Senior and Principal Fellows
The Senior Fellow Programme was developed by Utrecht University with the aim of strengthening educational leadership. Those who successfully complete the programme are nominated for a professorial position with a special teaching remit, and will be named Principal Fellow of the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning.
The following Senior Fellows are currently taking part in the programme at the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning:
Liesbeth Bijlsma
Liesbeth already showed great talent as an informal leader in educational renewal and innovation. With her project 'Scaling-up inquiry-based learning (IBL), she aims to implement IBL in large knowledge-driven curricula to support students in the development of critical thinking skills, which will help then to make evidence-informed (clinical) choices in their later professional roles. The project links well to the strategic goals of Utrecht University and can be useful to other parts of the university, especially to programmes that tie strongly to academic professional roles.
Matthieu Brinkhuis
Dr. Matthieu Brinkhuis is well recognized as an expert in learning analytics and evaluation and has a proven track record in key positions in education at his faculty, such as degree director of the Applied Data Science Master Programme and director of education for Continuing Education within the Graduate School of Natural Science. With his project on Continuing Education (CE) he wants to explore how to create joint programmes with societal partners, moving from CE for professionals, to CE with professionals.
Jeroen Janssen
As director of education, Dr. Jeroen Janssen comes into contact with students from very diverse backgrounds. In conversations with students it became increasingly clear to him that the transition from secondary school is not easy for all students. And this is particularly the case with first-generation students. His Senior Fellow project contributes to making first-generation students feel at home at the university even before they start their studies.
Alexei Karas
Dr. Alexei Karas is Associate Professor of Economics at the University College Roosevelt (UCR). Alexei is highly motivated and passionate about introducing data literacy across the curriculum for students from all fields. Alexei has held several leadership positions, for example as head of department and chair of the curriculum committee at UCR. He is an expert in both Economics and Mathematics and an excellent teacher, as evidenced by the Outstanding Teacher of the Year of the UU award in 2017.
Brianne Mc Gonigle
Dr Brianne Mc Gonigle is a highly motivated and passionate academic who is continuously looking for ways to bring research, education and practice into constructive interaction. She has demonstrated leadership and innovation in both education and research that crosses disciplinary boundaries. With her project, she aims to establish an Open Source Investigations Lab that will bring students, teachers, and societal partners together to work towards addressing key global challenges.
Frank van Rijnsoever
Dr. Frank van Rijnsoever is an excellent and passionate teacher with ample experience in leading educational innovation processes. He has a strong ambition to educate leaders of change (LOC) who are very much needed to help solving the big societal challenges. Frank’s project is about “Admission and assessment in leaders of social change education”. He aims to develop evidence-based criteria on which to match students with fitting LOC programs and learning activities, and to assess their progress.
Sebastiaan Steenman
Sebastiaan already has quite some advanced leadership experience, as a Director of Education, responsible for all Bachelor, Master and Executive masters' programmes of his department and leading several projects on educational innovation, most recently with the implementation of the REBO Skills Academy. His project aims for building a Utrecht University Skills Academy. The Skills Academy aims at developing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary skills beyond the standard set that is intrinsically linked to a particular degree programme.
Principal Fellows
To actively involve Senior Fellows in the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning (CAT) after completing the programme, they can be appointed as Principal Fellow. The appointment is for a period of three years, with the possibility of renewal. A Principal Fellow is an active candidate, takes initiatives or can be approached for a role in committees, SIGs or educational innovation projects of the CAT or Utrecht University in the broadest sense. For example, for the organisation of the OnderwijsFestival, USO assessment committee, jury of teacher awards or the SIGs of the CAT.
After completing the Senior Fellow Programme, the following people have been named Principal Fellow:
Harold Bok
Harold Bok (Ph.D., DVM) is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He focuses on academic research and innovation in the field of veterinary education. Harold’s area of expertise lies in assessment, competency-based education, and workplace-based learning. His mission is to bridge the gap between educational theory and daily educational practice within and beyond the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University.
Niels Bovenschen
Niels Bovenschen is in charge of the UMC Utrecht Pathology Research Laboratory and head of the Laboratory of Translational Immunology core facility Proteins. His mission is to engage undergraduate students in science by creating synergy between education, scientific research, and healthcare already at the early undergraduate level. Niels focuses on multidisciplinary collaboration and facilitates students to work on real-world societally relevant problems in the healthcare domain.
Vincent Crone
Vincent Crone is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at the Faculty of Humanities. He has been teaching about the relationship between media, culture and society since 2001.
Gönül Dilaver
Gönül Dilaver is Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and submitted a proposal to take diversity within the course further, beyond fixing the number of students with a diverse background.
Mariëtte van den Hoven
Mariëtte van den Hoven is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and involved with the Research Institute for Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Manon Kluijtmans
Manon Kluijtmans is Professor at the University Medical Center Utrecht, where she holds the chair 'Education to Connect Science and Professional Practice'. As part of her chair she holds several positions at Utrecht University: a.o. Vice-rector Teaching and Learning and chair of the focus area Higher Education Research.
Christel Lutz
Christel Lutz is Director of Education at University College Utrecht (UCU).
Irma Meijerman
Irma Meijerman is Associate Professor Pharmaceutical sciences. She has a particular interest in the professional development of teachers in higher education, and educational scholarship. As Principal Fellow (SF) of the Centre for Academic Teaching (CAT) she is involved in projects supporting teachers that want to get engaged in educational scholarship.
Karin Rebel
Karin Rebel is Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences at the Faculty of Geosciences and is involved with the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.
Annet van Royen-Kerkhof
Dr. Annet van Royen-Kerkhof works as a paediatrician-immunologist at the WKZ/UMCU and training coordinator of the medical research master SUMMA.
Veronique Schutjens
Veronique Schutjens is Professor Human Geography and Spatial Planning at the Faculty of Geosciences.
Maarten van der Smagt
Maarten van der Smagt is Professor of Psychological Literacy in Higher Education at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Utrecht University. This new chair focusses on scholarly approaches to curriculum design and educational innovation, in order to strengthen the relationship between psychological research, societal application and innovation within higher education.
Bald de Vries
Bald de Vries is Associate Professor at the UU School of Law at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance. Since December 2023, he is Academic Director of the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning.
Leoniek Wijngaards
Leoniek Wijngaards-de Meij is Professor Data use for innovation in Higher Education, and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University.