Hauke Smidt is a Personal Professor at Wageningen University & Research, affiliated with the Molecular Ecology group within the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences. His research focuses on microbial ecology, particularly gut microbiota dynamics, antibiotic resistance, environmental microbiology, and the One Health framework. Smidt has supervised over 50 PhD students and contributed to 519 publications, including studies on microbiome resilience, fermented food impacts, and bioremediation strategies. Education and affiliations include leadership roles in projects addressing antimicrobial resistance, pig health, and drinking water microbiology. His work spans collaborations across Europe and Asia, with notable contributions to understanding microbial community responses to environmental stressors and dietary interventions. Smidt is actively involved in public outreach, as seen in media contributions discussing microbiome research and health benefits. Key projects include aquifer treatment for drinking water, microbiome simulation models, and combating plant pathogens. His awards and recognition are not explicitly listed, but his extensive publication record and project leadership highlight significant academic impact.
Beatriz Noheda is a Full Professor of Functional Nanomaterials at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Science and Engineering, where she chairs the Solid State Materials for Electronics group at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials. She also serves as the founding Director of the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials center (CogniGron). Her academic journey began with a PhD in Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid in 1996, followed by research positions at Brookhaven National Laboratory and various European institutions before joining Groningen through the prestigious Rosalind Franklin Fellowship program in 2004. Her research interests span the physics of functional materials with particular emphasis on ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and multiferroic thin films . She investigates the relationship between structure and functionality, focusing on nano-domain control through strain engineering and the unique properties of domain walls. Her work bridges fundamental physics with two promising application areas: piezoelectric energy harvesting for low-power electronics and the development of novel materials for neuromorphic computing . This dual focus reflects her vision of enabling the next technological revolution through materials science. Noheda's publication record shows a clear evolution from fundamental structural studies of ferroelectric materials toward cutting-edge research in hafnia-based ferroelectrics and neuromorphic computing materials. Her most recent work focuses on oxygen migration in hafnium-zirconium oxide systems, metal-insulator transitions in nickelates, and the development of novel ferroelectric phases suitable for next-generation electronic devices. These publications demonstrate her leadership in advancing the field from basic understanding toward practical applications in memory devices and cognitive computing systems. Fellow of the American Physical Society (2011) - awarded for fundamental structural studies of new phases in perovskite-type ferroelectric materials and domain nanostructures IEEE Robert E. Newnham Ferroelectrics Award (2020) - for outstanding contributions to understanding giant piezoelectricity in lead zirconate titanate Member of the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (AcTI) (2022) Elected Senior member IEEE (2021) Rosalind Franklin Fellowship (2004) - enabling her successful academic career in Groningen Noheda has secured substantial research funding throughout her career, including a Rosalind Franklin Fellowship (2004-2009), VIDI-NWO Fellowship (2004-2008), TOP-NWO project on Functional Nanowalls (2007-2012), multiple Zernike Institute Dieptestrategie grants, and a significant TOP-PUNT grant (2016-2021). She has supervised numerous students and early-career researchers, contributing to the development of the next generation of materials scientists. Her leadership extends to editorial roles on prestigious journals including Science, Physical Review Applied, and npj Quantum Materials. As Director of CogniGron, Noheda leads an interdisciplinary center focused on developing materials and systems for cognitive computing. Her team combines expertise in functional oxides, nanoelectronics, and neuromorphic engineering to create novel computing paradigms inspired by the human brain. The center represents a strategic initiative at the University of Groningen to position itself at the forefront of cognitive systems research.
