The alliance of TU/e, WUR, UU, and UMC Utrecht (EWUU) has appointed two Scientific Directors and a Director EWUU Education to strengthen the collaboration between the four institutes in Eindhoven, Wageningen and Utrecht. They are appointed on the alliance’s main focus areas by the EWUU board. The institute 4 a Circular Society is honoured to announce the new appointment of Prof. dr. ir. Huub Rijnaarts who is a professor in Wageningen and who will lead the EWUU focus area of Circular Society.
The strategic alliance between TU/e, WUR, UU and UMC Utrecht was formed in 2019, and has experienced rapid growth since then. Almost 80 interdisciplinary research projects have been set up, with 400 researchers from the four institutions. At least nine inter-university challenges have been organised for both Master’s and Bachelor’s students. Next to this all students have the opportunity to easily enrol in courses provided by the partner institutions. An overview of various projects and activities can be found in the EWUU Highlight Report.
To help continue this pace of growth within the intitute 4 a Circular Society as well, the EWUU alliance has appointed Prof. ir. Huub Rijnaarts as Scientific Director. With this appointment, he will also take on the role of EWUU professor, and serve as ambassador for the partnership. He will play a crucial role in tying the various institutions and disciplines together, with the goal of contributing to solving urgent problems society faces today.
Prof. dr. ir. Huub Rijnaarts is Professor Environment and Water Technology at Environmental Technology of Wageningen University & Research. He is also Principal Investigator at the Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS). His research focuses on circular water, waste and energy solutions for urban and (agro)industrial systems. He leads several research projects focused on water technology, resource recovery, creating resilient cities and sustainable industries in balance with the rural environment. Huub has been involved in the Circular Society programme of the EWUU alliance since 2020.
“The four partners in the EWUU alliance work together to accelerate the transition to a circular society. The world’s current patterns of production and consumption exacerbate resource depletion, climate change, environmental pollution, and biodiversity loss, in addition to fostering geopolitical dependence and social inequality. The urgency of transitioning from a linear to a sustainable circular society cannot be overstated. Interdisciplinary science plays a crucial role in developing socio-technological innovations and independent knowledge about the complex behavioural and systemic changes necessary to accelerate that transition. Stakeholders from cities and industry, agriculture and nature, and healthcare will be intensively involved in order to contribute to the acceleration of energy and resource transitions in their sectors.”
Next to the appointment of our new Scientic Director, two other directors have been installed. Prof. dr. Ines Lopez Arteaga works as a professor at TU/e and is responsible for the alliance’s education ambitions. Prof. dr. Roel Vermeulen is a professor in Utrecht and guides the EWUU alliance’s ambitions in the area of Preventive Health. Read more about this on the general EWUU website.
