Council of Ministers recommends Prof. J.J. (Jos) Engelen as NWO chairman

18 August 2008

NWO delighted with Engelen as chairman

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is delighted with the forthcoming appointment of Prof. J.J. (Jos) Engelen as chairman. On Friday the Council of Ministers approved the proposal by the Minister for Education, Culture and Science Ronald Plasterk to recommend Jos Engelen. Engelen will take up the post on 1 January 2009.

Jos Engelen, born in Maasniel, the Netherlands, on 6 July 1950, is no stranger to NWO. Engelen is chair of ASTRON, the NWO institute for radio astronomy, and he was previously director of Nikhef, the national institute for subatomic physics. NWO is very pleased that Engelen will soon be taking up this new post and looks to the future with confidence. On 1 January Engelen will succeed Peter Nijkamp, who is stepping down.

Jos Engelen is currently scientific director and deputy director-general of CERN, the European research centre for particle physics in Geneva. For the past four years his tasks there have included responsibility for the construction and start-up of the new LHC particle accelerator, which will become operational in the autumn.

Curriculum vitae

Jos Engelen studied physics in Nijmegen. After graduating in 1973 he started work at the same university as a researcher and lecturer, obtaining his PhD in 1979. He worked at CERN from 1979 to 1985, when he moved to Nikhef. Engelen became a professor at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in 1987, and was subsequently director of Nikhef from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, he became scientific director and deputy director-general of CERN and in 2007, he also became chair of ASTRON. Engelen is married with three sons. He will relinquish his posts at ASTRON, the NWO Institute for radio astronomy, and CERN to take up his new position at NWO.