego encourages him to get involved in anti-German activities. When the war is over he is branded a war criminal. His double, the only one who can clear his name, fails to materialize, convincing his prosecutors that he is a figment of his imagination.

THE TEA LORDS BY HELLA HAASSE The story of ambitious and straight-laced Rudolf Kerkhoven who becomes a tea planter in the Dutch East Indies. Haasse based her documentary novel on documents and letters from the relatives of the characters.

Robin Pascoe is Editor in Chief for Dutch News.

OPINIONCAROLINEVERMEULEN

THE HOUSE OF THE MOSQUE BY KADER ABDOLAH

For me, like many others, learning Dutch has been a challenge. Let’s face it, one can easily get by speaking English in the Netherlands. However, I acknowledged that learning the language would help with integration, as well as make my life easier. So after living here for two years, I decided I was going to learn – and for me it was exactly that, a decision. I signed up for evening classes. Two years later, with the NT2 staatsexamen II under my belt, I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself, job done. Or was it? I’m now brave enough to start up a conversation with someone in the queue at the supermarket or the waiting room at the doctors’ office. Immediately I get a look – recognition of the fact that I’m a foreigner. Some people look confused, some are frightened and don’t even try to engage with you, some encourage you, some switch immediately to English, and some start speaking very slowly like I’m a small child. The latter drives me crazy. I’m not stupid, I’m foreign. Don’t misinterpret my odd accent for stupidity. It’s not just me; friends have reported similar experiences. A quick Google search confirms that this is a researched and documented phenomenon. Natives tend to think people with an accent are less intelligent. A foreign accent undermines a person's credibility in ways that the speaker and the listener don't consciously realise. According to the research, an accent makes a person harder to understand, and therefore listeners are less likely to find what the person says truthful. Also, when you express yourself in a language that is not your mother tongue, you simplify your thoughts. Thinking in Dutch is just harder to do, it takes longer and it is exhausting. So I can’t express myself in the same way as I can in English. I also find that the Dutch in my head is often much more fluent than the words that make it out of my mouth. One-on-one conversations are fine, but in a large group I still find myself tuning out after a while. Whilst I’ve found learning Dutch difficult, it has also been satisfying. However, the process is never complete; there’s always more to learn. One thing’s for sure, moving to another country and trying to learn the language definitely teaches you humility.

Those long lazy summer days in a hammock with a good book are beckoning. If you feel like getting to grips with some of the Dutch literature greats, here’s a selection to upload onto your e-reader.

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SINCE YOU ASKED... Dr. Daphne Stam, Associate Professor of Planetary Sciences at the TU Delft Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, spoke to Delta about the Philae comet lander and what we hope to find now that it has woken up. According to Stam, this is the first time there has been a ‘soft landing’ on a comet. The purpose of the mission was to drill into comet 67P and discover its make-up. However, when Philae touched down in November 2014 many feared the mission was doomed. Thanks to a broken thruster, the spacecraft bounced from the original landing spot, ending up between rocks where its solar-charged batteries couldn’t recharge enough to send data packets back to Earth. As of June 13 this year, the lander woke from hibernation and was able to resume its research, part of the Rosetta mission, launched by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). When asked why this information is important, Dr. Stam explained that one of the primary themes of the Rosetta mission is to discover where water on Earth came from. “According to some, the earth has much more water than you would expect after planet formation,” she said. “One of the theories is that most of this water was brought in by comets and asteroids.” Additionally, comets are dangerous as they have the potential to impact with Earth, so whether we want to blow one up or change its course, it is important to understand what they are made of.

Thesis A dissertation defence on Friday the 13th demonstrates a culture-conscious bypass of paraskevidekatriaphobia. ANNEMIEK VAN BOEIJEN Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering Crossing Cultural Chasms; towards a culture-conscious approach to design

(Illustration: European Space Agency)

While it looks unlikely that any complex molecules – for example, peptides – will be found on comet 67P, Dr. Stam explained how scientists can work out the likelihood of comets bringing water to Earth. There is normal hydrogen, with one proton in the nucleus and also hydrogen with both a proton and neutron in the nucleus, around twice as heavy as normal hydrogen. “Depending on where you are in the solar system the ratio of normal to the heavy hydrogen differs, and by looking at this ratio in different bodies you can find out whether it’s likely that comets like 67P brought water to the Earth.” The water

found on comet 67P is in fact very different from the water we have here on earth, meaning that it is unlikely comets of this type are the origins of our oceans, but as Dr. Stam emphasised, this is still a very interesting result, and the Philae has many months left to make valuable discoveries about the structure and material that makes up comets.(AC)