Raquel Fernández is Full Professor of Computational Linguistics and Dialogue Systems at the University of Amsterdam, where she leads the Dialogue Modelling Group at the Institute for Logic, Language & Computation (ILLC). As Vice-Director for Research at ILLC and a Fellow of the ELLIS Society, she bridges computational linguistics, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence through her research on language use in multimodal and conversational contexts. PhD in Computational Linguistics from King's College London Prior research positions at University of Potsdam and Stanford University's CSLI Her work explores how cognitive constraints, social interaction, and perception shape language use, with a focus on: Visually-grounded language processing Multimodal dialogue modeling Model uncertainty and calibration Language grounding in multimodal data Language learning and semantic change Dialogue reference resolution Recent publications analyze multimodal reasoning limitations, cross-lingual knowledge consistency, and uncertainty modeling in dialogue systems. She has received multiple accolades including an ERC Consolidator Grant , NWO VENI/VIDI/Aspasia fellowships , and EMNLP/GenBench awards . Outstanding Paper Award (EMNLP 2023) Best Data Award (GenBench Workshop 2023) ELLIS Society Fellow ERC Consolidator Grant #819455 recipient NWO VENI/VIDI/Aspasia awardee As a leader in academic service, she serves on the SIGDAT Executive Committee and chairs multiple conference committees. Her lab develops models for multimodal dialogue, visual storytelling, and grounded language understanding.
Dr. Etienne Gaudrain is a permanent Researcher at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL) , Université Lyon 1, France, and a Visiting Researcher at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Netherlands. His work focuses on auditory perception, particularly in cochlear implant users, and he has co-supervised multiple PhD and Master’s students across institutions. Current affiliation: Université Lyon 1, Faculty of Medical Sciences Secondary affiliation: University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) Education: PhD in Acoustics, Université Lyon 1 (2008) Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR), Université Lyon 1 (2021) M.Sc. in Acoustics, École Centrale de Lyon / Université Lyon 1 (2004) M.Sc. in Engineering, École Centrale de Lyon (2004) Research interests span auditory scene analysis, speech perception, cochlear implants, pitch and vocal tract length perception, and perceptual integration of speech features. He has contributed to understanding how cochlear implant users segregate concurrent speech and perceive vocal characteristics, developing novel methodologies like Zebra-speech to study sequential aspects of auditory processing. His work has involved collaborations with institutions in France, UK, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. He has served as an ad-hoc reviewer for journals such as The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and organized multiple international workshops on speech-in-noise research. Supervision and Grants: Supervised 5 PhD students (2012–2025), including Floris Rotteveel (dual PhD 2022–2025) and Moïra-Phoebé Huet (2016–2019) Coordinated or contributed to grants totaling over €2.5 million, including an NWO VICI grant (€1.5M, 2017) and an ERA-NET CoSySpeech grant (€844k, 2021) Labs and Teams: Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics team, CRNL, Lyon Speech Perception group, UMCG, Groningen Collaborations with MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (Cambridge, UK), CNBH (Cambridge), and international researchers
Prof. Joost Reek is a Professor at the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Science and leads the Homogeneous, Supramolecular and Bio-Inspired Catalysis group within the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences. He serves as scientific director of NIOK (Netherlands Institute for Catalysis Research), a nationwide graduate school coordinating catalysis research across Dutch universities under recognition by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW). His research focuses on supramolecular chemistry and catalysis, with expertise in supramolecular cages, homogeneous catalysis, sustainable chemistry, solar fuels, and electrochemical conversions. The group develops novel catalysts for industrial reactions (hydroformylation, hydrogenation), biomass conversion, and solar fuel generation including water oxidation and CO 2 reduction. Recent work explores nanocage systems for bioorthogonal chemistry and photoactive catalytic nanospheres. Reek's team secured a €10.6 million Synergy grant in 2023 for brain cancer research involving nanocages delivering small interfering RNAs. They maintain industry partnerships through NIOK's VIRAN advisory board and operate a spin-off company translating molecular research into applications. The group is embedded within the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, utilizing advanced facilities for molecular design and catalytic testing. Their interdisciplinary approach bridges fundamental supramolecular chemistry with sustainable energy solutions and biomedical innovations.
Massimo Mischi is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and chairs the Signal Processing Systems (SPS) Division , the largest division at TU/e with over 250 researchers. He founded the Biomedical Diagnostics (BM/d) Lab in 2012, which now includes 180 researchers and clinical/industrial advisors, focusing on biomedical signal processing for diagnostics and monitoring.
