UM Star Show 2021

The UM Star Show will be chaired by journalist Eva de Valk, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She wants to understand how society is changing, and is fascinated by the impact of technology on society. She previously worked as a Silicon Valley correspondent and coordinator of the technology pages at the NRC. In addition to her writing, De Valk contributes to events as a speaker, moderator and chair. With a wide range of interests and a keen eye, she never shies away from complex subjects.

Photography: Enith van Tongeren

Prof. Dr. Mark Post received his medical degree from the University of Utrecht in 1982 and studied for a PhD in Pulmonary Pharmacology, graduating from the University of Utrecht in 1989. In July 2002, Mark Post returned to the Netherlands as a Professor of Vascular Physiology at Maastricht University and Professor of Angiogenesis in Tissue Engineering at the Technical University Eindhoven. He conducted pioneering work in terms of making meat from stem cells and presented in 2013 the first burger of cultured beef ever. Meanwhile, Mark Post is CSO of two start-ups, MosaMeat and Qorium, which are respectively launching cultured meat and breeding leather onto the market.

Photography: David Perry

Rogier Veltrop was doing PhD research on the SARS coronavirus at Drexel University (Philadelphia) when a life-threatening progressive genetic heart disease meant he had to undergo a heart transplant. After recovering, he decided to change course. He returned to the Netherlands and worked at Utrecht University and Eindhoven University of Technology. He then studied Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine at the UM Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences.

Currently, Veltrop is doing his PhD under Professor Schurgers in the CARIM research group, UM Department of Biochemistry, and through the European project CaReSyAn under Professor Noels at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen. In 2019, he received the Harry Struijker-Boudier Award for Talented Academics for his stem-cell research, launched a successful crowdfunding campaign that led to an appearance on the talk show Op1, was selected as ‘ITN Fellow of the Week’ by Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions and received grants from the University Fund Limburg/SWOL, the Health Foundation Limburg and Interfood.

Photography: Paul van der Veer

Lisa Brüggen is professor of Financial Services at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, and principal investigator at BISS, the Brightlands Institute for Smart Society. In addition, she is member of the supervisory board of NIBUD, the National Institute for Family Finance Information, and involved in several networks, research projects and funds. Professor Brüggen is an internationally recognized and awarded expert in services marketing and financial well-being. She gives lectures on these topics throughout the world.

Photography: Michel Saive

Katleen Gabriels is assistant professor of Philosophy at the UM Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. A moral philosopher specialising in computer ethics, she studies how morality influences computer technology and vice versa. Gabriels is the author of Onlife. Hoe de digitale wereld je leven bepaalt (2016), Regels voor robots: Ethiek in tijden van AI (2019) and Conscientious AI: Machines learning morals (2020). She co-authored Van Melkweg tot moraal (2020) with mathematician Ann Dooms.

Photography: Bart van Overbeeke

David Townend is Professor of Health and Life Sciences Jurisprudence. His theoretical work is focused on the relationship between individual and collective responsibility in relation to health and life science research; politeness and governance; and, on the concepts of privacy and property in research governance. His practical work focuses on data protection and privacy in medical and health research, and on the creation of effective research governance.

Photography: Lottie Townend