Isabel Arends reappointed as Dean of the Faculty of Science

Isabel Arends

As of 1 July, Professor Dr Isabel Arends has been reappointed as Dean of the Faculty of Science by the Executive Board of Utrecht University.

According to Board President Anton Pijpers, the faculty has developed very well in the past four years and there is much enthusiasm about the way in which Arends leads the faculty. “I've made an extensive round of the Faculty Board, the Department Heads and the Faculty Council,” Pijpers says. “People are highly positive. They describe Isabel as open, enthusiastic, focused on collaboration, with an eye for the team perspective. I recognise that myself, too. She also presents a big strategic insight and much decisiveness during the meetings with us and the other Deans. I'm very happy that she wants to continue for another four years!”

Together with the people in the faculty as well as the Executive Board, I can contribute further to the themes that are near and dear to me in the upcoming years.

Arends is delighted with the trust placed in her. “I think it's honourable to be allowed to remain the Dean of the Faculty of Science for longer,” says Arends. “I already knew that there are involved and competent people working here, but the colleagues’ positive energy also makes for a pleasant work atmosphere. The past years have been about sustainable growth. Growth in education and research. And I expect that together with the people in the faculty as well as the Executive Board in the upcoming years, I can contribute further to the themes that are near and dear to me: inclusivity, Open Science, Recognition and Rewards, entrepreneurship and innovative education.”

About Isabel Arends

Isabel Arends studied physical organic chemistry at Leiden University and obtained her PhD cum laude with the doctoral thesis ‘Thermolysis of arene derivatives with coal-type hydrogen donors’ in 1993. After a year as a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences in Ottawa, Canada, she joined the  Delft University of Technology in 1995. She was appointed as professor in 2007, and as President of the Biotechnology Department of the Faculty of Applied Sciences in 2013.

In 2016, she founded the TU Delft Bioengineering Institute. In 2018, Arends joined Utrecht University as a Dean and a Professor of Sustainable Organic Chemistry. Arends is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). As a researcher, she specialised in new techniques that make chemical processes more sustainable, becoming was one of the first to combine chemical and biocatalysis processes.

In 2020, on behalf of the  Science Deans and as a part of the STEM sector plan, she founded the bèta-lerarenkamer ('science teachers room'). This coalition aims to improve recruitment and facilitations of potential science lecturers in mathematics, computer science, physics and chemistry.