The Young Academy Groningen welcomes seven new members

The Young Academy Groningen welcomes seven new members. The Young Academy Groningen (YAG) is a group of talented, enthusiastic, and ambitious early career researchers from various disciplines at the University of Groningen (UG) and the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). Members share a passion for science and scholarship and an interest in their broader impacts on academia and society.

The YAG has been very successful in bringing early career researchers together at the ‘ECR lunches’ to discuss ideas related to current debates about recognition, rewards, and academic freedom, as well as to explore interdisciplinary collaborations. The YAG members forge interdisciplinary ties with joint member projects and supervision of interdisciplinary PhD projects.

Recently, the YAG organized the symposium, ‘Interdisciplinarity in Practice’, in collaboration with the PhD/i network, offering a platform for PhD students and supervisors to discuss the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research projects. YAG members contribute to scientific policy, for example with advice concerning the implementation of the Starter and Stimulation grants and a call for effective communication on academic freedom within the UG. YAG members engage in activities with the broader public at events such as the Pint of Science Lecture series, Noorderzon and Zpannend Zernike.

The YAG also offers support to staff members and early career researchers: In the Loop is a platform provided by the YAG to keep young staff at the UG and UMCG in the loop about the ins and outs of a career in academia, including topics such as HR, funding, career paths, and dual careers, among many others. In the Language Buddy project, the YAG has matched 31 scholars affected by the war in Ukraine with experts in their field. We are happy to announce that the seven new members presented here will support us over the coming five years in all our endeavours.

Dr Frank Harbers (Faculty of Arts)

I am a homegrown Groningen scholar who is currently working as a senior lecturer in the Department of Media and Journalism Studies. My research interests include new and existing forms of journalistic storytelling, journalism history, journalistic startup culture & entrepreneurship, and journalistic innovation.

In the last few years, my research has focused primarily on journalistic innovation; more specifically, on the question of why and how innovation is embraced as a panacea to ensure journalism’s digital future. What particularly intrigues me is how innovation and being innovative have become inherently positive markers. My research aims to dissect how innovation is discussed by competing actors in their attempts to strategically exploit the term to actively shape and restrict how we envision journalism’s future.

Alongside my research, I have been active within the Faculty of Arts as a founding member and later chair of the Young Arts Network (2017-2020) and as a member of the Faculty Council (since 2021). As a new member of the YAG, I would love to contribute – among other things – to current debates about recognition and rewards, particularly on the role of academic leadership and/or the way interdisciplinary research and interfaculty PhD positions are being facilitated (within and outside the new schools).

Dr Catheleine van Driel (Faculty of Medical Sciences)

I am Catheleine van Driel, a post-doctoral researcher at the University Medical Center Groningen, and soon-to-be psychiatrist at the University Center of Psychiatry. My research focuses on developing innovative interventions to improve stress resilience, well-being, and functioning for various populations, with a particular focus on people in high-stress work environments (such as healthcare professionals) and individuals with a vulnerability to mental health disorders. My objective is to gain valuable insights into the mechanisms behind stress-induced mental health disorders and evaluate the efficacy of simulation-based stress-management training.

The YAG’s function as a platform for interdisciplinary collaborations within a rich academic network was a compelling reason for me to apply. I believe that my main research topic, building stress resilience, is well-suited to an interdisciplinary approach, and that it will be a valuable addition to further scientific collaborations. In addition to my research goals, I am eager to collaborate with YAG members to establish outreach events that translate research into practice. Finally, exchanging experiences with fellow researchers and finding solutions to the structural challenges that early career researchers face is a strong motivation for me.

Dr Julian Koellermeier (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

I work on mathematical models for gas flows (atmospheric entry, nuclear fusion) and water flows (tsunamis, river floodings). I am an assistant professor in the Computational Mathematics group of the Bernoulli Institute within the Faculty of Science and Engineering and associated with the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron). Previously, I was a Marie-Curie postdoc at KU Leuven and have held positions at Peking University and Free University Berlin. I obtained my PhD in Applied Mathematics from RWTH Aachen University.

My research is interdisciplinary and situated at the interface of applied mathematics, numerical simulation, and computational engineering. I develop mathematical models and numerical simulations using model reduction techniques. These hierarchical models bridge different scales and lead to efficient modelling, analysis and simulation. My goal is to develop adaptive model hierarchies and establish them in applications.

