Jan de Boer (boardmember)
Jan de Boer studied mathematics and physics in Groningen ('89), and obtained his doctorate in 1993 in Utrecht. He then completed a postdoc in the US at Stony Brook and Berkeley. Since 2000 Jan has been professor of theoretical physics at the UvA and head of the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Amsterdam. Additionally, he is one of the initiators of GRAPPA (GRavity and AstroParticle Physics Amsterdam) and Delta ITP (Institute for Theoretical Physics).
Joanna Holt (boardmember)
Joanna Holt is assistant professor of Science Education at the Centre for Applied Research in Education at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Joanna obtained her PhD in extragalactic astrophysics in Sheffield, UK in 2005. After a number of years in postdoctoral research in Sheffield and Leiden, Joanna’s interest shifted towards education and public engagement, and she moved to ESTEC to work in the ESA education team. In 2016, Joanna became the chair of the Science & Humanities group at the Primary Teacher Training Institute (Pabo) of the, lecturing in Science in Primary Education before taking up her current role in 2020. Alongside her position at the AUAS, Joanna works as the Education Manager for the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), based at the University of Amsterdam. Joanna is also the IAU National Coordinator for Astronomy Education for the Netherlands and is a member of the editorial board for natuurkunde.nl. In DBHC, Joanna will combine her expertise in astrophysics and education, co-leading WP7 with Pedro Russo, supervising the WP7 PhD project and contributing to the other three educational WP.
Gideon Koekoek (boardmember)
Gideon Koekoek (1979) graduated Cum Laude in theoretical physics at the Free University of Amsterdam (VU) and then obtained his doctorate in the Virgo group of Nikhef studying gravitational waves. After his PhD, he worked for a few years as a leader of the physics section at a secondary school in Amsterdam and as a lecturer at Leiden University. Since the summer of 2017, Gideon works as an assistant professor at Maastricht University, where he conducts research into gravitational waves in close collaboration with Nikhef. In the DBHC he will work on the exhibition and science communication project surrounding the Einstein Telescope (ET) project in South-Limburg.
Frank Linde (boardmember)
Frank Linde works at the gravitational wave group at Nikhef. He is closely involved in everything surrounding the Einstein Telescope (ET). At the DBHC he will work together with the geophysicists in our team to explore the possible location for the ET. Aside from physics, Frank loves sports (kitesurfing, canoeing) and board games.
Elena Maria Rossi (boardmember)
Elena Maria Rossi was born in Milan, Italy. She obtained her PhD at the University of Cambridge with her thesis “Structure and energy content of gamma-ray burst jets”. Elena held a Chandra Fellowship at University of Colorado and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at the Leiden Observatory. Within the DBHC she will work together with Peter Jonker at our Citizen Science project, detecting transient events in the night sky.
Sera Markoff (boardmember)
Sera did her PhD in 2000 in the Theoretical Astrophysics Program at the University of Arizona, and now she is a full professor of Theoretical High Energy Astrophysics at the Anton Pannekoek Institute (API) for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam. She is also Vice-Chair of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Science Council that produced the first image of a black hole. And she is an affiliated member of GRAPPA. At the DBHC she will work on the next generation data analysis and dynamical image reconstruction for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Additionally, she will be strongly involved in setting up our educational program including the exhibition at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave.
Pedro Russo (boardmember)
Pedro Russo is assistant professor of astronomy and society at Leiden University (LU) and coordinator of the Astronomy & Society group. Additionally, Pedro is the president of the International Astronomical Union Commission on communicating astronomy with the public. In the DBHC he will focus on developing educational material about black holes for schoolchildren.
Geert-Jan Vis (boardmember)
Geert-Jan Vis works as a geologist at Geological Survey of the Netherlands, part of TNO. He is working on geological mapping of the Dutch subsurface. He is interested in many aspects of the earth sciences and its relations with other fields. Also, he wrote the book 'Wine from Dutch soil', in which he researched the relationship between subsoil and wine! In the DBHC he will help study the possible location site for the ET.