Opening of the Academic Year

Rutger Engels

Rutger Engels is Rector Magnificus of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His mission is to ensure that science and education of EUR always contribute to solving societal issues of Rotterdam and the rest of the world. In addition, Engels is very committed to the wellbeing of students. He believes it is pivotal for students to be able to feel at home in the EUR community, that they can find their role models at our campus and that they have the opportunity to grow into being role models themselves.

Ahmed Aboutaleb

Ahmed Aboutaleb moved as a fifteen-year-old boy from the Moroccan Rif Mountains to a disadvantaged neighborhood in The Hague. Since then he has worked hard on his own success. He became the first Amsterdam alderman of Moroccan descent, the first Moroccan Dutchman in government and the first Muslim mayor of a major European city: Rotterdam. Under his wing, Rotterdam has flourished, crime has fallen and self-confidence has grown. And now education is a top priority.

Eveline Crone

Eveline Crone knows all there is to know about the adolescent brain. Crone is a professor of Developmental Psychology and author of the bestseller “The Adolescent Brain”. In her SYNC lab she conducts brain research on children and adolescents and she researches how teenagers deal with social media, school and friends. The aim of her research is to contribute to meeting societal challenges that young people face today. Crone loves to show how teenagers’ creativity and their way of thinking could contribute to a company’s success.

Semiha Denktas

Semiha Denktas is a change leader for diversity and inclusion at Erasmus University. As Chief Diversity Officer, she advocates more diversity of students and staff, and she strives towards making EUR a more inclusive organisation where everyone feels at home. Collaboration and citizen participation are typical trademarks of Denktas. She connects people like no other to come up with desirable and useful solutions to help solve current issues in society.

Arfan Ikram

Arfan Ikram was born and raised in the southern part of Rotterdam, ‘Rotterdam-Zuid’, and still lives in Hillesluis. He is a professor at Harvard and EUR. Ikram has amply earned his spurs as an epidemiologist specializing in dementia. He is the principal investigator of one of the largest and longest-running population studies, the Rotterdam Study in Ommoord. As a result of this study, much more is now known about age-related diseases and major steps have already been taken to prevent these diseases.

Ed Brinksma

Ed Brinksma is the new chairman of the Executive Board from 1 September. He previously worked in Sweden, Denmark, Singapore and the US and speaks four languages ​​fluently. Brinksma is a man with extensive boardroom experience in the world of academia. He was Rector Magnificus of the University of Twente and chairman of the Technical University of Hamburg. His next move is from one port city to another: from Hamburg to Rotterdam. In Rotterdam he will be putting all his efforts into further growing Erasmus University’s excellent reputation.

Wilfried de Jong

Wilfried de Jong is an artistic all-rounder: he is a theater, television and radio maker, journalist, writer, avid sports enthusiast, jazz connoisseur and a musician himself. His resume is as long as it is impressive and his trophy cabinet well-stocked. De Jong is a master interviewer, the best in the business. He is funny, quirky, cheerful, energetic and always suited up. A purebred “Rotterdammert” who could never live anywhere else.

Website Wilfried de Jong

Emma Heesters

Emma Heesters was already very busy with music as a young girl. As an eight-year-old she won the “Children for Children Songfestival”. At the age of eighteen, she started her own YouTube channel and became known for singing covers. Emma is an all-rounder: she has a voice like an angel and effortlessly sings in all languages ​​and all styles. In 2019 she won the MTV Push Award for the biggest upcoming talent in the Netherlands. Nowadays Emma has millions of followers on YouTube, she makes her own music and is the most successful artist in the Dutch Top 40.

Website Emma Heesters

Rolf Sanchez

Rolf Sanchez is currently the largest and most successful export product in the Netherlands in the field of Latin music. After an insanely successful tour through Latin America and three number 1 hits in the US, the Dominican-Dutch singer returned home in 2019. Once back in the Netherlands, the undisputed “King of Dutch Latin” immediately won over millions of people with his participation in the TV show “The Best Singers of the Netherlands”. The Spanish-Dutch duet “Pa Olvidarte” with Emma Heesters became an instant hit.

Website Rolf Sanchez

Gil ‘the Grid’ Gomes Leal

Gil “the Grid” Gomes Leal is an exceptionally talented dancer. At the age of 21 he became a world champion in experimental dance, but after that his world would collapse due to a psychosis. By dancing, Gil successfully beat his demons and started telling the story of his darkest days in his own way. Since that moment, the Rotterdam-born artist has perfected his signature dance moves he uses to tell his compelling story to his crowds.

Website Gil the Grid