Addressing major societal challenges such as clean energy, sustainable food systems, and improved water management increasingly relies on computational science. To enhance Dutch expertise and innovation in this field, the Computational Science NL Foundation was last week. UT researcher Prof Dr Linn Leppert is on the board and the treasurer of the new foundation.
The creation of the Stichting Computational Science NL is an implementation of the National Agenda for Computational Science, developed by a coalition of Dutch scientists and industry representatives and presented to the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2022. The agenda emphasises the importance of computational models and simulations in finding solutions to the challenges of a sustainable future. The newly established foundation aims to build a strong community in this field and encourage strategic investments in research, infrastructure, and human capital.
Board
The founding members of the Stichting are Johan Mentink (Radboud University, chair), Bianca Giovanardi (TU Delft, secretary), and Linn Leppert (University of Twente, treasurer). Together with Alfons Hoekstra (University of Amsterdam), Mark Roest (VORTech), and Wil Schilders (TU Eindhoven), they also form the Computational Science NL Strategy Board, established earlier this year. CWI, the NWO institute for research in theoretical computer science and mathematics, serves as the foundation's headquarters.
Linn Leppert, treasurer of the Computational Science NL Foundation and professor of Computational Chemical Physics at the University of Twente, states: “Computational Sciences NL was founded to enhance the role of computational science in addressing critical challenges related to energy, water and food security and reinforce the international position of the Netherlands in this important field.
Focus areas
The University of Twente holds a strong position in the focus areas of Computational Science NL, such as energy-efficient computing (e.g., in the BRAINS centre), data-driven methods (e.g., in the Mathematics of Computational Sciences department and the CRIB centre of expertise at ITC), multiscale modelling (in departments ranging from Nanoelectronic Materials to Physics of Fluids), machine learning (e.g., in the Data Management and Biometrics group and Computational Chemical Physics), and uncertainty analysis (e.g., in the Mathematics of Imaging and AI group).
Linn Leppert adds: "Computational Sciences are playing a key role in all faculties of UT and are becoming increasingly important for fostering innovation in a variety of fields. Think about this year's Nobel prizes in Physics and Chemistry. Both were awarded to research on computational methods that have solved scientific problems with major societal impact.”
This article was first published on 23 October by University of Twente.
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