Changes in education and research place new demands on Utrecht University’s real estate.The university is also looking to curb operating costs and at the same time ensure its operations are more sustainable and reflect its leading role in sustainability research.Utrecht University therefore plans to invest over 800 million euros in building and rebuilding over the next ten years.This calls for radical decisions.The property portfolio will be smaller,more modern and concentrated in the city centre and at Utrecht Science Park.In the long term,the International Campus Utrecht,currently located on the grounds of the former Kromhout Barracks,will be divested.The ecological footprint of the buildings will be reduced by 65%and operating costs will fall.These savings will benefit the primary task of the university:education and research. 查看详细>>

Five Utrecht University researchers specialising in energy and sustainability have taken part in the Dutch House of Representatives’round-table discussions.This direct impact on Dutch policy offers excellent opportunities to bring academic value to the debate about the climate.Dr Sanne Akerboom shared her knowledge about public support for energy transition;Prof Gert Jan Kramer commented on his review of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency‘s(PBL)calculations of the effects of the Climate Agreement;Prof Wilfried van Sark looked at the possibilities of solar panels,Prof Ernst Worrell stressed the need for rapid action in improving the sustainability of industrial energy consumption and Prof Hens Runhaar called for concrete agreements and undertakings in the agricultural sector. 查看详细>>

Storing renewable electricity in molecules can solve two problems at once:first of all environmentally harmful CO2 can be used as afeedstock,and secondly it can enhance our capacity to store renewable electricity in chemical bonds for long periods of time.The latter is necessary because traditional batteries do not yet have the capacity to ensure enough flexibility,stability and security to store wind and solar energy on alarge scale for extended time periods.Utrecht University researchers are publishing aPerspective article on the status quo of‘Power to Methane’today in Nature Catalysis.First author Charlotte Vogt comments:“Aside from understanding fundamental physical and chemical concepts behind catalytic reactions,I’m especially interested to know if and how the research Iam doing can impact society.That’s why Iwanted to start this societally relevant,but still fundamental research project.”Another process that can be used to store electricity in molecules is the conversion of water to hydrogen via electrolysis.This process is cheaper than methanation,because it involves fewer reaction steps.The researchers have now calculated that despite this higher cost of the process,it can still be beneficial to make methane out of CO2 because storage of methane is ten times cheaper than hydrogen.This way,we can store electricity for seasons in apotentially cheaper manner than by using only hydrogen.“The important part of this idea is that we do not send the methane to houses,where it gets re-emitted as CO2,but rather to recycle this carbon again and again in aclosed-loop process,”says Vogt.“This process of using methane as achemical battery has an overall efficiency of roughly 34%,so we need alot of CO2 to ensure that our‘battery’gets big enough.”Another option is to make methane out of sustainably resourced biomass or municipal waste.In this case,the methane could be sent to houses through our natural gas network.However,without acarbon tax this synthetic natural gas(SNG)will be more expensive than fossil methane,so it is unlikely that this process will come to fruition in the near future. 查看详细>>

Scientists from Utrecht University,University Medical Center Utrecht and Hubrecht Institute have successfully created kidney organoids from urine cells.This could lead to awide range of new treatments that are less onerous for kidney patients.The results of the research were published in Nature Biotechnology on March 4th.Thanks to revolutionary developments in stem cell research,scientists can grow mini intestines,livers,lungs and pancreases in the lab.Recently,by growing so-called pluripotent stem cells,they have also been able to do this for kidneys.In their study,the researchers from Utrecht University used adult stem cells,directly from the patient,for the first time.Urine cells also proved to be ideal for this purpose.A mini kidney from the lab doesn‘t look like anormal kidney.But the simple cell structures share many of the characteristics of real kidneys,so researchers can use them to study certain kidney diseases.‘We can use these mini kidneys to model various disorders:hereditary kidney diseases,infections and cancer.This allows us to study in detail what exactly is going wrong’,says Hans Clevers,Professor of Molecular Genetics at Utrecht University and the University Medical Center Utrecht,and group leader at the Hubrecht Institute.‘This helps us to understand the workings of healthy kidneys better,and hopefully,in the future,we will be able to develop treatments for kidney disorders.’ 查看详细>>