Within YAG, I want to address the problem of increasing mental stress and pressure on researchers by establishing deep work groups to allow researchers uninterrupted time to focus on their most important (and not only urgent!) tasks.

Besides this, I am passionate about science communication, I have participated in many outreach activities and won several communication awards. I therefore aim to promote public engagement from within the YAG.

Dr Antonija Grubisic-Cabo (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

In early 2022, I was appointed as an assistant professor at Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), where I work with surface sensitive techniques and their application in solid-state physics. Prior to joining the UG, I worked at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Monash University (Australia), and Aarhus University (Denmark). My current work focuses on nano and quantum materials, tailoring their properties, and studying how they behave when they are pushed out of equilibrium. By doing this, I search for materials with hidden phases and novel or unusual properties, which cannot be found in their regular state. Beyond my interest in fundamental physics, I am passionate about open science and science communication. For example, I am a co-PI in an interdisciplinary project called ‘Human and Science Histories’, which is investigating how science communication approaches have changed over time and with the appearance of social media.

I am thrilled to be joining the YAG and meeting and collaborating with like-minded, motivated researchers. As an ardent proponent of open science, I hope to contribute to the public engagement efforts led by the YAG, to make science open to all and to inspire the general public and make them curious about our projects.

Dr Maeve McKeown (Campus Fryslân)

I am an assistant professor in Political Theory at Campus Fryslân. I research responsibility for global structural injustice. I have two forthcoming books: a monograph, With Power Comes Responsibility: The Politics of Structural Injustice (Bloomsbury Academic), and an edited volume, What is Structural Injustice? (Oxford University Press – Open Access). I am currently co-editing a volume on Structural Injustice in Philosophy with Minorities in Philosophy (MAP) and Bloomsbury. I also have research interests in reparations for slavery and historical injustice, and in feminism.

My interest in structural injustice is not merely academic. Throughout my academic career, I have been committed to inclusion and diversity, as well as public engagement. At Oxford, I was the founder of the St Hilda’s Feminist Salon and I have been involved in multiple activist organizations. I look forward to working with the YAG in these areas, especially addressing inclusion for people with disabilities at the UG.

I am originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Before joining Campus Fryslân in 2021, I was a lecturer in Philosophy at Cambridge University, a Junior Research Fellow at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Justitia Amplificata, Goethe University Frankfurt and completed my PhD at UCL.

Dr Michelle Bruin (Faculty of Law)

I am an associate professor in the Department of Legal Methods at the Faculty of Law, and I am fascinated by the field of public order law. I am specifically interested in housing and the promotion of safe and healthy living. In my research, I use empirical legal research methods to study the regulation of cannabis and tobacco, fight against drug-related (organized) crime, drug-related evictions and the protection of the right to housing. In my current research project, I am studying the meaning and impact of the international right to housing on national eviction cases. This research is part of an interdisciplinary research project in which we are combining legal research methods with data science techniques (such as network analysis and machine learning) to conceptualize the right to housing and ultimately understand to what extent the international right to housing prevents people from being evicted.

My research has always been interdisciplinary and strongly focused on bridging the gap between academic knowledge and societal issues. To influence policy and practice in the area of safe and healthy living, I work closely with NGOs, municipalities, Public Health Departments (GGD), and health and research institutions such as the Trimbos Institute. This is also what makes me excited about joining the Young Academy Groningen, allowing me to contribute to stimulating and facilitating innovative and interdisciplinary research collaborations and to advocate for public outreach. The YAG provides an exciting environment and I look forward to collaborating with other enthusiastic researchers.

Dr Manoela Carpenedo (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies)

I am a Brazilian social scientist and ethnographer dedicated to understanding grassroots Christian movements and their intersections with identity and politics across the Lusophone Atlantic. I am currently an assistant professor and Marie Curie Fellow in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. My work explores how Christian cultures emerging from the Global South are having a growing influence on identity-building, politics and policy across the world. My research focuses on themes related to the growth of Christian Zionism and Judaizing forms of Christianity in the Global South, Christian activism and freedom of religion and belief in global contexts, and emerging modalities of Christian religious extremism.

I am excited to be joining the Young Academy Groningen and to contribute to projects that aim to have a societal impact and promote community engagement. I am eager to develop initiatives that focus on diversity and inclusion, particularly on issues related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion and language. Additionally, I am thrilled about the opportunity to explore new ways of bridging the gap between academia and society.

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