Jorgen D'Hondt appointed director Nikhef
Prof. dr. Jorgen D'Hondt has been appointed director of the National Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef. He succeeds current director Prof. dr. Stan Bentvelsen, whose second term expires at the end of this year.
The NWO-I Foundation Board decided to appoint Jorgen D'Hondt.
This with the consent of the Nikhef Board and after a positive advice from the Nikhef Works Council. D'Hondt has been appointed for a period of five years, with the possibility of one reappointment for the same period. Currently, D'Hondt is a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Internationally renowned scientist
"The choice of D'Hondt is based on his broad expertise as an internationally renowned scientist. He is an experienced institute director and has an extensive track record in international collaboration, which is obviously crucial for Nikhef. We see in him an inspiring leader who, together with his colleagues at Nikhef, will further develop the long-term strategy for Nikhef to enable excellent science now and in the future," said Marcel Levi, president of the Foundation Board of NWO-I.
Building a strong partnership
Nikhef is no stranger to D'Hondt: "In various positions, I had the privilege of getting to know Nikhef as a model institute in an international context. Each time I was impressed by Nikhef's capacity and sense of innovation, its ambition to create an inclusive and dynamic research environment, and in particular its large societal impact."
He is looking forward to the appointment and looking ahead to the future: "Nikhef developed an outstanding research programme with unique opportunities for pioneering work in the next decade. As the new Nikhef director, I will maintain the vision that future advances in particle and astroparticle physics will continue to be closely linked to technological innovations to make the invisible visible."
"While I look back with pride on my time in Brussels, I am extremely excited to build an impactful and sustainable future for Nikhef together with all scientific, technological and organisational talents in a strong partnership. Let's build the future together."
Background D'Hondt
D'Hondt received his PhD from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) in 2003 and has been VUB-director of the Inter-University Institute for High Energies (IIHE) in Brussels since 2011. His career began with research on the properties of the W boson with the former Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP) at CERN. He then focused on building the CMS detector for the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and went on to research top quarks, the heaviest elementary particles we know. Today, he is developing techniques to discover the coupling between charm quarks and Higgs particles. Between 2014 and 2017, he chaired the Board of the international CMS collaboration.
From 2018 to 2020, D'Hondt chaired the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) and played a leading role in updating the European strategy for particle physics. He is a regular member of advisory boards, a guest at leading conferences and actively contributes to numerous teaching and outreach activities.
More information about Nikhef
For more information about NWO Institute Nikhef, please visit the Nikhef website.
Joint news release from NWO-I and Nikhef