Prof. Jan Theeuwes is a Full Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, leading the ERC-funded research group on statistical learning and attention. He holds additional roles as Distinguished Visiting Research Professor at the William James Center for Research (Lisbon) and Visiting Professor at Zhejiang University (China). With over 474 publications and two ERC Advanced Grants (2013 & 2019), his work spans visual attention, statistical learning, and applied human factors in road design. He pioneered the 'Self-Explaining Roads' concept, revolutionizing global road safety design, and co-developed Open Sesame, a widely used open-source experiment builder. His research integrates EEG, fMRI, and computational modeling, addressing topics like distractor suppression, emotion, and leadership influence. Over 25 PhD students have graduated under his mentorship, many securing academic roles across Europe. Education: Cum laude degrees in Experimental Psychology (Tilburg University) and a PhD (VU Amsterdam, 1992). Key awards include the Bertelson Award (2001) and KNAW membership (2010). He advises the Dutch Department of Transportation and founded the Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (IBBA) in 2016. Ancillary roles include leadership in European psychological societies and consultancy for Attention Architects, applying eye-tracking research in corporate settings.
Pascal Mettes is a tenured Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam within the Informatics Institute, specializing in Artificial Intelligence. He leads groundbreaking research in hyperbolic deep learning, a field he has significantly advanced through theoretical developments and practical applications in computer vision and multimodal learning. His research focuses on three primary domains: hyperbolic vision-language models that address the hierarchical nature of language-vision relationships; hierarchical deep learning using hyperbolic embeddings that naturally accommodate exponential growth patterns; and robust deep learning in hyperbolic space that improves out-of-distribution detection and network resilience. Mettes has established himself as a leading figure in this emerging field through numerous publications at top-tier conferences including CVPR, ICCV, ICML, NeurIPS, and ICLR. His recent work demonstrates how hyperbolic geometry provides natural solutions to fundamental limitations in modern deep learning, particularly regarding hierarchical data structures that cannot be adequately represented in Euclidean space. The publication trends show increasing impact and recognition in the computer vision and machine learning communities, with multiple papers receiving oral presentations and best paper nominations. Best paper nomination ESWC25 for 'Designing Hierarchies for Optimal Hyperbolic Embedding' Finalist MM 2023 Best Open-Source Software Competition (for HypLL) Multiple reviewer awards across major conferences including CVPR, ICLR, ECCV, ICML, and NeurIPS MM 2016 Best Doctoral Student Award TRECVID 2015 Winner Multimedia Event Detection Benchmark Mettes actively mentors eight PhD students working on hyperbolic learning and related topics, while also securing significant research funding including ELLIs PhD Award, NWO ClickNL, Google Perception Academic Funding, and Data Science Centre PhD Grants. He serves in prominent academic roles as Program Chair for International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval 2026 and has organized multiple workshops on hyperbolic learning at major conferences. His leadership in establishing hyperbolic deep learning as a recognized research direction is evident through his survey paper in IJCV 2024 and the development of the HypLL library for hyperbolic learning.
Maureen Sie is a Full Professor of Philosophy of Moral Agency at the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences , Tilburg University, and director of the Tilburg Center for Logic, Ethics, & Philosophy of Science (TiLPS) . She specializes in philosophy of action, moral psychology, and meta-ethics , with a focus on moral responsibility, free will, self-control, and the adaptive unconscious . Her work bridges empirical findings in neuroscience and behavioral sciences with philosophical theories of agency and ethics. Her recent publications analyze implicit bias, moral hypocrisy, and emotions as foundational to moral practices , including their role in societal phenomena like #MeToo. She has received a prestigious NWO grant (2009-2014) to study how unconscious influences affect moral agency. She also chairs organizations like the Dutch Research School of Philosophy (OZSW) and the International School for Philosophy (ISVW) , emphasizing public engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration. Key Research Themes : Moral responsibility and neuroscience Celebrity as moral exemplars Implicit bias and social categorization Emotional foundations of ethics Critique of free will as illusion Notable awards include the LOT Grotevragenprijs (2023) . Her projects, such as the GROWTH project on distributed agency , explore legal and ethical dimensions of collective responsibility in AI contexts.