“When I chose the date of my defence, I was aware that for some people, this date has a negative connotation. This example illustrates how a particular form - in this case a particular day and date – means nothing to one group (e.g. in Spain and Greece the unlucky day is Tuesday the 13th, and in Italy, it is Friday the 17th), but is highly significant to another. My thesis uncovers both the importance and potential of culture-conscious (product) design. Cultural groups should be understood not only in order to avoid mismatches between people and what is designed (in this example, a ritual). They should also be understood in order to take a conscious design position. ” February 13, 2015

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Text: Damini Purkayastha Photos: Sam Rentmeester

The logistics of exchange

English pages

In a regular edition of Delta, this is where the Englishlanguage pages begin. We’ve kept the formatting the same, so you can get a feel for our usual layout. As TU Delft becomes more and more international, this section of the magazine has expanded along with the number of English-language articles published to our website. If you have ideas for stories, comments or questions about the international section of Delta, send an email to deltainternational@tudelft.nl

All students, including exchange students, are able to use the Sports Centre.

In June 2015, students at Duke University filed a petition against a university policy that denied visiting students membership at on-campus sports and recreational facilities. The policy was eventually changed, but the news sparked discussions about how universities around the world treat their exchange students.

U Delft hosts hundreds of exchange students every year, some via Erasmus, the 3TU Federation and other international partnerships. Besides the Central International Office (CIO), every faculty has a department dedicated to exchange students (incoming and outgoing). Student housing is arranged by DUWO, as it is for full-time international students. However short their stay, the university doesn’t see exchange students as mere ‘visitors’. “On the contrary, we encourage

students to become members of student associations and to use the sports and cultural facilities available on campus,” said Maaike Kraeger-Holland, Exchange Coordinator, Faculty of Civil Engineering. As for membership at Sports & Culture (S&C), exchange students need an official letter from the university specifying the duration of their stay. “All students - including exchange students - can use a sports card to participate in all activities, with the exception of fitness (a fitness subscription is available for 2, 6 or 12 months),” said Samantha BirtantieLiebregts, communication manager, S&C. While students need to buy an annual sports card, they can use the refund policy for part of the cost of their sports card if they are here for a short duration. “This is subject to the condition that the period for which they are requesting a refund is longer than three months.” As for the various extra-curricular classes offered, given that they are typically for seven weeks, all exchange students are welcome to apply for them. Exchange students can also attend the introduction programme organised by the CIO, but are required to pay for it as they do not pay the university fees. However, most faculties also organise smaller orientation programmes, such as the two day

The university doesn’t see exchange students as mere ‘visitors‘

mandatory (and free) programme hosted by Civil Engineering. The faculty also assigns a student-buddy to their 70-odd annual exchange students. The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) expects about 90 exchange students in 2015. Besides a welcome day, they have a mentor for the group who meets them every week. The mentor introduces them to BlackBoard, shows them how to enrol for exams, etc. “There is also a closed Facebook group for EEMCS exchange students where they can ask questions to the mentor or me, or contact each other,” says Jitske van der Laan, International and Internship Officer, EEMCS. Around 65 exchange students enrol at the Faculty of Industrial Design (IDE) each year. “The biggest challenge for them is to get used to the big scale of the faculty. We have our own introduction day and appoint student mentors as well,” says Janneke Arkesteijn, International Coordinator, IDE. Spanish exchange student Joel Plana says the streamlined process worked great for him. “Everything went smoothly, especially when compared to what some of my friends who are Erasmus scholars at other universities faced. Things here were well organised, soon after I got my student ID I got my membership at the Sports Centre.”

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Big welcome for record number of international students The International Introduction Programme 2015-2016 promises to be the biggest so far with around 1800 students about to start their studies at TU Delft.

tarting on August 17 2015, the two-week programme includes a daily Meet and Greet at the Welcome Café, multi-cultural celebrations and a rocket-building competition. In addition, there will be plenty of help introducing nonDutch students to all the administration involved in beginning an academic study in the Netherlands.

