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Are you a student at Maastricht University and do you want to play an active role in addressing societal challenges such as inequality, poverty, and climate change? Submit your proposal now for your Global Citizenship Education project and win up to €3,000 to make it a reality!

On 22 February 2024, the Globalisation & Law Network had the privilege of hosting Dr. Virginia Passalacqua, Assistant Professor of EU Law at the University of Turin (Italy).

UNU-MERIT’s Maria Tomai works on ECOffee, an EU-funded project to create awareness, networks and trainings around coffee consumption.

Last summer, Astrid Boeijen followed Bert Kip up as CEO of Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen. After three years in the same position at the sister campus in Heerlen, she got off to a flying start in her new position. “The campus in Geleen is bigger and more mature. At the end of the day however, all of the campuses stand for one goal: To continue to develop Limburg as a world-class innovative region and a leader in health, sustainability and digitalization.”

Tears are made up of more than just water and salt. A single tear contains more than a hundred substances to be analyzed such as biomarkers that can reveal the presence of diseases like Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s. Marlies Gijs, a biochemist at Maastricht UMC+ hospital, is developing a self-test for tears.

Living brains in a laboratory and research on internet freedom –two of the ten nominees for the Klokhuis Science Prize this year are UM scientists. And you can also vote!

ReGEN Biomedical, a Maastricht University spin-off, has entered into a partnership with Demcon. Operating on an international level, this technology company will become a shareholder and will be making strides in regenerative medicine at Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, together with ReGEN, with a focus on cultivating human tissue from cells.

Picture an audience of some 4,000 people, all staring at a big screen presenting the nominees. The suspense builds. “And the award goes to ... ” The annual iGEM competition in Paris could just as well be called the Oscars of Synthetic Biology. Last November, the UM student team SublimeStone came home with gold and made it into the top 10 best undergraduate projects—an impressive achievement. For the fifth consecutive year, the University Fund Limburg contributed to the iGEM project, in line with its mission to help UM students develop their groundbreaking ideas for the benefit of academia and society.

Last November, Rory Koenen delivered his inaugural lecture following his appointment as a professor in 2023 at the research institute CARIM. The chair he holds is "Biochemistry of Vascular Inflammation and Thrombosis," and Rory's research can be best described as the quest to understand the role of inflammatory processes in the development of thrombosis. He does not limit himself to the well-known arterial and venous thrombosis, but also examines micro thrombosis, as Koenen believes that small clots are much more inflammation-related than large blood clots. Therefore, his inaugural speech was titled: "Inflammation and thrombosis, reunited at last!"

The European elections are just around the corner. Democracy in the EU has shortcomings, but the EU has mostly lacked political debate in recent decades. It is good that this is changing.