I am very active in science dissemination activities, such as providing expert peer-review for papers, organising and attending scientific conferences, and being a member of several interdisciplinary institutions.
On top of this, I believe that engaging the general public is our responsibility as scientists given that, in many cases, our funding is derived from public sources. This is particularly important for all basic disciplines, but also for applied ones – such as space sciences – whose long-term benefits are often difficult to grasp for the general audience.
Scientific outreach to the broader public has always been my passion – particularly when addressing children and young adults. I’ve given many space exploration, astrobiology and origins talks at primary and secondary schools. Please contact me, I would love to collaborate!
Pic – The Royal Society Science Summer Exhibition was so much fun.
Selected activities
2021: Collaboration with Esther Thole on two NEMO Kennislink articles: ‘De oeroceaan op zakformaat’ (‘A miniature primordial ocean’) and ‘De jonge aarde was een gigantische batterij’ (‘The young Earth was a gigantic battery’)
2020: Collaboration with Melanie Metz on a Quest magazine article about the origins of life and my research (‘Hoe is ooit het leven ter wereld gekomen?’) (‘How did life come to be?’)
2020: Collaboration with Utrecht Young Academy and JINC with disfavored students from vocational schools (VMBO) on designing a vlog about space exploration (‘Waar in het heelal kunnen we leven winden?’) (‘Where in the Universe can we find life?’)
2019: Collaboration with Sander van Iersel for a dissemination video on my project as part of the Origins Center (‘How did life get started?‘)
2015: Scientific divulgation stand for the Royal Society Summer Exhibition ‘UCL Origins and Life’
I often collaborate with science divulgation magazines and blogs commenting new advances in the fields of astrobiology, space exploration and origins (e.g. article in The Scientist)
