EUR celebrates 108th anniversary with robot dog and medical innovations

Two brilliant academics were awarded honorary doctorates, a new rector gave a lecture on incorporating ethics into scientific research, the winner of the Athena Award for promoting female leadership was announced, and, last but not least, a robot dog performed a dance with a well-known singer. In a nutshell, that is how Erasmus University celebrated the 108th anniversary of its foundation on Monday.

This year’s Dies Natalis (Foundation Day) celebrations were dedicated to health technology and society. The Erasmus MC presented the American neurologist and psychiatrist Karl Deisseroth with an honorary doctorate for his ground-breaking research on optogenetics, allowing tremendously detailed imaging of the brain, down to the level of individual cells, while the Erasmus School of Health & Policy Management awarded an honorary doctorate of its own to the British academic Trisha Greenhalgh, who has conducted a great deal of research on the complexities surrounding the introduction of medical innovations.

Hanneke Takkenberg presented with award

Traditioneel werd ook de FAME Athena Award uitgereikt aan de persoon binnen de universiteit die zich heeft ingezet voor het stimuleren van vrouwelijk leiderschap. Een eervolle vermelding was er voor Marie Carmen Punzi en Ana Uribe Sandoval als initiatiefnemers van de kastjes met gratis menstruatieproducten op de campus. Ook werd stilgestaan bij de recent overleden Dianne Bevelander, hoogleraar bij RSM en twee jaar geleden winnaar van de prijs. Dit jaar ging de award naar Hanneke Takkenberg, hoogleraar bij het Erasmus MC en de Rotterdam School of Management, en opvolger van Bevelander bij het Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations. Eerder was zij chief diversity officer van de EUR en momenteel is ze voorzitter van het Landelijk Netwerk Vrouwelijke Hoogleraren.

Incorporate ethics at an early stage

Newly appointed EUR Rector Annelien Bredenoord, who assumed the rectorship on 1 October, presented her first ever Foundation Day Address, which focused on her own discipline, ethics and biomedical innovations. She argued for incorporating ethics and innovation into science and technology at an early stage.
There were two guest speakers: Philips Chief Medical Officer, Jan Kimpen, and his boss, Philips CEO Frans van Houten, who is an EUR alumnus and also the chairman of the Erasmus Trust Fund. They both praised Erasmus University for its impactful research in the field of medical innovations.

There were performances between the various components of the programme by Codarts student and singer Froukje, whose songs have been streamed millions of times on Spotify. When she performed her hit ‘Ik wil dansen’ (I want to dance), Spot, a robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics, joined her on stage to hang up some party streamers and perform a little dance with the singer.