News

Defense Asala Mahajna: "Demystifying water microbiomes in engineered ecosystems: from drinking water distribution systems to saline activated sludge"

8 April at 2.30 p.m
Location: Aula, Academy Building, Broerstraat 5 Groningen
Promotores: Prof Bayu Jayawardhan, Prof Gert-Jan Euverink, Prof K. Keesman

‘AiNed’ National Growth Fund grant for speeding adoption of AI at SMEs

1 April 2025

Professor Ming Cao of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (UG) receives an ‘AiNed’ Growth Fund grant of EUR 2.4 million for research that will contribute to faster adoption of AI at SMEs in the technical industry in the Netherlands. The five-year project focuses on the ethical, legal, social and economic challenges of AI adoption in the tech industry.

The project is carried out by an interdisciplinary consortium including industrial parties. Cao is the lead applicant of this Growth Fund grant.

Use case families and practical guidelines
The consortium will develop use case families and practical guidelines with a clear vision for the coming decade. If the adoption of AI in the Dutch tech industry is not accelerated, it could harm the sector's global competitiveness, increase inequalities between companies that embrace AI and those that do not, and create labour market imbalances. In addition, it could undermine national industrial independence and miss important opportunities to contribute to global sustainability goals.

Partners
Partners are researchers from the University of Twente and Tilburg University and 13 industrial parties. From the University of Groningen, researchers from the faculties of Law, Economics and Business Administration and Medical Sciences are involved.

AiNed Growth Fund programme
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) aims to promote the development and application of responsible artificial intelligence (AI) among Dutch companies and governments with the AiNed Growth Fund programme.

Defense Xiupeng Chen: "Game theoretic coordination and control of decentralized energy systems"

21 March at 11 a.m.
Location: Aula, Academy Building, Broerstraat 5 Groningen
Promotores: Prof Nima Monshizadeh, Prof Jacquelien Scherpen

Elisabeth Wilhelm partner in consortium developing a revolutionary type 2 diabetes app

21 February 2025

Diavantis, a Dutch company dedicated to supporting individuals with type 2 diabetes, has been awarded an EFRO-subsidy to develop an innovative app to guide diabetes patients toward a medication-free life. Dr. Elisabeth Wilhelm, assistant professor in the Engineering and Technology institute (ENTEG) of the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen is a key partner in this groundbreaking project.

Thanks to the EFRO grant, the consortium around Diavantis can develop the app that will combine AI and IoT technology to analyze real-time health data and provide personalized guidance on topics such as nutrition, exercise, stress, and sleep.

"The explosive growth of Type 2 Diabetes is putting enormous pressure on our healthcare system," says Boudewijn Baks (CEO of Diavantis). "With this app, we help people take control and more responsibility for their own health. This is not only beneficial for the patient but also crucial to keeping healthcare affordable and, in particular, primary care accessible."

At ENTEG, under supervision of Elisabeth Wilhem, a postdoc will work on the scientific validation of all stages of the app's development and on developing algorithms to be implemented in the application.

“An app for health related lifestyle interventions needs to be trustworthy, reliable and robust.” says Elisabeth Wilhelm. “To be able to develop the app we will need to solve several scientific challenges in the area of machine learning based real-time analysis of sparse data and explainable AI for time series analysis.”

See https://www.diavantis.nl for more information.

Ming Cao selected as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Control Systems Society

16 January 2025

Ming Cao, Professor of Networks and Robotics of ENTEG, was selected as a Distinguished Lecturer for a term of three years by the IEEE Control Systems Society. The IEEE Distinguished Lecturer program aims at serving the IEEE community by providing stimulating lectures given by distinguished professionals and scholars. Under this program, Cao will lecture about decision-making dynamics and control of mobile robots. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the world's largest technical professional organization. Its Control Systems Society with about 7.5k members in 2024 is dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of systems and control.

Defense Matthijs de Jong: "Modelling and stabilizability of piezoelectric materials"

10 January 2025 at 11 a.m.

Location: Aula, Academy Building, Broerstraat 5 Groningen

Promotores: Prof Jacquelien Scherpen and Prof Bayu Jayawardhana

Jacquelien Scherpen Awarded Prestigious Hendrik W. Bode Prize

06 January 2025

We are proud to announce that Prof. Jacquelien Scherpen, rector of the University and a distinguished researcher embedded in our institute, has been awarded the prestigious Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize 2024 by the IEEE Control Systems Society. This recognition honours her outstanding contributions to the field of systems and control engineering.

Prof. Scherpen has been instrumental in advancing nonlinear control and model reduction methodologies, particularly with applications in energy systems. Her innovative work continues to inspire both academic and industrial advancements, reflecting the high-calibre research fostered at our institute. The Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize, named after one of the pioneers in control systems theory, is a testament to Prof. Scherpen's exceptional impact on the field. The award highlights her ability to bridge theoretical insights with practical applications, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in modern control engineering.

On behalf of the entire institute, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Prof. Scherpen for this well-deserved recognition of her groundbreaking work and its global impact.