Marco de Baar

Marco de Baar is a Full Professor (Part-time) and Chair of Plasma Fusion Operation and Control at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He concurrently serves as Head of Fusion Research at DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research) and represents the Netherlands in the EUROfusion consortium. His research focuses on plasma control in fusion reactors, including magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities, plasma stability optimization, and remote maintainability of fusion systems. He has extensive experience leading operations at JET (Europe’s largest fusion experiment) and contributes to ITER-NL as a program leader for MHD stabilization.

• Education: PhD in Physics (TU/e), MSc in Experimental Physics (Utrecht University)
• Affiliations: Member of DIFFER’s management team, Technical Advisory Panel for Fusion for Energy

His work integrates physics and control engineering to address challenges in managing plasma heat loads and achieving optimal reactor performance. He also explores tele-operated maintenance techniques for fusion reactors, as evidenced by his collaboration on the Upper Port Launcher project.

Labs/Teams: Part of the Control Systems Technology Group and Group Heemels at TU/e, collaborating closely with DIFFER’s fusion research initiatives.