Participation

The JM Burgerscentrum (JMBC) is the national research school for fluid mechanics in The Netherlands. Its main goals are:

• Stimulation of collaboration of the participating groups with respect to their research efforts. The JMBC aims at being one of the leading institutes for fluid mechanics in the world.
• Organization of advanced courses for PhD-students. These courses are also attended by postdocs and by researchers from industries and technological institutes.
• Co-operation with industries and technological institutes. The aim is to promote the use of up-to-date knowledge on fluid mechanics for solving practical problems.
• Strengthen the contacts between fluid mechanics research groups at Dutch universities and the international fluid mechanics community.

At present also about 250 scientific staff (i.e. full, associate, and assistant professors) participate in it. Also, about 350 PhD-students and 40 postdocs participate in the JMBC. The participating groups are located at the universities in Delft, Eindhoven, Twente, Groningen, Wageningen, Utrecht, and Amsterdam. The various fluid-dynamics groups are based in different departments, and in different disciplines: in Civil Engineering; Mechanical Engineering, Maritime Technology, (Applied) Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Chemical Technology, Biology, and in Physical Oceanography.

The scientific director of the JMBC is assisted by the Management Team, consisting of the local directors in Delft, Eindhoven and Twente (who are also representing the groups in Groningen, Wageningen and Utrecht). The running of the JMBC takes place under final responsibility of the Board of the JMBC.

The research projects carried out by the JMBC groups can be grouped into three main research themes:

• Complex dynamics of fluids
• Complex structures of fluids
• Mathematical and computational methods for fluid flow analysis.

A number of contact groups in different topical areas are active, in the sense that they strengthen the network between researchers at different groups, promoting the exchange of expertise and experience between the participating groups. The various JMBC groups have intensive, active contacts and close links with industries and technological institutes in The Netherlands. This connection is formally facilitated by the Industrial Advisory Board, with members representing a large number of companies and technological institutes.

The JMBC research groups have various scientific contacts with research groups in other countries, often in the form of individual collaboration projects, but also in the form of organised networks. This international setting implies joint publications with other researchers from all over the world, and also exchange of staff: external visitors to the JMBC groups and JMBC staff visiting foreign fluid-mechanics groups.

As common practice in the scientific community, the research groups present their work at international conferences and in the form of journal publications. The number of publications from JMBC staff in well-known scientific journals is considerable.

Together with Engineering Mechanics (the Dutch research school on solid mechanics) the JMBC forms the 4TU Research Centre for Fluid & Solid Mechanics (FSM). This Research Centre has been recognized as a “centre of excellence” in The Netherlands and has in the past received significant funding by the Dutch Government for stimulating new research areas in fluid and solid mechanics.

An important activity of the JMBC is the organisation of the Burgers Symposium, which is the annual two-day meeting of the research school. This annual meeting is usually attended by more than 250 participants (both staff, PhD students, and postdocs). In addition to the plenary Burgers Lecture and the Evening Lecture the Symposium programme includes oral and poster presentations by the JMBC PhD students.

Each academic year the JMBC organises a number of special courses, meant primarily as advanced fluid-dynamical education of the PhD students and postdocs of the JMBC. The topics of these courses varies from one year to another, although some courses are given every other year. These courses are also open to participants from other research schools and from industry.