Research News

Good news for the technical physicians who will be first to graduate from the joint programme at TU Delft, Erasmus MC and LUMC. They can use the legally protected title of clinical technologist and register in the BIG register. This makes them officially registered healthcare professionals allowed to carry out reserved procedures independently. Clinical technologists will be given first-line status and therefore have the authorisation to register and declare healthcare activities. This is a milestone in the positioning of this still recent professional field, according to programme directors Jaap Harlaar and Pleun Hermsen.

NWO has announced that TU Delft's Nynke Dekker has been awarded an NWO Spinoza Prize. The Spinoza and Stevin Prizes are the most prestigious awards in Dutch science. Besides Nynke Dekker, prizes were also awarded to prof. dr. ir. Jan van Hest (TUE), prof. dr. Pauline Kleingeld (RUG) and prof. dr. Sjaak Neefjes (LUMC/UL). Prof. dr. Linda Steg (RUG) en prof. dr. Ton Schumacher (AVL/LUMC/UL) have been awarded a Stevinprize. Each of the laureates will receive 2.5 million euros to spend on scientific research and related activities.

Today, Medical Delta, the interdisciplinary consortium for technological solutions in healthcare, is announcing nine new Medical Delta professors. Two members of the 3mE faculty have been appointed, namely Jaap Harlaar, professor of biomechatronics & Human Machine Control, and Professor Gerjo van Osch, parttime professor Integrative Cartilage Regeneration at the department of BioMechanical Engineering and Principal Investigator Orthopaedics & Otorhinolaryngology at Erasmus MC.

Nine professors are now allowed to call themselves ‘Medical Delta professors’. They received a dual appointment at two or more academic institutions (LUMC, Leiden University, TU Delft, Erasmus MC, Erasmus University) that are affiliated with Medical Delta. This will boost health & technology research once again.

Tamas Keviczky, hoogleraar Networked Cyber-Physical Systems and a team of researchers and students from TU Delft in cooperation with the companies Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects, Keygene and Hoogendoorn Growth Management has won the 2nd International Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge. Five teams participated, the Automatoes team, with the help of advanced data-driven control algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI), not only achieved the best tomato harvest after six months, but also scored best on sustainability in a fully automated greenhouse.

Researchers at the Department of Biomechanical Engineering of Delft University of Technology have created a new class of metamaterials that can dynamically switch their mechanical behaviour. It may form the basis for practical applications such as fall-protective clothing for the elderly. The results are to appear in the journal Science Advances on 17 June.

An international team of scientists is studying the possibility of using data assimilation, a data technique from geosciences, to predict the spread of coronavirus and the efficacy of certain measures. TU Delft geoscientists on the team think that data assimilation might prove a useful tool for the RIVM epidemiologists. A paper on the subject has been submitted to scientific journal Foundations of Data Science.

Newton’s law of universal gravitation is good news for the Dutch. Ice melting in Greenland and the Arctic glaciers has caused the Netherlands to rise by about 4 centimetres over the last century. Riccardo Riva has been studying the effects of moving water masses from one place to another.

At the PME department, a micro-sized pipette probe has been developed for handling multiple liquids. It is the first time that such a small probe can dose fluid volume, and simultaneously control the concentration of particles inside the fluid.

At TU Delft, various aspects of that energy use are being researched, with the aim of drastically reducing the use in urban areas and generating the remaining energy from sustainable sources. This research is now officially bundled in the Urban Energy Institute.

The Embassy of Mexico in the Netherlands received the prototype of a mechanical ventilator developed by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) within the framework of its Project Inspiration. The prototype will be lent to the government of Mexico to support its efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today TU Delft launched eight new 'TU Delft AI Labs'. The goal is to use artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate scientific progress. The labs bring together scientists doing research in AI and with AI.

A fund of 3.4M€ has been awarded by the European Commission to a project on geothermal energy, that will be led by researcher Maren Brehme (TU Delft). The project entitled ‘EASYGO: Efficiency and Safety in Geothermal Operations‘ is one of the Innovative Training Networks meant for extraordinary global research as well as excellent training opportunities for PhD candidates to reach doctorate level.

How can artificial intelligence (AI) accelerate scientific progress? Delft scientists will investigate this question in eight new 'TU Delft AI Labs'.