“As usual, we asked both Dutch and international students already studying at TU Delft to help”, said Sophie Vardon, Student and Staff Introduction Coordinator, “And there was such an overwhelming response that we had to have two days of assessment to select who to train as a coach.” During the introduction weeks, these coaches will be on hand to help international students with everything from how to open a bank account, and how to use Blackboard and even, how to fix a bike. There are four categories in the optional part of the programme: practical, academic, social and cultural understanding. Vardon’s team is working closely with Dutch student organisations to get the new graduates and undergraduates involved in sport and cultural activities.

Building on the success of the last introductory week, the team is once again running a water-rocket launching competition. “From the feedback of previous years,” said Vardon, “we know that mandatory projects, designed to test academic ability and team spirit, have been less popular than the other activities. But the water-rocket competition half a year ago was one of the most popular events ever.” Groups of ten students from different countries and faculties will spend a few days working together to design a water-rocket that they get to launch at the end of the week. This time the contest has been scaled up with seven or eight launchers instead of just one, and marks will be awarded for presentation and, of course, the rocket that stays airborne for the longest time. (ABG)

We must be able to trust each other When you come to TU Delft, you already have enough to do organising your study, housing, and social life; so why should you also think about ethics?

as respect, scientific integrity, and transparency, guiding researchers through the minefield of problems to do with plagiarism, dishonest reporting of results and conflicts of interest. “Situations can arise which are not clear-cut”, said Van den Hoven, “especially in our modern society. Scientists can be faced with dilemmas regarding research financed by

The moral quality of an academic community is very important

ike most universities around the world, TU Delft has a Code of Ethics, a set of guidelines on moral behaviour for all its staff and students with respect to rights, responsibilities and intellectual aspirations. “It’s about the pursuit of truth not being undermined or corrupted”, said Jeroen van den Hoven, Professor of Ethics and Technology at TU Delft. “So at the coffee machine, you want people to talk enthusiastically about their work and share ideas - and not think ‘Oh, I won’t mention that book to him because it’ll help him.’ We must be able to trust each other because the moral quality of an academic community is very important.” A code of ethics revolves around core values such

commercial funding, for example, or whether or not to accept additional positions. And students, too, may be faced with situations in which they need to decide where the interests of the university end and their own begin.” That’s why TU Delft introduces the concepts of scientific integrity and responsible innovation to students as early as possible. Ten years ago, the Dutch Research Council (NWO)

set up a programme on Ethics, chaired by Van den Hoven, which focuses on 21st-century technology and applied science. One goal of this programme is to ensure that researchers and engineers take moral considerations into account early in the design process. “We want to shape technology by getting people to think about ethical values as a requirement for design. So build an infrastructure or coffeemaker that is responsible, does not waste energy, is safe, sustainable, etc. There are many examples such as electronic patient records, or smart metres, which do a wonderful job in terms of functionality or sustainability, but do not respect privacy; that’s not what you want. For instance, we had a bus explode near The Hague that was optimised for sustainability - very light with liquid gas - but it exploded; they forgot about safety. So sorry, you have to do all these things, they all matter and what you want to design or make is something that accommodates all your values and that’s responsible innovation.” (ABG)

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TU Delft

Text: Caroline Vermeulen Photo: Marcel Krijger

DELFT SURVIVAL GUIDE Surviving visas What are your plans after graduation? The Dutch government wants to retain non-EU talent in the country. What, and how viable, are the visa options available to those students that wish to stay? ORIENTATION YEAR FOR GRADUATES IN THE NETHERLANDS Known as the search year visa and designed to allow graduates time to job hunt. The IND recommends applying within four weeks of graduation, and it’s issued for a maximum of one year from your graduation date. You’ll have unlimited access to the labour market and can work freely for the duration. It costs €614. TU Delft graduate, Prakhar Kapoor, had such a visa. “It was simple enough to do, I just filled in the forms online and took them along to the nearest IND office,” he said. “I do feel that the fee is too much. I had a bank loan to come here and was lucky enough to find a job, others haven’t been so lucky.” At the end of the year, you must have found work and changed your residence permit or you will need to leave the country.

ORIENTATION YEAR FOR HIGHLY EDUCATED PERSONS Similar to above, but not just for graduates of Dutch universities, this visa is also issued for one year and will entitle you to seek suitable employment. You can apply within three years of graduation, for example, if you go home after your study then want to return. It has a points based

system that rates your education, age and likelihood of success in the Netherlands. However, it doesn’t exempt you from the work permit requirement once you do find a job. Costs €614.

