Bredenoord (1979) is currently professor of Ethics of Biomedical Innovation at UMC Utrecht and Utrecht University. She also chairs D66 in the Dutch Senate. Furthermore, Professor Bredenoord is part of the Supervisory Board of Amsterdam UMC, board member at ZonMw, a member of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and chairs the Supervisory Board of the Metropole Orchestra. On her personal website she describes herself as a true lover of culture and music.
DNA of EUR
Bredenoord says the following about her appointment: “I very much believe in the social role that a university has. We need science to find answers to the complex questions of our time, such as climate change, polarisation, digitalisation, technological innovation, demographic developments, and social inequality. Both the DNA of EUR and its location in the Rotterdam metropolitan region offer an excellent starting point to address such issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and close to everyday reality.” Bredenoord has been appointed for four years with the possibility of reappointment.
She studied theology and political science at Leiden University and obtained her doctorate in medical ethics from Maastricht University in 2010. In 2014 Bredenoord was installed as a member of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). In 2017 she was appointed professor of Ethics of Biomedical Innovation at UMC Utrecht. You can view her oration here.
Member of Minerva
To date, Bredenoord heads the Department of Medical Humanities at UMC Utrecht, where her research group focuses on ‘ethical and social questions surrounding new, often controversial technology, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and biobanks, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and stem cell research, genetics (such as CRISPR/Cas) and reproductive technologies’. “I am always looking to collaborate with other disciplines,” Bredenoord says on her personal site.
She was a member of student association Minerva during her own student days. She started working for the D66 political group in Leiden in her third year at university and subsequently worked for then alderman and later leader of D66 Alexander Pechtold, according to NRC Handelsblad. She recently spoke out about the government’s vaccination policies during the coronavirus pandemic in the Volkskrant.
Chair of the Supervisory Board of Erasmus University Jaap Winter says the following about her appointment in the university’s press release: “We are very pleased with the appointment and the decision of Prof. Bredenoord to accept the position of Rector Magnificus. Bredenoord is a recognised leader and international pioneer in her field, a true connector in various fields. She is an asset to our leading university, and we look forward to working with her.”
