De Nationale DenkTank – kennismaken zonder kaders

De Nationale DenkTank werkt met een team van 20 academici en promovendi gedurende drie maanden aan creatieve én praktische oplossingen voor een urgent maatschappelijk probleem. Het team kan daarbij rekenen op de input van vele experts uit de wetenschap, het bedrijfsleven en de overheid en wordt begeleid door projectmanagers van McKinsey & Company.

De DenkTank doorbreekt bij haar onderzoek bestaande kaders en ontwikkelt een eigen visie. In 2012 is het thema: een duurzame voedselketen. Hoe gaan we voedselverspilling tegen? Wat is duurzaam consumeren? Moeten we voedingstechnologie omarmen of vrezen?

We zijn op zoek naar een multidisciplinair team van bèta’s en economen tot filosofen, juristen en psychologen. Wij zoeken DenkTankers die CEO’s, ministers en andere maatschappelijke leiders een spiegel kunnen voorhouden. Ben jij die ‘maatschappelijke ingenieur’ die verder kijkt dan zijn/haar neus lang is? Meld je dan uiterlijk 6 mei 2012 aan op www.nationale-denktank.nl voor een unieke ervaring bij de Nationale DenkTank.

Klik hier voor meer informatie.

The award consists of a plaque and a honorarium of $ 5,000, and will be presented during the 15th International Congress on Catalysis in Munich, Germany, in July 2012. Weckhuysen will present a plenary lecture during this conference.

The IACS International Catalysis Award is given in recognition of individual contributions by a young person in the field of catalysis, such as a discovery or a significant improvement of a catalytic process, or an important contribution to the understanding of catalytic phenomena. The recipient must not have passed her/his 45th birthday by May 1 of the award year.

Professor Weckhuysen is being specifically recognized for his pioneering studies on the development and use of a wide variety of powerful in-situ micro- and nano-spectroscopy methods for investigating catalytic solids at the single particle level during their activation and realistic functioning. This has lead to new fundamental insight in the active site distribution, molecular diffusion barriers and catalytic deactivation phenomena of industrial relevant catalyst materials, such as fluid catalytic cracking and Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. For example, spatial heterogeneities in the catalytic activity, selectivity and coking within individual zeolite crystals have been revealed by a combination of novel micro-spectroscopy methods and the observed catalytic phenomena have been explained in terms of a complex but generally applicable zeolite intergrowth model. These intergrowth structures are of direct relevance to molecular diffusion phenomena and mesoporosity generation and in this manner impact the overall performance of a catalytic solid. Another breakthrough has been made by combining an in-situ reactor with X-ray microscopy. This has lead to the first thorough investigation of the activation and working of a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst at the nanoscale and allowed investigating in a dynamic manner the different inorganic and organic phases formed. Finally, by applying a specific staining method in combination with fluorescence and electron microscopy it has been possible to provide detailed insight at the single catalyst particle level in the deactivation phenomena, taking place during the catalytic cracking of crude oil.

Next to the various lecture and poster sessions, PhD students and post-docs obtained better insights into their career opportunities at the very much appreciated Career Development & Opportunities session. Also the NIOK PhD Platform presented itself with a very nice Bowling Night in the Cheers Sport café. More of their upcoming activities can be found at their dedicated section of this website (NPP).
 

Each year poster and lecture awards have been handed over to promising young scientists.The VIRAN Poster Awards are handed over by Eelco Vogt (Albemarle, VIRAN member) and the NRSC-C/NIOK Lecture Awards by Gabriela Dima (TU/e, NRSC-C):

The awards for the best posters at NCCC-XII were awarded to Roger Brunet Espinosa (University of Twente, left) and Joris Goetze (MSc student Utrecht University, right). The prizes consist of a plaque and € 500, sponsored by VIRAN.

The NRSC-C/NIOK lecture awards (plaque and € 500) were awarded to Upakul Deka (University of Utrecht / Materials Innovation Institute, University of Delft), Julia Intemann (University of Groningen), and Annelie Jongerius (University of Utrecht). From left to right on the photo: Upakal, Julia, Annelie and Gabriela.

The paper “The promoting effect of adsorbed carbon monoxide on the oxidation of alcohols on a gold catalyst” by Paramaconi Rodriguez, Youngkook Kwon and Marc Koper, was recently published in the March issue of Nature Chemistry, and also features the issue’s cover:

For press coverage related to this paper, see:

University of Leiden (in Dutch)

ACS

Chemistry Views

The paper “Removing Polyvinylpyrrolidone from Catalytic Pt Nanoparticles without Modification of Superficial Order” by Javier Monzo, Marc Koper, and Paramaconi Rodriguez, was chosen as a Very Important Paper in the recent issue of ChemPhysChem, and also features on the journal’s cover:

Further press coverage can be found here.