HIGHLY SKILLED MIGRANT VISA Once you’ve found work, this is the visa your employer is likely to apply for on your behalf. There are minimum gross monthly salary requirements, excluding holiday allowances: €4,189 for over 30’s, €3,071 for under 30’s, and interestingly just €2,201 if coming from an orientation year. Costs €870.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHER VISA PhD students and guest researchers are eligible, but only recognised institutions can apply. The visa provides a

‘It was simple enough to do, I just filled in the forms online and ook them along to the nearest IND office’

work permit waiver for you and your partner. Costs €307.

WORKING AS AN EMPLOYEE You may find an employer that will take you on as a labour migrant, if no other option is available to you. You must earn a competitive income, and your employer needs to prove a Dutch or EU national wasn’t available to do the job, which can be difficult. Costs €870.

WORKING ON A SELF-EMPLOYED BASIS You can apply for an entrepreneurial residence permit if your business serves an essential Dutch interest, which is assessed on a points based system. Costs €1,279 plus accountancy fees for verifying your finances. Typically, there’s a low success rate for getting this visa. Gaurav Genani, TU Delft graduate and founder of Skel-Ex, said, “Few internationals were doing it before, but there are more now thanks to incubators like YES!Delft. It took about a month to prepare the application for the

IND. The business plan is the most important thing, treat the IND like an investor, the document is crucial. I was trained at YES!Delft so I had help, advice and a letter from them supporting my application.” It’s not a quick process, as it took Genani nine months from start to finish.

INNOVATIVE START-UP VISA This is a new permit valid for one year. Only possible under the guidance of an experienced facilitator, of which there are only a handful, it’s competitive. Finn Hansen, founder of Med Canvas, was the first recipient on March 4, 2015. “This visa was designed as a stepping stone to the self-employed visa, it has less strict criteria and is less elaborate. The process was relatively straightforward,” he said. “I believe 12 months gives you ample chance to build your business and get it to a stage where you can meet the requirements for the self-employed visa,” he added. Costs €307, plus a further €384 upon expiration to extend to a self-employed visa.

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SCIENCE Significant investment offers new opportunities for quantum computers At the start of June it was announced that the Dutch government, alongside TU Delft, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and six other institutions, have pledged to invest €135 million over the next decade to develop quantum computing.

ver the past few years, scientific efforts worldwide have been increasingly directed towards developing a quantum computer. They are much more powerful and faster than any super-computer and are based on a quantum network which is impervious to hacking or interference – something particularly valuable in today’s climate. While regular computers work with

bits, assigned either the state 1 or 0, quantum computers work with qubits which can have both values simultaneously, and are entangled with other neighbouring qubits. The more entanglements, the more powerful the computer according to Anouschka Versleijen, strategy director of QuTech, the Delft based quantum research centre where this funded development will take place. Although QuTech has been operating since 2014, finishing the first quantum computer will take more than a few years. Versleijen emphasises that they are extremely pleased that the Dutch government and these institutes have committed to the large-scale, long-term investment necessary for this kind of technology. Often grants for scientific research see many interesting questions brought up, but not always solutions. However, with this €135 million over a ten-year period, “it means QuTech is a research

institute with a lifespan consistent with a specific long-term research project.” The end goal for QuTech is, of course, to develop a quantum computer, quantum networks or even quantum internet. There are already a number of TU Delft students working with QuTech. Versleijen told Delta that while they encourage more students to join, they hope to stabilise in the next few years with around 200 researchers, and from there the €135 million will fund their research for the long-haul rather than funding the centre’s growth. She also emphasised the fact that QuTech, a joint venture between the physics and electrical engineering department, has the opportunity to work with TNO, offering a new take on their research. “We are able to do science 2.0; we are able to combine TU Delft science research with applied engineering kind of research into one big melting point.” (AC)

SHORT

More news on delta.tudelft.nl/science

Printed 3D bridge

Rendering of the bridge. (Photo Credit: MX3D)

