Professor Annelien Bredenoord (1979), Professor of Professor of Ethics of Technology and Rector Magnificus of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), has been elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Annelien Bredenoord is an international pioneer in the ethical assessment of new biomedical technology. Together with her team, she has developed an interdisciplinary method for the responsible introduction of biomedical innovations into healthcare and society: ethical parallel research. A unique aspect of this method is that the ethical evaluation does not take place subsequently, but rather proactively, before or during the development of the technology. "I very much believe in the social role that a university has. We need science to find answers to the complex questions of our time, such as climate change, polarization, digitalization, technological innovation, demographic developments and social inequality.” 
Bredenoord not only has frequently cited scientific publications to her name but has also given international policy advice on genetic and reproductive technology. She is active in the Dutch media on ethical dilemmas. About KNAW
Academy members, leading researchers from across all the disciplines, are selected for their scientific and scholarly achievements. The Academy has about 600 members. Members are appointed for life. The new members will be installed on Monday 12 September 2022. This article was first published on 12 May by EUR.

Rector Magnificus of Erasmus University Rotterdam elected member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Seven Dutch consortia with top scientists will receive a total of 142.7 million euro from the Gravitation programme. This includes the consortium 'GUTS: growing up together in society' of which Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is in the lead, and 'The algorithmic society' of which EUR is a co-applicant. Minister Dijkgraaf makes this funding available to scientific consortia that can compete in the world top with groundbreaking research. The consortium 'Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS)', led by  Prof. Eveline Crone  of Erasmus University Rotterdam, will receive 22 million euros. The aim of this project is to discover how young people can grow up successfully and contribute to the present and future society. "Growing up successfully is a puzzle," explains Eveline Crone, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience in Society. "Research into brain development in young people is mostly individually focused. But a child does not grow up individually; it is part of systems of family, friends, school and societal norms. That is why it has great added value to connect knowledge about this." The consortium of psychologists, sociologists, child psychiatrists and neuroscientists, which also includes the University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam UMC, Leiden University, University of Groningen, Utrecht University, Radboudumc and Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, has been working for five years. "People think about interdisciplinary cooperation too easily, but you really have to learn to speak each other's language and trust each other. That is what we have invested in and that is how you get breakthroughs. " 
'Erasmus University is the best place for this'
Crone: "We really do this for young people. The corona crisis has taken its toll. It's not enough to catch up, they have to grow up really successfully and that means more than scores; it's also about welfare, contributions and involvement in society." A unique aspect is the addition of youth panels, young people themselves thinking about what is important for their generation. The research focuses on learning together in education, social networks such as friendships and young people who have been in contact with the law at an early age. Throughout this, there is a focus on social inequality. "Erasmus University is the best place for this, this is in the DNA of the university," says Crone. "I am very fortunate to be able to do this here for the next ten years." The algorithmic society
Prof. Moniek Buijzen  is involved in the consortium 'The Algorithmic Society’ (ALGOSOC), which receives 21.3 million euros and is led by the University of Amsterdam. This project investigates how public values and human rights can be safeguarded within the development of (semi-) automated processes (such as Artificial Intelligence). "Think of systems used by banks or health insurance companies. You see that biases arise in them”, says Moniek Buijzen, Professor of Communication and Behavioural Change. Machines are fed by people
"We can blame machines, but they are fed and controlled by us. Wrongs in society are at the basis and are often reinforced by these kinds of systems. Who play a role in this? Tech companies are becoming increasingly important." Systems often turn out to be technology and efficiency-driven, and human values such as autonomy, dignity and privacy are in danger of being forgotten. "They come into play and this needs to be rethought. The social sciences and humanities are needed precisely for this." Three years were spent working on the consortium. Buijzen: "In the meantime, you see all sorts of things happening that only reinforce the urgency of this issue. It's great that we can get started and it fits very well with the EUR." The consortium aligns seamlessly with the  Erasmus Initiative ‘Societal Impact of AI’  and the  Erasmus Centre for Data AnalyticsOpens external . Connection to Convergence
"It is great news that several projects of Erasmus University Rotterdam have received an award from the Gravition programme. A reward for years of hard work by all scientists involved, congratulations!" says Ed Brinksma, chairman of the Executive Board of EUR. "This underlines the importance of working together across disciplines and institutions to tackle complex issues in society. Something we as a university have been focusing on for some time with the  Erasmus Initiatives ,  Leiden-Delft-ErasmusOpens external  and the  ConvergenceOpens external  with Erasmus MC and TU Delft. The projects that have been awarded funding dovetail particularly well with these objectives.” Both programmes are rooted in the  Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences  and pay much attention to talent development of young scientists who have an eye for collaboration and societal impact. Research of international top level
The Gravitation programmeOpens external  is implemented by NWO on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Seven consortiums were ultimately selected from 40 applications. Researchers can carry out top-level university research and multidisciplinary collaboration for ten years. Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf: "For top-level international research, peace and quiet are essential. With this major boost we are offering long-term prospects and adequate funding to collaborating excellent research groups. Researchers from these scientific consortia, who are among the world's best in their field, can use Gravitation to work on groundbreaking research." This article was first published on 2 May by Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Erasmus University Rotterdam research projects receive 43.3 million euro from Gravitation programme

