The Faculty Club of... Hajo Reijers

In this section, our members tell something about themselves and why they are members of the Faculty Club. Hajo Reijers is a Professor of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University.

Utrecht University Hall is such a beautiful place to meet, right in the middle of the historical centre of Utrecht. I love going there to have lunch with a colleague or acquaintance, or have a drink. Especially if that can be done in the garden with beautiful weather, then I feel as happy as a king."

By the way, membership also grants access to a number of academic faculty clubs in countries like America and Canada. That is a fun feature, as I regularly visit foreign universities for my work.

How long have you been a member of the Faculty Club already?

I joined almost immediately back when I started working in Utrecht as of 1 January 2019.

What do you do in your daily life?

I work at Utrecht University as a Professor in Information and Computing Sciences. I do research there in how organisations can automate their work processes. The way digitising took off makes that a very dazzling specialisation. Unfortunately, we information scientists don't work from one of the beautiful historic inner-city buildings, but in Utrecht Science Park (De Uithof). All the more reason to seek out the historical atmosphere of the Faculty Club every now and then.

Utrecht University Hall is such a beautiful place to meet, right in the middle of the historical centre of Utrecht.

What is your most fun memory of the Faculty Club?

My most fun memory is a visit with a very good friend of mine, whom I already know since my college years. He already lived in Utrecht for over 30 years at the time, but he had never been inside Utrecht University Hall before. He was very impressed! Every time he walks through the Achter de Dom now, he sends me a text or a photo of the entrance of the Faculty Club.

What are you looking forward to the most?

Like many others, a year of working from home because of the Corona pandemic made me realise even better how great it is to meet people physically. I'm really looking forward to arranging meetings with people in the Faculty Club again. I'm considering making it a ritual: to catch up with PhD candidates on their research every week.

Do you have any suggestions for activities for the Faculty Club?

Utrecht University is a very internationally-oriented university. That also means I have colleagues who came to Utrecht from afar to do research here. That's why it's good to have activities that are accessible to people who don't speak Dutch very well. That makes the Faculty Club a little bit more inclusive and diverse if possible.