Asked what she misses most about the Netherlands and she mentions her mother and her two dogs. Then there’s the clean air, cycling to work and proper bread with cheese. Otherwise, Eloise le Conge Kleyn’s life in Dubai looks a lot like her old life here. She studied Psychology at UM and has lived since 2015 in the Middle East, where she works for Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company. “If you want to climb the ladder quickly, you have to make a disproportionate investment in your career.”

Cut red tape in healthcare and facilitate research: this is what three UM graduates are hoping to achieve with their newly established company, Consense Data Exchange. They recently completed the two-month Brightlands Blockchain Innovation Programme, fleshing out their innovative concept involving transparent data practices. The idea won them first prize at the Hack4SmartServices Hackathon in Heerlen in May 2017.

The EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will oblige companies to have a data protection officer, to inform authorities and affected individuals of security breaches, and to invest in data encryption and intrusion prevention and detection systems. This should improve the security of sensitive personal data – but it is important to remember that there’s no such thing as a perfectly secure system.

From Apple's personal assistant Siri helping you out to Netflix recommending content for you, artificial intelligence and big-data technologies are increasingly affecting our daily lives. Is society prepared for the data revolution we are experiencing? And what will the data-filled world of the future look like? These questions are being explored on 26 January during Maastricht University’s 42nd Dies Natalis. Keynote speakers Sally Wyatt and Michel Dumontier share their thoughts on data in academia.  

What would you ask someone who, in the words of the organizers, played a major role in the story of science in the last 70 years? Precisely that opportunity presented itself to a small number of bachelor’s students, who engaged with Sir Roger Penrose in a Q&A session on a snowy January morning.

In May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect. Applicable to the entire EU, its aim is to protect the individual rights of citizens while guaranteeing free and secure movement of personal data within the EU. The GDPR is not bad, but it is complex, says André Dekker, professor of Clinical Data Science at MAASTRO Clinic. And so, to err on the safe side, medical data are kept under lock and key. So concerned are we about privacy protection that we’ve lost sight of the value of the data. “We need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Based at the Brightlands Chemelot campus, InSciTe (Institute for Science and Technology) supports scientists and starting businesses to translate medical innovations to practical applications, among other things. Three years after it was founded, the biomedical department of the institute has outgrown its location. Construction will start this year on new labs and cleanrooms

Research that transcends individual disciplines is highly regarded in academia, yet known to be incredibly challenging. Matthijs Cluitmans demonstrates that it is not only possible, but also of great added value. He obtained a joint PhD in 2016 from the Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering (DKE) and the School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM). Before that, he studied both disciplines in Maastricht, and he now works for both institutes as well as at Philips Research. “As a mathematician it’s not something I’m supposed to say, but in this case one plus one really does equal three.”

When it comes to the restitution of looted art, things are never black and white. The procedures are often lengthy and complex, and the dividing line between law and morals is paper-thin. Moreover, emotions and national sensitivities quickly come into play. Peter van den Brink knows the game like no other. In recent years, he has gained a reputation as the director who was able to trace nine lost canvases and bring them back to his Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, where they had hung before the war. Van den Brink will be a keynote speaker at the annual MACCH conference at the TEFAF on 18 March.

UM has hosted the first Global Citizenship Education Symposium on 1 March 2018, with more than a hundred students, lecturers and community stakeholders in attendance. The event was opened by Rector Rianne Letschert talking about how she has developed into a global citizen. Representatives from UNESCO and other organisations, charities and student initiatives invested in the topic gave speeches during a plenary session. As befits UM’s dedication to PBL and active problem-solving, the event concluded with a design thinking session to generate ideas on how to teach global citizenship competences.