RSA CE&C 2015-2021

32 In the Chemical and Process Technology domain, Prof. Schouten, Prof. Gallucci, Prof. Van der Schaaf, Dr. Noël, Dr. de Groot and Dr. Neira d’Angelo (female) are active on the theme of sustainable process engineering, bringing together expertise in chemical reactor design, process intensification, renewables conversion and flow chemistry. In 2019, Prof. Rebrov (Energy-Intensified Chemical Reaction Engineering) joined in anticipation of the retirement of Prof. Schouten in 2020. In 2020, Dr. Noël was promoted to professor at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The intensive collaboration between TU/e (catalysis) and the University of Twente (process technology) and between TU/e and Utrecht University (catalysis) forms the core of the MCEC Gravitation program, which focuses on establishing a multi-scale modeling base in catalytic conversion processes. This program has led to a new activity in mesoscale modeling (Dr. Filot, tenured since 2018), linking the quantum-chemical modeling of catalytic events to reactor modeling. Prof. Nijmeijer (female) succeeded Prof. Kroon in 2016 as the chair of Membrane Materials and Processes, the original position being funded by the first sector plan fund in 2009. This group focuses on the design and development of polymer membranes to separate molecular mixtures for sustainable processes. At the same time, associate professor Dr. Borneman (polymer membrane formation) joined; in 2019, this activity was further strengthened by Dr. Forner-Cuenca (electrochemical membrane processes) appointed as assistant professor. In the field of catalysis, the TU/e-UU Alliance program has led to the appointments of Dr. Hofmann on solar fuels catalysis (2014; since 2020, full professor at TU Darmstadt), Dr. Kosinov on inorganic materials and catalysis (2016) and Dr. Costa-Figueiredo (female) on inorganic electrochemistry (2019). Together, the new junior staff (Forner-Cuenca, de Groot, Costa-Figueiredo) develop a chain of knowledge in the areas of the electrochemical conversion to fuels and chemicals and energy storage processes. In 2016, the activities of Prof. Kuipers were strengthened by appointing Dr. Baltussen (female) and Dr. Buist appointed as assistant professor to enhance the research on the multi-scale modeling of multiphase flows. The focused investments described above, together with the scientific excellence of several researchers, has resulted in a further strengthening of the internationally leading position of the department in the identified areas of gravity on molecules & materials for health and materials & processes for energy applications. In line with the vision on internal career paths, the department appointed several promising staff to the rank of full professor, e.g., Voets (female; 2018), Gallucci (2018), Palmans (female; 2019) and Van der Schaaf (2020). Besides senior appointments, the department was able to attract several early-career researchers with diverse international backgrounds. In recent years, the department mostly invested in full professorships and young talent. Simultaneously, some people at the associate professor level left the department for promotions at other universities. This has resulted in a solid fundament of senior scientists complemented by a strong base of junior staff. In the coming years, the strengthening of mid-career staff requires attention. As of 2020, 35% of the scientific staff are international. A dedicated program of the department and the active search committees to improve the gender balance (despite efforts that were not successful in all recruitment trajectories) led to the appointment of several female researchers during the review period (Table 4), resulting in a gradual increase in the relative amount of female scientific staff from 15% in 2015 to 26% in 2021. Detailed numbers at the different career levels can be found in Table 2 in Appendix A. Table 4: Number of female, male and total scientific staff in the department. Year 2015 2017 2019 2021 Number of female staff 7 (15%) 6 (14%) 9 (21%) 10 (26%) Number of male staff 39 (85%) 37 (86%) 34 (79%) 29 (74%) Total number of staff 46 43 43 39