Jasper's Day
Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.
Friday, 29 November
‘Fridays are usually my day to head to Groningen. But this afternoon and evening, I’ve got commitments in Leiden, so I’m meeting with the PhD candidates from Groningen online. That actually works out well, as we’ve got workmen at the house, and I can have a quick word with them too. Meanwhile, I make sure the children are fed and packed off to school with their lunches.
I kick off the workday with our monthly online meeting with the partner group at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. We’ve been working closely with this group in ultrafast optical spectroscopy for about five years now. Earlier this year, we celebrated the graduation of our first double-degree PhD student, and the second is set to defend their thesis next year. Right now, we’re deep into the final analyses of optical experiments conducted at NTU. These experiments aim to unravel the energy transfer mechanisms in a photosynthetic supercomplex from plants (Photosystem II). It’s both an experimental and theoretical challenge, given the system involves around a hundred interacting photoactive molecules in a complex and dynamic protein environment. Despite these hurdles, we’ve made significant progress this year, largely thanks to the brilliant work of our PhD candidates.
After this meeting, I spend the rest of the morning discussing PhD candidate Gijsbert’s work on expanding a theoretical technique for energy transport in large molecular systems. Last week, he managed to derive the complex next step in perturbation theory and sent me ten pages of neatly written-out formulas. I couldn’t go through everything step by step last night—it’s just too much—but it all looks solid. The next challenge is implementing the results in code, which is exciting because it could take us further than what’s been done before.
After a quick lunch I head to Leiden, where I first sit down with the executive secretary, Floris, to go over the board agenda for the coming week. Then I attend a meeting to welcome Professor Tanikawa, the head of internationalisation at Nagoya University in Japan. He’s here to visit CML, which already has strong collaborations with Nagoya. René Klein and Tomer Fishman, both from CML, join the lively discussion. Tomer, an alumnus of Nagoya, was the one to initiate this collaboration. We talk about the experiences so far, the research at Nagoya, and the possibilities for expanding the partnership—such as staff and student exchanges and joint-degree PhD programmes. A framework agreement for this is ready to be signed.
Next, I clear some emails and take an early look at next week’s agenda. Then I head to a restaurant to join Sense Jan van der Molen, director of LION, in hosting Vice President Chien from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan. It’s been quite the international day!
Chien has already met with representatives from four of our institutes earlier in the day. Taiwan is particularly interesting because of its high-tech (semiconductor) industry, and NTHU has strong ties to it. These collaborations, through research partnerships and student internships, offer valuable opportunities that we could potentially benefit from—not just through the national Beethoven programme but also in the context of partnerships within the Leiden Bio Science Park. On the other hand, NTHU is interested in our strengths across a variety of disciplines. In short, this is definitely a connection worth exploring further. An interesting side note: Chien is travelling with his son, who shared insights about student life in Taiwan.
After dinner, I quickly cycle to the station. It’s freezing cold, and the cold I’ve caught today feels even worse—I’m shivering and coughing on the train ride home. Once I’m back, I head straight to bed, hoping a good night’s sleep will help me shake it off. Tomorrow’s the weekend, with a family dinner at one of my sisters’ homes—something lovely to look forward to, provided I’m feeling better.’