Dr. Eiko Fried is an Associate Professor at Leiden University's Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, where he works at the intersection of clinical psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, methodology, and complexity science. His research focuses on improving psychological science through open science practices and innovative measurement approaches. PhD in clinical psychology, Free University of Berlin Postdoctoral training at KU Leuven and University of Amsterdam Promoted to Associate Professor at Leiden University in 2021 Key research areas include: Psychopathology measurement and classification Network analysis in mental health research Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology Open science advocacy and implementation Dynamic systems modeling in psychology Transdiagnostic approaches to mental disorders Recent publications demonstrate expertise in: Symptom network analysis across disorders Improving depression measurement standards Transdiagnostic assessment protocols Mental health data integration challenges Psychological theory construction Methodological innovations in clinical research
Prof. Casper Hoogenraad is a full professor in Molecular Neuroscience at the Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University. His research focuses on understanding how intracellular protein trafficking underlies neuronal development and function, with particular emphasis on the microtubule cytoskeleton, synaptic cargo trafficking, and synaptic plasticity. He leads an active research group within Utrecht University's Cell Biology department and collaborates extensively with other neuroscience research groups. Education: PhD, Erasmus University Rotterdam (1996-2001) Postdoc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2002-2005) Hoogenraad's research spans three main themes: cytoskeleton dynamics during neurodevelopment and synaptic plasticity, motor proteins and adaptors as regulators of synaptic transport, and psychiatric and neurologic disease disorders linked to intracellular transport. His work combines genetics, biochemistry, molecular, and cellular biology methods in in vitro (neuron cultures), ex vivo (brain slices), and in vivo (mice) systems, along with advanced microscopy techniques including immunofluorescent confocal microscopy, high-resolution live cell imaging, and photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM). Analysis of Hoogenraad's recent publications reveals a strong focus on microtubule organization, neuronal polarity, and the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic function and dysfunction. His work frequently explores how disruptions in intracellular transport contribute to neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorders, with particular attention to the relationship between cytoskeletal organization and cargo transport in neuronal compartments. Scientific Awards and Memberships: ZonMW-VIDI (2004) European Young Investigators (EURYI) award (2005) NWO-ALW VICI (2011) ERC Consolidator grants (2013) FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence (2014) European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) (2015) Young Academy of Europe (YAE) (2015) IBRO Kemali Prize (2016) Hoogenraad leads a research group studying neuronal development and function, with a particular focus on how intracellular transport mechanisms contribute to both normal brain function and neurological disorders. His laboratory employs a multidisciplinary approach combining molecular, cellular, and systems neuroscience techniques to investigate the molecular basis of neuronal polarity, synaptic plasticity, and the pathogenesis of neurological disorders. He has secured significant research funding through prestigious grants including ERC Consolidator grants. The Hoogenraad lab operates within the Cell Biology department at Utrecht University, collaborating with other research groups focusing on cellular dynamics, biophysics, and neurobiology. The lab utilizes advanced microscopy techniques including immunofluorescent confocal microscopy, high-resolution live cell imaging (spinning disc microscopy and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy), and quantitative analysis using advanced high-resolution microscopy (photo-activated localization microscopy). Current lab technicians include Phebe Wulf and Bart de Haan.
Karin Roelofs is Professor of Experimental Psychopathology at the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) and Principal Investigator at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen. She chairs the PI-group "Affective Neuroscience" and holds the chair in Experimental Psychopathology. Her research focuses on psychological and neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying social-motivational behavior in both healthy individuals and patients with stress-related and social-motivational disorders such as social anxiety and aggression. She employs various brain imaging techniques (fMRI, MEG) combined with neural stimulation (TUS, tACS) or pharmacological interventions during emotion control and decision making tasks. Her work investigates how stress influences the neural development of emotion control through longitudinal studies including the Nijmegen Longitudinal Study (NLS), BIBO, and the Police In-Action (PIA) cohort. Her key research questions address how people regulate emotional actions, whether emotion control can be improved by influencing brain activity or through real-time biofeedback, and whether psychopathology can be predicted based on acute stress reactions and recovery patterns. Her publications span high-impact journals including Nature Communications, Nature Human Behaviour, and Nature Reviews Neuroscience, demonstrating her leadership in understanding the neural basis of emotion regulation and stress responses. ERC Advanced Grant (2025) ERC Consolidator Grant (2017) ERC Starting Grant (2012) NWO VICI, VIDI, and VENI grants Elected Member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Elected Member of Academia Europaea Professor Roelofs has secured numerous significant grants including the HEART2ADAPT project (2019-2025, ERC-AdG), PIA: Police In-action longitudinal study (2015-2021), and DYNAMORE: Dynamic modelling of resilience (2017-2025). She serves on multiple boards including ALLEA (All European Academies), the Selection committee for the ERC Advanced Grant, and as Board Member of INTRESA (International Resilience Research Alliance). She is also a registered GZ psychologist (BIG) and cognitive behavioral therapist (VCGT), bridging clinical practice with cutting-edge neuroscience research.
