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faculty of technology, policy and management P3 Alumna Hilde van Duijn Young Professional of the Year - EPA receives Internationalisation certificate - P4 Highflyers - P6 Inaugural lecture Yao-Hua Tan - P7 Professor profile - P8 Abroad with Curius - Ask TPM iX/2 20 06 2011 Delft School for Public Management and Technology Optimal crosspollination between academia and practice nobel prizewinners who give lectures, inspirational debates, toplevel masterclasses... when it comes to ‘lifelong learning’, tu delft is positively bursting with activity. however, the outside world is largely unaware of the fact. the soontobelaunched delft School for public management and technology intends to change this. not as a physical school, but as an access portal to the tu delft campus: the place where it all happens! They are currently offered in a slightly haphazard way: the Elsevier Technology debates, the masterclasses and practical lectures at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (I and E) and the Master’s programme for students to obtain I and E endorsements (see insets). “So it is high time to put them firmly on the map - together.” explains Willemijn Dicke, assistant professor in the Policy, Organisation, Law and Gaming section at TPM. Together with Jeroen van den Hoven, Kim Colman, Mark Bosma and Hans de Bruijn, she is driving the development of the Delft School, at the suggestion of Dean Theo Toonen. The Delft School seeks to offer an umbrella structure aimed at enhancing the identity of a number of existing initiatives. Dicke continues, “But also to facilitate meetings between those involved in practice and those involved in the teaching and the research areas in which TU Delft occupies an outstanding position. We want to invest in contacts with top executives and leading offi cials, as well as the general public, in technology-driven environ ments. We want to sit down with boards of directors, politicians and policymakers in order to clarify problem areas and to look for solutions. The basic objective is that of creating optimal crosspollination between teaching, research and agenda-setting in the interest of major social challenges and today’s inter national ‘Grand Challenges for Engineering’ that we subscribe to and which TU Delft’s Executive Board has adopted as its starting point for its 2020 Road Map.” As a modest start, therefore, the Delft School will adopt the Elsevier Technology debates, the masterclasses and practical lectures at I and E and the possibility for Master’s programme students to obtain I and E endorsements. In addition, the Delft School will seek to build on its partnership with Leiden University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and TU Delft, for which the chairmen of the Executive Boards signed a covenant some time ago. Wijnand Veeneman, for example, is already organising a series of masterclasses on behalf of TU Delft for the Ministry of I and E on typical TU Delft subjects. The intention is for the Delft School to further expand the series to around six afternoons and, where relevant, to include the know-how of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University. Top-level experts “Take a masterclass about managing large infrastructural works, for example. TU Delft can provide the technological knowledge and teach management of processes, Rotterdam can deal with the economic aspects and Leiden can add the legal knowledge. That makes it even more interesting for those taking part.” A similar approach can be adopted for such subjects as nuclear energy and nanotechnology. Dicke says, “It means that high-level officials and brilliant young policymakers can not only catch up on the latest technological developments, but also on the economic and legal aspects. The 3TU Ethics Centre offers world-class expertise in the field of ethics, which has been achieved by combining the efforts of top-level experts from the three universities.” And there are other plans for the future, too. “We want to organise short courses and Master’s programmes, for example, also in a partnership between Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, together with our international partners, such as those in Tokyo, Singapore, Bangalore or Shenzen. These courses will also be very appealing.” In addition, the Delft School would like to offer more practicebased PhD programmes (the PD Engs), a new phenomenon in the academic world. “There are many professionals aged around thirty or forty who would very much like to acquire a deeper knowledge of a particular aspect of their work and who would Willemijn Dicke like to gain a PhD in the subject. Examples that come to mind are risk management, security, privacy and asset management. However, they are deterred by the idea of embarking on a complete academic programme. They will therefore shortly have the opportunity to write a PhD thesis on the basis of slightly different criteria than those for regular PhD programmes.” Another initiative that the Delft School may be launching is the sharing of academic knowledge on subjects that are relevant to more than one ministry. “Take DNA modelling, for example - one of the priority areas in the research partnership between TU Delft and the LUMC in Leiden, also known as Medical Delta. Based on a test-tube of blood, we can already determine which illnesses a person is likely to get. Soon, it will be possible to derive the same information from a DNA swab from the mouth. Or take the use of robotics in operating theatres – that is another imminent innovation. Developments of this kind are unstoppable and have an enormous social impact. It would be great if we could bring the Ministries of Education, Culture and Science, and of Health, Welfare and Sports up to date about the kind of things that are possible, so that they can anticipate these and act appropriately.” Front office The Executive Board still has to decide which form the Delft School for Public Management and Technology should take. One thing is certain, though: there will be no new campus the size of the current TU Delft campus. “We have a front office in mind - a kind of learning centre tailored to individuals from the practical arena - in The Hague, manned by a handful of people who know TU Delft and the market very well. For that reason, we are also working very closely with the Valorisation Centre. The front office employees could act as representatives of TU Delft; they could give senior figures from the world of politics a virtual or even a real tour of all the unique research and facilities the university has to offer, such as our simulation laboratories.” continued on page 2
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