Marjolein Dijkstra Awarded the 2025 Physica Prize
The Physica Prize, the most prestigious award for physicists in the Netherlands, has been awarded this year to Prof. Dr. Marjolein Dijkstra, a professor at Utrecht University. Dijkstra is recognized as a leading figure in the field of 'soft matter', a branch of physics focused on the design and understanding of soft materials, such as polymers, colloids and liquid crystals. She has made significant contributions to advancing physics in the Netherlands, not only through her mentorship of dozens of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers but also through her active involvement in shaping physics policy.
At the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science for Sustainability, we bring together chemistry and physics to study the properties of materials at the nanometer scale. Our 5 research groups concentrate on three key research themes: Catalysts & Energy Materials, Colloids & Biomaterials and Nanophotonics & Quantum Materials.
The institute is named in honor of Peter Debye (1884-1966), a Dutch scientist and Nobel laureate who was a true pioneer in the field of physical chemistry and chemical physics.
Debye Annual Lecture speaker 2025: Prof. J. Schuck
The Debye Annual Lecture is a special annual event at which an internationally renowned scientist delivers a keynote lecture on one of the institute’s fields of interest. Debye Annual Lecture speaker of 2025 is Jim Schuck, he is a professor in mechanical engineering at Columbia Unversity. He will present the Deybe Annual Lecture on 5 november, 2025.