Opinion

While you were gone

With a long and well deserved vacation behind you, you are probably wondering what happened in the meantime in Enschede now that you’re coming back. Student columnist Niels ter Meer (23) wrote a little update for you.
Science

Better climate change adaptation in Europe

‘We need a systemic climate change adaptation in Europe. We are already experiencing the results of not having such an integrated approach,’ say UT researchers Gül Özerol and Erwin Nugraha. They both worked on a recently completed European project ‘C5a’, which aims to make Europe more resilient in the face of the changing climate.
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Honorary Doctorates
Debra Roberts finds her honorary degree ‘extremely empowering’

Working in the twilight zone

Debra Roberts (1961) could be described in many ways. She is an influential figure in the field of climate change adaptation, a government official in South Africa and one of the Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); but what truly illustrates the person she is, is her reaction to receiving the honorary doctorate at the UT. ‘This honorary degree should go to my parents.’
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Honorary Doctorates
Debra Roberts vindt haar eredoctoraat ‘een enorme steun in de rug’

Werken in de schemerzone

Debra Roberts (1961) kan op vele manieren beschreven worden. Ze is gezaghebbend op het gebied van klimaatadaptatie, werkt voor de Zuid-Afrikaanse regering en is een van de vicevoorzitters van het Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Maar wat haar pas écht karakteriseert, is haar reactie op het eredoctoraat dat haar werd toegekend door de UT. ‘Dit eredoctoraat zou eigenlijk naar mijn ouders moeten gaan.’
News

‘Antarctica has to be protected’

Avinash Narayanaswamy, UT alumnus and a starting entrepreneur from India, recently embarked on an expedition to Antarctica. He was selected as one of 172 people to participate in the 2041 Climate Force Antarctica Expedition dedicated to climate change and sustainability leadership.
News

Van Aalst in European climate advisory board

UT professor Maarten van Aalst is one of the fifteen members of a newly founded advisory board that falls under the European Environment Agency. The advisory board will provide the European Union with scientific knowledge, expertise and advice relating to climate change.
Spotlight

‘We need to change how science is done’

Professor Esther Turnhout (1972) is the new chair of the Section of Science, Technology and Policy Studies (STePS) of the University of Twente. In her research, she wants to tackle topics of sustainability, biodiversity and science-policy interface, but she also wants to explore how science could be improved overall.
News
Scientists4Future – Twente

‘A platform where people can connect’

Scientists4Future – Twente is a new initiative founded by UT researchers. This ‘coalition of concerned scientists’ aims to support citizens and organizations in Twente with science-based information related to the climate emergency.
News
Melting ice sheets in Week of Inspiration

‘Enschede might look like Torentje van Drienerlo’

Getting inspired from your student room: it is possible. Every year, the UT offers a ‘week of inspiration’, this year fully online. In the lecture on Tuesday evening, we could learn about melting ice sheets. Speaker on this topic was Peter Kuipers Munneke, the weatherman of NOS news.
News

‘Not all practices at the UT are in line with sustainability’

The new organisation University Rebellion wants the UT to improve its sustainability. This Thursday, their first event will take place at the O&O square. Hugo Hof (23, Applied Mathematics) and Benny Jabold (25, Psychology) explain about their initiative.
Science
Professor Tatiana Filatova

‘We are facing the resilience decade’

In her inaugural lecture today, professor Tatiana Filatova will talk about ‘Changing climate – Changing behavior’ and the importance of including social science in climate change policies. ‘To create true resilience, we can’t just change the physical infrastructure. We need to keep the social aspect in mind, because people don’t always make optimal and rational decisions.’
Spotlight
‘It is no man’s land and a constant threat of polar bears’

ITC alumnus joins largest polar expedition in history

Four months of complete darkness and a high risk of being attacked by a polar bear. Those are just some of the dangers ITC alumnus Vishnu Nandan will be facing soon. This Friday, the researcher is embarking on the largest polar expedition in history.
News

‘The time is right to do something about climate change’

Scientists4Future NL is an alliance of Dutch scientists striving for a more active role in the climate crisis. UT professor Arjen Hoekstra is one of the 1800 academics who have signed the alliance’s public statement. ‘We have been talking about climate change for thirty years, but too little is happening. I feel I need to speak up, because we simply don’t do enough.’
Science

Heat wave caused forests to emit CO2

You might still remember the extremely hot week in July. Recent measurements by UT scientists show that, during that heat wave, forests in the Netherlands emitted CO2. ‘This is very rare. We have not seen this situation since we started measuring in 2006. But we have to be careful not to overinterpret these measurements,’ says ITC researcher Christiaan van der Tol.
News

Albert van den Berg: ‘We need to pay back to the earth’

‘We have to do something, or our kids will have nothing left. We need to remove CO2 from the atmosphere,’ says professor Albert van den Berg about his initiative for a new research programme on Negative Emission Technologies. The programme was officially kicked off yesterday during a symposium at the UT.
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