Government agencies collect much data and use data technology to optimise their services.This‘datafication’affects the core tasks of municipalities and provinces in many ways.It also raises questions,for example about ownership,ethics,and technology.The Utrecht Data School(UDS)and the Utrecht University School of Governance(UUSG)have therefore started acollaboration with local and regional authorities to develop academic and applied knowledge about data practices.Dr Mirko Tobias Schäfer(UDS)and Prof.Albert Meijer(UUSG)are currently working together in the Datawerkplaats(Dataworkplace)with the municipalities of Almere,Gouda,and Woerden,and the province of South-Holland.Initially,the researchers will work with the external parties for the next two years.Schäfer:"This cooperation makes it possible,through interdisciplinary research in three different municipalities and aprovince,to explore which capacities(local)governments need to develop in order to function in the digital society,and what administrative role they need to play”.CONCRETE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS There are two lines of research.The first line explores possible action perspectives for governments in relation to digitisation.The second line investigates which operational capacities governments need to have in house to be able to function properly in the datafied society.Schäfer:"This study is directly linked to the questions local and regional authorities face.The aim is to develop concrete knowledge products that can be used by local and regional authorities.Examples include aframework for cooperation with market parties;a guideline for the participation of citizens in data projects;or aframework for ethical testing of data projects.”GOUDA An example of how people work together in the dataworkplace can be found in the cooperation with the municipality of Gouda.Schäfer:"In Gouda we looked at the value of data in dealing with aproblem such as burglary.The municipality of Gouda had already analysed data on perpetrators,victims,and related addresses,but had not yet looked at environmental factors.Students of UDS collected this data for four different categories:Weather and time,quality of neighbourhoods,social cohesion and perceived security.With these students we can not only research data practices,but also develop them,and we stimulate debates between stakeholders and policy makers;through all this we actively participate in shaping the future datafied society.For the dataworkplace,the researchers explore the necessary data skills that the organisation must develop in order to be able to create value from data itself. 查看详细>>

Chemists at Utrecht University have managed to utilise cobalt as acatalyst for the production of basic chemicals from natural gas.In doing so,they have reduced the carbon dioxide emissions in avital step of the chemical conversion process from 50 per cent to almost zero.Nature Communications published the findings by the group of inorganic chemists led by Krijn de Jong today.The chemical industry uses basic chemicals made from petroleum for the large-scale production of plastics,pharmaceuticals,and solvents.In the process,considerable energy is lost as the long carbohydrate molecules that petroleum is made of are cut into smaller pieces.The transition to natural gas and biomass as raw materials is now in full swing.One possible reaction path in that transition uses iron as achemical catalyst,but at the moment the process loses around 50%of the carbon in the form of CO2.Cobalt instead of iron Aformer PhD candidate at Utrecht University’s Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Research has discovered that CO2 emissions can be reduced to zero when she used modified cobalt to catalyse the reaction instead of iron.UU inorganic chemist Krijn de Jong:“This is abreakthrough in catalysis science,and it has everything to do with the size,shape,crystalline structure,and surface composition of the cobalt nanoparticles.”Essential sodium and sulphur particles Via the intermediate product‘synthesis gas’,a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen,the circumstances can be optimised to create light olefins.In the older reaction using iron as acatalyst,50%of the synthesis gas had atendency to change into carbon dioxide,and part of it converted back into methane.But when cobalt is used as acatalyst,almost no carbon dioxide is created,and very little methane.De Jong:“That’s because the surface holds particles of sodium and sulphur,which are essential for suppressing the formation of methane.” 查看详细>>

The Netherlands would do well to learn from Angela Merkel‘s migration policy and the Israeli cybersecurity approach.This was the conclusion of an analysis conducted by an interdisciplinary research team from Utrecht University,commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security‘s Research and Documentation Centre(WODC).The report,entitled‘Towards aResilient Open Society‘,offers building blocks for future security policy.‘Security considerations in the Netherlands are often pragmatic,but sometimes naive,‘according to head researcher Mirko Noordegraaf.‘The security situation in the Netherlands has changed for the worse over the last few years.How can we find abalance between making asociety resilient,while at the same time protecting an open society that respects democratic values and the rule of law?In an attempt to answer this question,we considered two case studies:German migration policy and Israeli cybersecurity policy.‘ 查看详细>>

Today,the municipal council of Utrecht decided to officially change the name of the neighbourhood‘De Uithof’to‘Utrecht Science Park’.BIGGEST SCIENCE PARK IN THE NETHERLANDS The Utrecht Science Park is one of the most competitive regions in Europe and the biggest science park in the Netherlands.This name is better suited to the(international)image of the area,immediately makes it clear what type of area it is and makes adirect connection with the city and region of Utrecht.Utrecht University,University Medical Center Utrecht,the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology,the Hubrecht and Westerdijk institutes,the RIVM,the SSH and companies such as Danone Nutricia Research,Genmab,Merus and GenDX are pleased that the name change will be carried out.The Province of Utrecht,the surrounding municipalities of De Bilt,Bunnik,Zeist,Houten and Nieuwegein,and the Economic Board Utrecht all support the name change as well.“Together with the area partners,surrounding municipalities and the province,we are happy that the municipal council of Utrecht has decided to officially change the name of the neighbourhood‘De Uithof’to‘Utrecht Science Park’.The name change will put the Utrecht Science Park literally and figuratively on the map in abetter way.We are happy with this support from the municipal council.Here,institutions and highly-rated companies collaborate intensively to find new solutions for ahealthier and more sustainable life,”says Jan Henk van der Velden,Managing Director of the Utrecht Science Park Foundation. 查看详细>>