Anne-Eva Nieuwelink defends PhD in first MCEC Joint Doctorate degree with 木瓜福利影视 of Twente
鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege to be so closely connected to two universities鈥
On 16 September Anne-Eva Nieuwelink defended her PhD at both Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 and the 木瓜福利影视 of Twente (UT). Her counterpart Jeroen Vollenbroek, who mainly did his research at the UT, already defended his PhD in January, but Nieuwelink鈥檚 defence had to be rescheduled due to the pandemic. The two researchers form the first MCEC Joint Doctorate between the universities of Utrecht and Twente.
鈥淚 was surprised to notice how easy it was to collaborate so intensively with someone from a completely different field,鈥 says Anne-Eva Nieuwelink. 鈥淛eroen is an electrical engineer, I'm a chemist, which means we almost didn鈥檛 speak each other鈥檚 language. But that went unexpectedly smoothly and was actually a lot of fun. And now, at the end of the ride, we鈥檙e paranymphs at each other鈥檚 PhD defence.鈥
Bag full of samples
Nieuwelink worked mainly in Utrecht, but also felt at home at the research group in Twente. 鈥淚t really feels like a privilege to be so closely connected to a group at another university,鈥 she says. 鈥淭here were times when I took the train to Enschede twice a week with a bag full of samples, to analyse them in their lab.鈥
Hybrid PhD defence
Originally Nieuwelink was supposed to defend her PhD in June, but in addition to a new date, the pandemic also means a new form for the defence: a hybrid PhD defence, with a limited group of attendees and a livestream. In principle, Utrecht researchers have priority to be present at the defence. Here, too, the strong bond with Twente becomes clear: 鈥淥ne of my opponents from Utrecht has given up his place so that my co-supervisor from Twente can be physically present at the defence. That feels very special, and I鈥檓 grateful for that.鈥
Microreactor technology and catalysis
The theses by Nieuwelink and Vollenbroek proved a fine marriage between microreactor technology and catalysis. Each chapter is based on a collaboration between from the of the 木瓜福利影视 of Twente and from the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视.
Jeroen Vollenbroek: 鈥淭he aim of the thesis was to develop microreactors using droplet microfluidics for the high-throughput screening of single catalyst microparticles. Together with Anne-Eva we developed microreactors in which catalyst particles can be screened for their catalytic activity and the most active particles can be sorted out.鈥
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