Edith Feskens. Photo: Bram Belloni Professor of Nutrition Edith Feskens has been appointed as the new Dean of Research. From 1 April, she will replace Wouter Hendriks, whose term then expires.
As of next month, Feskens will be responsible for the quality of WUR’s PhD and EngD programmes and advises on research within WUR. She will do this for three days a week.
The professor of Global Nutrition sees opportunities to better align research and the quality thereof within Wageningen University and Wageningen Research. ‘In this way we can prevent internal competition’, she states on the WUR website. ’Moreover, this allows a much better link between fundamental and applied research. That is important, especially now that funding for research in the Netherlands is under critical scrutiny.’
Feskens knows WUR like the back of her hand. She graduated in Human Nutrition in Wageningen in 1987. After obtaining her PhD at Leiden University and working in various capacities at RIVM, she returned to WUR in 2005. Initially as an associate professor. She was appointed Personal Professor of Nutrition and the Metabolic Syndrome in 2008, and Professor of Nutrition and Health in 2015. She has served as a professor of Global Nutrition since 2018. Wouter Hendriks is stepping down as of April 1. In the next edition of Resource, to be published March 13, Resource interviews Hendriks about his term as Dean of Research.