Patricia Dankers and Evangelia Demerouti, both professors at TU/e, have been elected new members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Dankers, who specialises in chemistry and biomedical materials, and Demerouti who is an occupational and organizational psychologist, join a select company of seventeen leading researchers from across the country.
Patricia Dankers is professor of Biomedical Materials at the department of Biomedical Engineering and affiliated with the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems. She has developed special materials that stimulate damaged tissue in the body to repair itself and that prompt stem cells and mini-organs in the laboratory to grow. This is a breakthrough in her field: regenerative medicine.
A number of start-ups are using her materials for biomedical applications such as repairing blood vessels, delivering anti-cancer drugs into the abdominal cavity, and regenerating breast tissue after breast cancer. Dankers also demonstrates considerable social commitment: she actively brings science to the general public at schools, through appearances on radio and TV, online explainers , and collaboration with artists.
Working on workplace happiness
What are the factors that determine whether someone feels good and performs well at work? Evangelia Demerouti , Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at the department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences , has developed a theory showing how striking the right balance between workload and supporting factors - such as help from colleagues and the employer and a pleasant working environment - makes employees healthier, more effective, and happier. Her insights are now applied worldwide, for example by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate and similar European bodies.As Chief Diversity Officer at Eindhoven University of Technology, she initiated the successful Irčne Curie Fellowship-programme , which opened all scientific vacancies at the TU/e for a period of six months exclusively to female candidates. This led to more female scientists and broad attention to diversity both inside and outside the university.
About the KNAW
The KNAW advises the government and calls itself ’the voice and conscience of science in the Netherlands’. New members are chosen annually by a jury for each discipline, based on demonstrated scientific excellence.
This latest announcement comes on the eve of the Academy’s 217th anniversary. From dozens of nominations, independent juries have selected the seventeen new members. They not only excel in scientific research, but also show a strong societal commitment. Ten of the new members are women. The new members’ official installation will take place on September 29 this year.
Read more about all new members on the KNAW website.
