Professor Jack Pronk

Although Jack Pronk had already won several prizes for his work, the Best Professor Award was the icing on the cake: “This is probably the best prize I've ever been awarded. And I got it doing something I already see as a reward: teaching and supervising doctoral candidates.”

He hasn't had time for a sabbatical yet: “In 2016, I received an ERC Advanced Grant, a substantial European research grant. At the same time, a colleague left, putting 11 doctoral candidates into my care. So currently I’m not as mobile as I used to be!”

Jack is not short of ideas though: “I'd like to try teaching a new subject after my ERC project. Something outside my comfort zone; thermodynamics or ethics, perhaps. I'm basically a biologist, so these aren't particularly obvious subjects for me. I could imagine spending my sabbatical devising a course like this, in a peaceful location like a Norwegian fjord.” Despite the current pressures of work, teaching is still in his blood: “Giving lectures and supervising young researchers is why I work at TU Delft.”