Nikhef researcher Prof. Eric Laenen is the new director of the UvA Institute of Physics (IoP), appointed for a period of three years. As director of the IoP, Laenen aims to strengthen ties within the institute and with partner institutes in the FNWI and at the Amsterdam Science Park.
Laenen will be added to the IoP board as an additional member, alongside the heads of the three underlying institutes. Prof. Daniel Bonn remains head of the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, Prof. Jan de Boer head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics, and current IoP director Prof. Paul de Jong remains head of the Institute for High Energy Physics.
Theoretical physicist Laenen came to the University of Amsterdam in December 2006 as professor of theoretical physics, focusing on quantum field theory and the phenomenology of elementary particles. He had previously been a professor at Utrecht University since 2001, where he still holds a part-time appointment for one day a week.
As a senior researcher at Nikhef, Laenen headed the Nikhef Theory Group for a period of 13 years, until 2018. Laenen has been associated with CERN in various roles, most recently as Dutch delegate to the CERN Council, and since the beginning of this year as vice-chair of that Council.
(UvA news)