Our Team

The Communication Skills Academy is run by a core team of four people and supported by a larger team of teachers. We introduce ourselves below. 

Core Team

Kim van Ommering (PhD) obtained her master's degree in Applied Physics from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and a PhD degree in Applied Physics based on her work at Philips Research on magnetic biosensors. She has another master degree in Science Education and has taught at both high school and university level. She has always loved languages and communication of science and is excited to integrate these into her position as the Coordinator Communication Skills Academy, where she organizes, develops and teaches courses in academic writing from bachelor to PhD level.

After a career as a researcher, Saskia Ebeling (PhD) joined the Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS) to better support both PhD candidates and PhD supervisors. She initiated the PhD Course Centre in 2015 to offer training in general skills for PhD candidates, and presently serves as the managing director of the GSLS PhD Course Center. This Course Center considers academic writing, organized by the Communication Skills Academy, one of the most important academic skills for PhD candidates.

Frans van Dam is an innovator of science communication teaching and the physical and digital learning environment. He teaches science communication at Utrecht University (master and PhD level), including academic and popular writing and presenting. He co-edited the international text book 'Science communication, an introduction', published in 2020. Frans is manager of the Teaching & Learning Lab, the university's first active learning classroom.

Toine Pieters is professor of the History of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences at Utrecht University. He is director of the Faculty of Science’s Freudenthal Institute, where he also chairs the Graduate School of Natural Sciences. He has published extensively on the history of pharmacy and allied sciences, medical humanities, digital humanities, and pharmacology. Toine is also founder of the National Pharmaceutical Museum and Utrecht Time Machine.

Teachers

A 'proud papa' of four, Adam Frick received his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Notre Dame (USA) and his master's in Latin American Studies from Tulane University (USA). Originally a secondary school instructor with teaching positions on (almost!) every continent, Adam specialises in writing, translating and editing for non-native practitioners of English (see Effective English). He currently supports writers as a workshop leader, as an editor for various international academic publications and as a staff member at Utrecht University.

Michelle Marks has worked in many capacities in professional writing and academic editing, as well as peer review and editorial management with book and journal publishers. Her specialty is writing on complex topics, particularly in environmental fields, development studies and social disciplines (see Marks Editing & Translation). She has been an in-house editor at Elsevier Science and is a regular writer for geomatics industry magazines. She studied journalism at the University of Connecticut (USA). 

Taylor Krohn is a US English native speaker who has been teaching English since 2011. She is the founder of Premier Taaltraining and works with researchers in the Netherlands and abroad to improve the clarity of their writing, both for research articles and grant applications. Taylor is enthusiastic about making academic writing accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Her courses give students efficient and practical tools that will make their writing clear and concise.

Patrick Moore (biography coming soon)

Kim van Ommering (see above at Core Team)