International Staff Week

Aurélie Carlier is tenure track assistant professor at the MERLN Institute in Maastricht. She received her MSc in Biomedical Engineering in 2010 and her PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2014, both at the KU Leuven, Belgium. Her research interests encompass the multiscale computational modelling of biological processes, with a particular focus on bone tissue engineering applications and cell-biomaterial interactions and using a range of data-driven to mechanistic modelling approaches.

Ellen Bastiaens gained her PhD at the University of Twente in the domain of educational technology. She currently works at UM as programme manager for education innovation projects. Developing and implementing a programme for research based learning, resulting in a book, was one of her first projects. Currently, she coordinates the project ‘student employability’ in which employability is addressed from various angles to support the student in the best possible way in their employability.

Jan Hupkens works as a policy advisor at the department of Academic Affairs at UM. He holds a bachelor in Social Sciences from University College Roosevelt (Netherlands), a master in International Relations from the Central European University (Hungary) and a master in EU International Relations & Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe (Belgium).

Lisette Hegge is the head of the UM International Services Desk. This desk focusses on visa, scholarships and financial aid services. Prior to her work at UM she coordinated student exchange programmes with universities outside Europe at Tilburg University.

Mark Post’s main interest is Vascular Biology, particularly fundamental processes such as vascular patterning, neovascularization, endothelial and smooth muscle cell function and restenosis. As a translational arm of the research, he develops and tests novel biomaterials that are suitable for arterial grafting for bypass surgery of vascular access surgery (AV shunt), providing in situ tissue engineering. The response and in vivo remodelling of these grafts provide great insight into the role of biochemical and biomechanical cues in vascular biology.

Perry Heymann works as project manager and business consultant in the education domain at the UM CIO-office. Currently he coordinates several projects within Student Employability programme, one of the main themes of UM's current strategic programme. Next to his work as project manager, Perry is doing a doctoral research into the question how technology can support the development of students’ competences related to employability.

Silvia Gomez is the Secretary General of YERUN since October 2016, when the network decided to open its Brussels office. Responsible of the operational leadership, networking actions and the implementation of the network’s objectives, she coordinates and supports the network’s five working groups, on EU Policy, Open Science, Education and Research collaboration and Graduate Employability. Before YERUN, Silvia worked as the representative of Coventry University in Brussels and as EU Policy Adviser at the European Federation of Nurses. 

Gonny Willems is the Managing Director of Maastricht, Working on Europe, a joint ambition of the City of Maastricht, the Province of Limburg and UM. As partners, we join forces to position Maastricht as a meeting place for debate and dialog, driven by and as a scientific expertise center of knowledge and vision on Europe and European integration. Gonny has previously served as head of the UM Student Desk and manager of the Department Data Science and Knowledge Engineering. She holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from UM. Gonny is also licensee and chairwomen of TEDxMaastricht.

Dr. Judith Kamalski, Director Academic Affairs at UM, has always taken a keen interest in internationalisation. At Elsevier, she worked with the theme in various roles such as Director of Business Development. She has published several reports and studies on the topic, including this report for Science Europe on international collaboration and mobility in Europe compared to the US. At UM, Judith leads a team of policy advisors and project managers, advising the Executive Board on strategy and policy in education, research, and internationalisation. Judith conducted her PhD research at Utrecht Institute of Linguistics and Florida State University, and holds Master’s Degrees in Corporate Communications and French Linguistics & Literature.

Bo Pirovano, Alumni Officer at UM, studied Criminology at Leiden University. After receiving her MSc in Safety Policy and Law Enforcement in 2012, Bo worked in the field of policy-making for a variety of public and private institutions. UM aspires to build and maintain an active relationship between the university and its graduates. In recent years the UM Development & Alumni Relations department has laid a firm foundation for UM’s alumni policy and has worked on building up an international network of UM alumni.

Aisling Tiernan is Senior Policy Advisor Internationalisation at UM. She holds an international bachelor’s degree from University College Dublin specialising in German and Politics. For her master’s degree she conducted research on the sociocultural integration of international students studying abroad. Aisling has been working on the UM university-wide International Classroom project for the past three years, developing the International Classroom policies and activities in line with the UM’s Internationalisation strategy.

Karin Dijkman is programme manager for strategic initiatives at UM. She is also director of the SLIM foundation, which owns two incubator buildings and a unique open access (ultra) high field MRI facility. As advisor to the Executive Board, Karin is involved in the development, set-up, monitoring and execution of a variety of initiatives to evolve new activities. She is also a consultant for collaborations, allied organisations and internal stakeholders. Karin’s focus areas cover a broad range of themes from strategic and financial to legal and operations.

Oscar van den Wijngaard is project manager with EDLAB, UM’s institute for education innovation. He combines an academic background in history and philosophy with extensive experience in teaching, curriculum development and academic advising. At EDLAB, Oscar is involved with a project on retention and student persistence in the first year of their bachelor’s. He also works on the implementation stage of EDview, a university wide project aimed at the further development and improvement of UM’s educational philosophy and practice of Problem-Based Learning.

Han Aarts is the Director of MUNDO, which facilitates cooperation between UM and educational institutions in developing countries with the aim of strengthening their capacity to offer innovative higher education. Han holds a Master in Human Geography (specialisation Development Studies and Urban Planning) from the VU Amsterdam. He joined UM in 1987, worked as international policy advisor, and directed the international office. Since 1997 he works for MUNDO, which he started with the support of other dedicated colleagues. His current interests include the implications of the sustainable development agenda for higher education.  

Han is also a (founding) member of various professional associations: Platform for International Education (PIE), European Association of International Education (EAIE). In 2007, he received the EAIE Constance Meldrum Award for vision and leadership in international education.

Laura Byrd is an International Relations Officer at the Center for European Studies (CES). She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Applied Sciences Cologne and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed her master’s in North American Studies at the University of Cologne. Before joining CES, Laura worked in International Offices at several German universities, where she coordinated summer programmes for international students and programmes for visiting scholars and professors. At CES, Laura is in charge of the open enrolment semester programmes Business & Economics in Europe and History, Culture & Arts in Europe for undergraduate students from various universities in the United States, as well as the Western Europe Study Tour, which is part of the Summer Programme in European Studies.  

Aude Frost works as International Relations Officer at the Center for European Studies (CES). She was born in Switzerland and studied Psychology in Geneva before coming to Maastricht as an exchange student. What was supposed to be a short one-year study abroad programme ended up being the start of a wonderful adventure in Maastricht that has already lasted for almost 15 years. After completing a master’s in Neuropsychology at UM and working in human resources for some years, she is now in charge, among other programmes, of the Pre-Academic Training which focusses on giving future bachelor’s and master’s students a smooth transition into their academic career at UM.

Damien Nunes is a project leader and content expert at UMIO, the post-graduate education branch at our School of Business and Economics. He is specialised in (Service) Innovation and works on real-life cases for organisations in various sectors and countries leveraging the academic competences and knowledge of all our faculties by involving academics and students. As a trainer and strategic consultant, he also helps organisations in the transition to be more innovative and customer centred by leveraging methodologies such as Design Thinking, Agile and Lean practices. 

Janneke Hooijer is the coordinator of the research policy cluster of Academic Affairs at UM. This cluster deals with topics such as research ethics and integrity, research quality assurance and research collaborations with partners from outside the university. As such, the Brightlands campuses are an important strategic instrument. Besides coordinating the research policy cluster, she was the project leader of the UM project ‘Quality Agreements’, aimed at improving the quality of education.

Janneke holds a PhD in the domain of educational psychology and has been working both as a researcher and policy advisor at several higher education institutes in the Netherlands.