RSA CE&C 2015-2021

31 5. Evidence and accomplishments 5.1. INTRODUCTION In line with its mission, the main ambitions of the department during the reporting period were to maintain its strong position in key societally-relevant areas and to strengthen the identified areas of gravity despite the pressure on financial resources. This requires investments in people and excellent research at the forefront of science and technology with a societal impact. Concrete actions and results related to these aspects achieved during the review period are described below and are divided into two sections: research quality and societal impact. 5.2. RESEARCH QUALITY People In the last six years – with the availability of resources due to additional sector plan funds, the promotion of scientific staff of the department to positions at other universities, and natural attrition – the department has been able to strengthen its staff in supramolecular and polymer chemistry, physical chemistry, separation technology, inorganic materials and catalysis, and chemical reactor engineering in line with the identified areas of gravity of the department (Table 1, presented earlier). Also, the department’s chain of knowledge in the field of electrochemical energy conversion and storage has been empowered. A detailed list of all new hires in the review period is given in Table 1, Appendix A. In theMolecular Systems andMaterials Chemistry domain, Prof. Schenning and Prof. Sommerdijk were promoted to the rank of full professor, establishing new groups in 2015 in response to the retirements of Prof. Broer and Prof. de With (both in 2015). Prof. Schenning works on stimuli- responsive functional materials and devices. This activity was reinforced with the appointment of Dr. Liu (female), who uses concepts of synthetic organic chemistry to design macroscopic materials for morphology and shape control. Prof. Sommerdijk left to Radboud University Nijmegen (RUN) in 2019. Prof. Tuinier moved from DSM to TU/e in 2015 and heads the Physical Chemistry group. Dr. Vis joined that group as an assistant professor in October 2019, bringing theoretical and experimental expertise in the field of macromolecular mixtures. Prof. van Hest was appointed as a full professor in Bio-Organic Chemistry in 2016. Dr. Abdelmohsen joined as an assistant professor in 2018, aiming for the design and fabrication of nanomotors. Prof. Voets (female) was appointed as a full professor (Self-Organizing Soft Matter) in 2018, with her initial appointment stemming from the first sector plan fund. In 2022 (outside of the scope of the review period), this activity was strengthened with Dr. Moerman appointed as assistant professor. In 2019, Prof. Palmans (female) was promoted to full professor, focusing on supramolecular chemistry and catalysis. In the same year, Dr. Vantomme (female) was appointed as an assistant professor in the field of supramolecular materials chemistry in this group. In 2020, Prof. Tomovic moved from BASF, joining the department with expertise in polymer performance materials and a strong focus on polymerization strategies for the creation of novel polymers with inherent recyclability for reuse. In 2022 (outside of the scope of the reviewing period), this activity was strengthened by Dr. Eisenreich appointed as assistant professor.