For fifteen years, petrochemical company Braskem has been working hard on developing biobased polymers, like I’m green™ bio-based polyethylene.
Teaching transformed Isabelle Kohler’s career from an anxiety-inducing PhD requirement to her greatest academic passion. Here, she offers practical strategies to PhD students and postdocs facing increased supervision duties.
Field-flow fractionation is a decades old technique with a lot of potential, though lack of knowledge and training keeps it from getting the attention it deserves. ‘You can couple FFF to all kinds of detectors, so the amount of information you can possibly gather is very rich.’
Isabelle and the KNCV will join forces to launch a national mentoring program for early-career researchers. This column is both a reflection on the power of mentorship and an invitation to join the pilot phase of this initiative.
Should fundamental research be adapted to meet the needs of businesses, Sjoerd Rijpkema asks himself. Or is there another solution?
Our members form the beating heart of our societies. Here, we regularly highlight one of them. This time, it’s NBV-member Katarina Cankar.
The CLEAR initiative at the University of Twente won the Dutch Education Award 2025. The jury was impressed by the systems thinking approach, which creates chemists that are well-suited for the challenges of tomorrow. So, what’s next?
The summer break offers academics more than rest – it’s a rare opportunity to pause, reflect, and realign. Isabelle Kohler shares how a quieter pace can help you recalibrate your academic compass and make intentional choices for the year ahead.
Isabelle Kohler shares why science communication – in whatever format works best – might be one of the most rewarding parts of any professional journey.
In the Netherlands, big steps are already taken in terms of the protein transition and precision fermentation. However, education is needed to ensure these major developments can continue. The English courses offered by Wageningen University & Research are a good start. ‘Training people to lead the field is important.’
Sjoerd Rijpkema recognises the merits of amending the Opium Act, but believes that this is only one side of the coin.
As academic work increasingly shapes personal identity, early-career researchers are especially vulnerable to over-identifying with their PhD. Isabelle Kohler shares how this dynamic affected her own journey and offers practical strategies to help PhD students and postdocs build a broader sense of self.
According to scientists at the University of Amsterdam, simple calculations show that the idea of a hydrogen economy emerging in the 21st century is completely unrealistic. They wrote about this in Green Chemistry.
By incorporating game-based learning in his courses, Michael Lerch provides his students with a new perspective on chemistry. ‘Turning complex concepts into something hands-on and fun like a puzzle, helps them to really understand the material.’
Isabelle Kohler contemplates how local decisions, like cutting language support, risk undermining national goals for integration and long-term talent retention. She calls on institutions and policymakers to invest in those people already committed to building their careers in the Netherlands.
A close collaboration between teams from the universities of Leiden and Groningen succeeded in the total synthesis of the very complex molecule lugdunomycin and clarified its biosynthetic pathway, which included an intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction.
Isabelle Kohler highlights the disconnect between academic training and real-world readiness. She calls for a systemic shift to better equip early-career scientists for a job market that extends far beyond academia.
After a reviewer carelessly left a ‘please let me know if you’d like some other questions!’, Sjoerd Rijpkema knew they had used ChatGPT for the reviewing process.
Scientist Marthe Wens (32) is active in Scientist Rebellion. She learned to protest step by step. ‘At first, I watched from the sidelines until I was ready to take action myself.’
Isabelle Kohler reflects on the recent all-female space flight and the media’s focus on celebrities over scientists. She shares actionable steps researchers can take to foster a more inclusive and equitable academic culture.