image credit: ISE

19th December 2024, ISE, press release. Prof. Dr. Moniek Tromp, Director of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, Chair of Materials Chemistry at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), was elected by the ISE General Assembly on 26 April 2024 as the new President of Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE). Prof. Tromp took office on 1st January 2025.

She succeeds Prof. emeritus Dr. Martin Andler, Laboratoire de Mathématiques, Université de Versailles-Saint Quentin, the current ISE President, whose mandate ran until 31 December 2024. He was elected President on 24 mars 2017.

ISE members wish to jointly welcome Moniek Tromp and look forward to working under her leadership.

Moniek Tromp is currently the chair of Materials Chemistry and her research focusses on the development and application of operando spectroscopy techniques in catalysis and materials research, incl. fuel cells, batteries, photochemistry, etc…, with a focus on X-ray spectroscopy techniques. Application of the techniques to fundamentally or industrially interesting processes and materials have provided unprecedented insights in properties and mechanisms. She has had many important national and international roles, e.g. board member of the Dutch Funding Agency (Science Domain), chair of the Dutch Network for Female Professors  (LNVH), chair of the Young Academy Europe (YAE), and president and board member of the Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS) and Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA) (the science advice mechanism of the European Commission) respectively. She is therefore very well embedded in management and policy at national and international level. Her leadership is further exemplified by her current positions as Engineering director of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Research director of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (40 principle investigators, ~300 staff in total). As Captain of Science of the Topsector Chemistry, she advises the Dutch government, esp. on innovation and industry policy.

ISE members want to warmly thank Martin Andler for his dedication, enthusiasm and commitment during his more than seven years of presidency at ISE.

“I am delighted that ISE has chosen Moniek Tromp as my successor. She is an outstanding scientist, with a broad spectrum of expertise, ranging from fundamental research to industrial applications. She also has extensive experience in science policy. Moniek was the Chair of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), a member of ISE, and as such was a member of ISE’s Executive Committee between 2020 and 2022. Open science, researchers’ careers and scientific advice are some of the important topics that she has been involved in. She is very committed to European research and innovation.” says Martin Andler, outgoing ISE President.