Fountain of life Nobel laureate Professor Jack Szostak from Harvard Medical School visited the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience. He explained how chemistry might have kick-started life in volcanic lakes. “Once you have a single strand of RNA and you've been able to copy it, you have a duplex: a double-stranded RNA molecule. To be copied to child cells, however, you need to get those strands apart. The simplest way to do that is by heating the RNA up. But, of course, RNA is a rather delicate molecule. You don’t want to cook it for hours, or you’ll have nothing left. The ideal situation would be to have some physical process with a very rapid rise in temperature in a few seconds up to 90-95 degrees, but then very quickly drop back down to a colder temperature. If you look around at nature and try to see some situation where that happens, there’s only one that I know of, and that is a hydrothermal vent in a shallow lake or pond. My favourite example is Lake Yellowstone in the western US. There is a magma chamber underneath as a source of heat that drives groundwater circulation. The water goes into the ground, gets heated up and comes up through these vent structures. You have streams of hot water coming out and then being dispersed in the rest of the lake. If you imagine a situation like that on the primitive Earth, you can imagine cells

floating around in the cold water of the lake. Now and then they get caught up in these streams of hot water. They’d be heated up very quickly to a high temperature that would allow the RNA strands to separate. It would also allow nutrients to flow into the cell. But then the cell would not stay hot for very long. In a few seconds, it will flow back out and mix with the surrounding cold water. It's the fluctuations in the environment that drive the primitive cell cycle. There are different processes involved in this with different time scales. The geological processes took many millions of years. After that, for the Earth to accrete volatiles, to have water and land above the oceans probably took millions of years. Then to get to the chemical concentrations needed may have taken tens of thousands of years. But once you start building up the molecules into more and more delicate structures, we are talking shorter time scales of weeks, months or years. Once you get to the point of making membranes and RNA molecules – RNA, in particular, is very delicate – then we must be talking about timescales of days at most. Once you have all the ingredients in the right environment, the actual construction of the first cells that could grow and divide may have been very fast – in the order of hours or days. Once there is the formation of life, then things start to develop very quickly." (JW) More on delta.tudelft.nl/30145

In partnership with TU Delft, Amsterdambased start-up MX3D has developed robotic technology that aims to 3D-print a steel bridge on location by 2017. The robot is, in effect, a 6-axis 3D printer that will create the bridge by adding small amounts of molten steel at a time. Designer of the bridge, Joris Laarman, believes that printing an intricate, ornate metal bridge at a highly visible location will show people what robots, engineers, craftsmen and designers can do when they work together. delta/tudelft.nl/30096

Climate Ethics Symposium Climate change not only threatens our planet, but also our sense of meaning, since it is difficult to believe that our individual actions matter. The Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management and the TU Delft Climate Institute organised the symposium Climate Ethics and Policy to discuss this philosophical subject. The keynote speaker was Dale Jamieson (Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, Affiliated Professor of Law, New York University). His presentation was followed by a panel discussion delta/tudelft.nl/30118

Text: Caroline Vermeulen Illustration: Stephan Timmers

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WHAT’S HIDING IN DELFT? Once a month on this page you’ll find the ‘What’s hiding in Delft?’ series. This highlights objects and collections hidden both around the university campus and the city of Delft. Granted city status in 1246, Delft turns 769 years old this year. Although TU Delft only received its current name in 1986, it has been providing technical education for over 170 years. With history like that, there’s plenty to discover. The map here indicates all of the subjects featured to date. If you would like to suggest an exhibit for us to cover, feel free to email us at deltainternational@tudelft.nl with your ideas.

BEIJERINCK MUSEUM

Department of Biotechnology, attic Building 5 Julianalaan 67 An archive of papers and many of the tools of the first three bioscience professors at TU Delft.

MINERALOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

THE STUDIEVERZAMELING

Faculty of Electrical Engineering Mathematics and Computer Science, basement Building 36 Mekelweg 4 An extensive collection of electrical engineering objects.

THE CHAIR COLLECTION

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, first floor Building 8 Julianalaan 134 A diverse educational collection of around 300 chairs.

OLD PAINTINGS DATING TO 1610-1620

BOTANICAL GARDENS

THE MATERIAL LIBRARY

MADAME DE BERRY THEATRE

Oude Delft 68 Ancient paintings were discovered at this residential property during renovations.

Science Centre Delft Building 3 Mijnbouwstraat 120 A historic collection of crystals, minerals, ores and fossils.

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Building 6 Poortlandplein 6 The gardens of TU Delft are not just for research, but also a leisure area.

Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, ground floor Building 32 Landbergstraat 15 A collection of material samples to inspire designers.

Voorstraat 13 a A unique twenty-seven seat theatre that offers an unforgettable experience.

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KEY SCULPTURE OF QUEEN MAXIMA Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, studieverzameling, basement Building 36 Mekelweg 4 A sculpture of the Dutch Queen made out of 5,253 keys.