We are looking for a firm and inspiring candidate to take up the position of Senior Project Manager for the circular plastics project InReP - An Integrated Approach towards Recycling of Plastics.
Please note our Call for Proposals for the DPI 2.0 Polyolefins (PO) programme for projects to start in 2017.
On 4 March DPI researcher Yi Jiang defended his thesis entitled ‘Enzymatic polymerization of biobased polyesters and polyamides' at the University Groningen under supervision of Professor Katja Loos. He received the designation ‘cum laude' for his outstanding scientific work and defense of his thesis.
Professor Jacques Noordermeer, emeritus professor of the University of Twente was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tire Technology Expo and Conference 14-17th of February in Hannover, Germany in recognition of a career of outstanding service to the tire industry.
NWO is pleased to announce that a Call for Proposals "Chemistry of Advanced Materials" for a science industry cooperation programme with the Science & Technology Commission of the Chinese province Guangdong (GDST) was published on the NWO website on 1 February, and that the programme is now open for submissions. The deadline is 28 June. The Chinese version can be found on the website of GDST.
In December 2015, NWO has awarded six New Polymer Materials (NEWPOL) grants. These public-private partnerships will be conducted in collaboration with DPI. The various research projects aim at the development of new polymeric materials that meet the societal and industrial needs for sustainability and multi-functionality.
DPI (Dutch Polymer Institute) is to continue its activities in a new format. The Supervisory Board of DPI, comprising representatives of DPI's industrial partners SABIC, Shell and Teijin Aramid and academic partners Delft University of Technology and Groningen University and chaired by Dr. Herman van Wechem, unanimously supports the continuation of DPI. This means that the institute can continue to fulfil its key role as an international platform for industry-driven polymer research and go on stimulating innovation and talent development.
NWO Chemical Sciences opens a call for proposals within the Biobased Performance Materials (BPM) programme in cooperation with the Dutch Polymer Institute.
Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) and NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) have jointly published a Call for Proposals for academic research in the field of new polymer materials. The New Polymers technology area (TA-NEWPOL) is a public-private partnership programme developed in close collaboration between NWO and DPI, which acts as the private partner representing its industrial partner base.
The year 2014 saw the unfolding of the Dutch government's new Top Sectors policy. Over the past year, the contours of this policy and its implications have become clearer. The new policy has put an end to the specific funding schemes supporting individual institutions such as the Leading Technology Institutes (LTIs) - of which DPI is one - regardless of their past performance. A more generic policy has been introduced instead, with a different organisational set-up and a different incentives structure.
Professor René Janssen will receive a Spinoza Prize, the highest Dutch award in science. This was announced by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) on 12 June. NWO praises Janssen, professor of Molecular Materials and Nanosystems, as ‘world leader in the field of organic solar cells'.
Last week Ivan Kryven obtained his PhD cum laude at the University of Amsterdam with professor Piet Iedema of the Computational Polymer Chemistry group. Kryven worked on DPI project 674: Rheology Control by Branching Modelling in the Polyolefins Technology Area.
The DPI Golden Thesis Award 2014 has been granted to Mark van Eldijk for his thesis entitled "Elastin-like Polypeptides in Protein Nanotechnology". Mark did his PhD work at Radboud University in Nijmegen (Netherlands) under the supervision of Prof. Jan van Hest. The Golden Thesis Award is granted annually for the best PhD thesis resulting from DPI-funded research. Mark van Eldijk was unanimously selected as the winner from among the three finalists competing for this year's award. The other two candidates were: Gert-Jan Wetzelaer (University of Groningen), with a thesis on "Change Transport and Recombination in Organic-Semiconductor Diodes"; and Diego Wever (University of Groningen), with a thesis on "Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Linear and Branched Polyacrylamides for Enhanced Oil Recovery". The award was presented during the plenary session of the DPI Annual Meeting 2014 in Arnhem on 11 November.
Supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the two Top Sectors Chemicals and High Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM), the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) and Materials Innovation Institute (M2i) are setting up a new programme with fundamental and applied research projects. The strategic objectives of the programme are to create an innovative network and to accelerate development and application of fiber reinforced polymers in selected market segments and to create specific fields of expertise in knowledge domains not yet widely covered in foreign programmes.
This year's DPI Annual Meeting was held on 11-12 November and the venue was once again the Papendal Hotel conference centre in Arnhem (Netherlands). The programme included the Annual Meeting, the Technology Area review meetings, the half-yearly meeting of the Council of Participants and DPI Value Centre's annual Polymer Innovation Day.
At the 9th Asian-Australasian Conference on Composite Materials (ACCM-9, from 15 until 17 October 2014) in Suzhou Qingbao Guan working on DPI project #761 received the Best Poster Presentation Award out of 46 posters displayed at the conference poster session. His poster titled "Poly(P-oxybenzoate) Reinforced Polyesterimide Molecular Composites", which displayed the results he has achieved within his DPI project titled "Reactive Liquid Crystal Oligomers as Precursors Towards Composite Resins" was selected by the jury because of its excellent scientific significance and clear industrial relevance.
The Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) and the Materials Innovation Institute M2i, two of the technological top institutes in the Netherlands, have been asked by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Top Sectors of Chemicals and High Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM) to jointly set up a research programme in fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composites. The research programme is intended to start before the end of this year.
Professor Ulrich Schubert of the University of Jena is on the list of Highly Cited Researchers of Thomson-Reuters 2014. Professor Schubert is an active member of the DPI community.
A new synthetic rubber developed by EU-funded researchers repairs itself. That means longer-lasting components, plus reduced maintenance costs and waste. The rubber will initially be used for reducing rail and traffic noise, with many more applications to follow.
owards a new format for DPI Last year, in our Foreword to the 2012 Annual Report, we had expressed the hope that the Dutch government would take a long-term view and continue to support public-private partnerships like DPI as part of its policy to promote collaborative research and innovation and enhance the knowledge infrastructure in the Netherlands. Over the past fifteen years, DPI has developed into an internationally acclaimed example of cost effectively addressing the needs of industry while at the same time building a strong academic base producing innovative solutions as well as competently trained polymer experts. DPI's success is also the success of the Dutch government, whose commitment and financial support have all along been of crucial importance in creating the strong knowledge infrastructure for polymers that the Netherlands boasts today.
On 28 March DPI researcher Gert-Jan Wetzelaer defended his thesis entitled ‘Charge Transport and Recombination in Organic-Semiconductor Diodes' at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen under supervision of Prof. Paul Blom and Prof. Dago de Leeuw. He received the designation ‘cum laude' for his outstanding scientific work and defence of his thesis.
A leading international scientist in the field of polymer sciences at Stellenbosch University has received the highest possible accolade from the South African Chemical Institute.