Dr. Daan van Rooij serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Utrecht University's Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. His academic work is centered within the Helmholtz Institute Experimental Psychology research program under Chair Kenemans. His research expertise spans Cognitive Neuroscience, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Psychology, Disruptive Behaviour Disorders (specifically ADHD, ODD, CD), Cognitive Development, and Artificial Intelligence. Van Rooij employs fMRI and EEG imaging metrics to study brain development during childhood and adolescence, with particular focus on understanding how biological and environmental factors shape the development of impulsive behavior in youth. His scholarly publications demonstrate strong contributions to autism research, ADHD symptomology, and the genetic architecture of brain structures, with work appearing in high-impact journals including Molecular Autism, NeuroImage: Clinical, and Nature Genetics. Dr. van Rooij teaches various courses within the bachelor and master programs of Applied Cognitive Psychology, as well as AI bachelor and master tracks at Utrecht University, including courses such as 'Artificial Intelligence for an Open Society' and 'Experimentele methoden en statistiek' (Experimental Methods and Statistics).
Said Hamdioui serves as a full Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at Delft University of Technology. His research focuses on cutting-edge hardware architectures for neuromorphic computing and energy-efficient AI acceleration, with particular emphasis on memristor-based systems, emerging memory technologies, and fault-tolerant designs for edge applications. His research interests span Neuromorphic Computing , Memristor-Based Architectures , and Energy-Efficient AI Hardware , addressing critical challenges in hardware security, computation-in-memory, and reliable edge AI deployment. Recent work demonstrates significant advancements in RRAM/FeFET testing methodologies, spiking neural network implementations, and spin wave computing alternatives to traditional CMOS. His publications reveal strong trends toward real-world deployment of brain-inspired hardware with practical constraints like power efficiency, testability, and security. Award highlights include: DATE'20 Best Paper Award DFT'21 Outstanding Student Paper ETS 2021 Best Paper Award LATS 2018 & 2022 Best Paper Awards Professor Hamdioui actively contributes to the research community through editorial roles at IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems , IEEE Design & Test , and Journal of Electronic Testing from 2017-2018. His leadership in multi-partner projects like CONVOLVE and NEUROKIT2E demonstrates strong industry-academia collaboration for edge AI solutions. Current work shows increasing focus on practical deployment challenges including in-field fault monitoring, security vulnerabilities in neuromorphic systems, and realistic brain simulation frameworks.
Sveta Zinger is a Full Professor in context-informed dynamic image analysis for clinical decision support at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). She holds affiliations with the Biomedical Diagnostics Lab, NeuroPlatform, and EAISI Health. Her research focuses on medical image/video analysis, temporal data analysis, and machine learning for clinical applications. She has led projects funded by ZonMw, NWO, Philips, and others. She is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine and serves on the Vidi committee for NWO. Education: MSc (2000) from Dnepropetrovsk State University; PhD (2004) from École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, France. Postdoctoral roles at the French Atomic Agency and University of Groningen. Research Projects: Includes FORSEE (video monitoring for adverse events in healthcare) and NEUROTREND (fMRI biomarkers for depression). Awards: Second place in the CAMELYON17 challenge for metastases detection. Her teaching includes courses on DSP fundamentals, medical image processing, and cognitive neuroscience. She collaborates with clinical and industrial partners to advance biomedical diagnostics and healthcare technology.
