To propagate Erasmus University's mission at the highest level, the Executive Board has established a new professorial position: the Erasmus Professor. Rector Magnificus Annelien Bredenoord announced this news at the dies natalis 2022. The first two Erasmus Professors have been appointed with effect from 1 January 2023: Professor Eveline Crone and Professor Moniek Buijzen. Through their Erasmus Chair, they create social impact and work on co-creation within and outside the university, with society, social partners and the business community.
Role of the Erasmus Professors
The Erasmus Professors are inspiring scientists who lead multi-disciplinary teams and together help to achieve Erasmus University's strategic goals. They are at the absolute forefront of their field and are pioneers in terms of social impact. In addition, they are figureheads of the Erasmian values, the core values to which the university attaches great importance.
The Erasmus Professors work together to create multidisciplinary social impact for the EUR through the complementarity of their different profiles, from various fields of study and from the Erasmian values.
It is the Executive Board's intention to appoint a new Erasmus Professor every year from now on, for a 5-year term.
Erasmus Professor Eveline Crone
Prof. Eveline Crone is full professor in Developmental Neuroscience in Society and she leads the SYNC lab (Society, Youth and Neuroscience Connected). Learn more about SYNC Lab.
Prof. Crone's research examines the psychological and neural processes involved in self-regulation and social development. All of her work employs a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach to examine the relation between brain development and changes in psychological processes from birth to adulthood, with a special focus on adolescence. Eveline and the members of her research group regularly publish in leading international journals. Besides her mission to do innovative and excellent scientific research, her lab invests in the contribution and translation of scientific findings to society. For example, through the youth participation platform YoungXperts and cooperation with Albeda College. Eveline is also a member of the Advisory Board at the National Youth Council (NJR).
Within EUR, Prof Crone plays an important role as academic Lead of Healthy Start Convergence Program, as program leader of the research project Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) and chairman of the ESSB Permanent Committee on Career Policy (VCL).
Outside EUR, Professor Crone also holds important positions. She is president elect of the Flux International Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Vice-President of the European Research Council and also Elected Corresponding Member of the British Academy (UK).
During her career, Eveline has received several prestigious awards. In September 2017, Eveline received the Spinoza Prize for her research on the adolescent brain. But also awards such as the NVP Award for Exceptional Contributions to Brain and Cognition Sciences (2021) and the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Social & Affective Neuroscience Society (2022).
Erasmus Professor Moniek Buijzen
Moniek Buijzen is Erasmus University Professor of Communication and Change, with a current focus on the integration of AI in society. She is the academic lead of the Movez Network, the Erasmus Initiative Societal Impact of AI (AiPact) and the health sector of the nationwide 10-year programme Public Values in the Algorithmic Society (AlgoSoc).
As future-oriented Erasmus Professor, she is the initiator and proud partner of the 'radicareful' AICON movement, which explores the principles of successful cross-sectoral collaboration between science, society, art and nature. Based on the experiences of those involved, AICON is shaping the common ground for equal co-creation for a humane and socially responsible integration of AI into society. Connect with AICON on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Erasmus Professor Jun Borras
Saturnino ('Jun') M. Borras Jr. is Professor of Agrarian Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, and was the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Peasant Studies for 15 years, until early 2023.
He is a recipient of the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant for his ongoing research project, "Commodity & land rushes: reshaping five spheres of global social life - food, climate change politics, labour/migration, state/citizenship, and geopolitics" in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He is also a Distinguished Professor at China Agricultural University, Beijing, and an associate at the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute (TNI).
