Karin Jongsma appointed professor

Those who develop technology make choices. About what's important. About who can participate. According to Karin Jongsma, those choices should not be judged after the fact when a technology already exists, but rather during the development of the technology. As of February 15, 2026, she has been appointed professor of Ethics of Medical Biotechnology at the Julius Center of the UMC Utrecht. In her research, she looks at how ethics and technological innovation can work together from the beginning.

What does the appointment as professor mean to you?

"It is both a great honor and a great responsibility. For me it is important that in this role I can be meaningful for the people I work with, for society and for science. At the same time, of course, I will also just continue doing what I was already doing: doing interesting research with nice, smart people with whom I am now also working and building the bridge to society. So somewhere a lot is changing, and somewhere nothing is changing at all. With a new role comes new responsibilities, of course. For example, you have final responsibility for PhD students, you represent a discipline and you write letters of recommendation for prizes or grants. These are all things I am also really looking forward to, because I wish the people I work with a great career, want to make science an even more enjoyable place to work and hope that I can contribute to that in this role."

How do we actually know whether something is good, or better than alternatives, and whether we should want it at all?