11 Apr 2022   |
Led by Erasmus University Rotterdam, an EU-funded project provides free MOOC on Coursera platform to help researchers and communications professionals
April 6, 2022. Online disinformation – especially about science – is one of the scourges of our age. To help researchers and communications professionals deal with it, an EU-funded consortium led by Erasmus University Rotterdam has launched a free online course on the topic. The seven-part programme, now available on educational platform Coursera, is the first massively open online course – or MOOC – on the topic made by partners from multiple European countries. The problem of scientific disinformation is vast and growing – affecting how millions of people around the world perceive climate change, the pandemic, vaccines and more. The MOOC, called “Communicating Trustworthy Information in the Digital World”, includes modules on how today’s online world affects science, the challenges social scientists face in studying dis- and mis-information, how science journalists handle “fake news”, how misinformation affects policy making. The course is designed to give practical solutions to students and young professionals. It is in English and takes approximately 6 hours to complete. The MOOC is a product of an EU Horizon 2020 project called TRESCA (Trustworthy, Reliable and Engaging Scientific Communication Approaches). The project, led by Erasmus and involving partners from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain, has also conducted extensive public-opinion surveys on scientific disinformation, tested various online strategies for dealing with it, and began work on a “disinformation widget” that could help citizens detect misleading content online.

Fighting scientific disinformation: A first Europe-wide online course launches

PTI | Cairo | Updated: 05-04-2022 12:31 IST | Created: 05-04-2022 12:23 IST
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Each day brings new financial burdens for Ikhlas Zakaria , a single mother of six who sells cups of tea at a roadside stand in a provincial town in Sudan. Prices for basic goods have skyrocketed, and at times she can only provide one meal a day for her children. The cost of the water she boils for tea has doubled. Two of her children dropped out of school a few months ago to work in the fields, but their earnings are shrinking as dry spells hurt harvests. "The situation has become impossible," said Zakaria who lives in the war-ravaged Darfur region and whose husband left several years ago. Across Sudan , living conditions have rapidly deteriorated since an October military coup sent an already fragile economy into free-fall. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and currency devaluations have compounded the economic pain. The Oct. 25 military takeover upended Sudan's transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019. The coup also stalled two years of efforts by the deposed government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to overhaul the economy with billions of dollars in loans and aid from major Western governments and international financial institutions. Such support was suspended after the coup. The previous government also floated its currency to stop black market trading. "The economy has been shrinking since the revaluation and this has been exacerbated after the coup," said Sabna Imam , a Sudanese economics researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. But a more recent devaluation has pushed prices higher: In March, the Sudanese pound slipped further, at one point trading at 800 to the dollar. It recovered some value but by then the damage was already done. It triggered dramatic price increases for bread, fuel, electricity, medicine, health care and public transportation. In February, inflation reached nearly 260%, according to the country's census agency. Such figures are expected to be even greater for March. Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy to Sudan , warned last month that the country is now at risk of missing critical World Bank and International Monetary Fund deadlines and the prospect of some $50 billion in debt relief is no longer secure. "The combined effects of conflict, economic crisis and poor harvests will likely double the number of people facing acute hunger to about 18 million people by the end of this year," he told the U.N. Security Council. Many of Sudan's more than 45 million people are already living in poverty. In Nyala , West Darfur's provincial capital, where Zakaria lives, the price of sugar and petrol is twice what it was weeks ago. To make ends meet, Zakaria raised the price of a cup of tea by 50%. Some of her customers can't afford that now. In the capital of Khartoum , relentless anti-coup protests have paralysed the city as protesters barricade streets to pressure the generals. With the latest bout of inflation, people were forced to cut their consumption by half, according to Ahmed al-Tayeb , who sells groceries in one of the city's main markets. He said he's seen significant shortages in basic goods partly because of the closure of main highways linking the capital to Red Sea ports and the Egyptian border to the north. Two U.N. agencies — the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organisation — are warning that the worst is yet to come. The FAO said 5.6 million people are affected by the dry spells in addition to the 9.8 million people who are food insecure due to the economic crisis. It said this season's rain level in most provinces is less than normal, with lengthy dry spells expected into the summer. The two agencies said recent bouts of violence in the Darfur and Kordofan regions have damaged farms and left many jobless. "In Sudan , we are currently sailing into the perfect storm," said Carl Paulson, the WFP's head of program in the country. He said a number of factors are to blame, most recently Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The invasion has driven up prices of fuel and food worldwide, but this is a bigger issue for poor countries in Africa and the Middle East , which depend heavily on imports to feed growing populations. Russia and Ukraine are the source of 87% of Sudan's imported wheat. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than $1.9 billion is needed in 2022 to provide assistance and protection to 14.3 million people in Sudan. Sudan has for years struggled with an array of economic woes. The country was plunged into an economic crisis when the oil-rich south seceded in 2011 after decades of war, taking with it more than half of public revenues and 95% of exports. Sudan was also an international pariah after it was placed on the United States' list of state sponsors of terror early in the 1990s. This largely excluded the country from the global economy and prevented it from receiving loans from international institutions like the IMF. Former President Donald Trump removed Sudan from the blacklist after the transitional government agreed to pay $335 million in compensation for victims of attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network while the terror leader was living in Sudan. The removal also was an incentive for Sudan to normalize ties with Israel. Imam, the economic researcher, said Sudan had been expecting $700 million in the 2022 budget in foreign loans and aid to ease the burden of austerity measures, including the currency flotation and slashing of subsidies for bread and fuel. But with suspension of such aid, the military-led government has increased taxes and other fees by 145%. "This adds to people's sufferings," she said. (This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) READ MORE ON:

Sudanese go hungry as prices spiral upward in wake of coup

Sudanese go hungry as prices spiral upward in wake of coup
A man buys meat in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, March.30, 2022. The UN has warned that more than 18 million people Sudanese, nearly half its population, could face severe hunger by this fall. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
(Marwan Ali / Associated Press)
CAIRO — 
Each day brings new financial burdens for Ikhlas Zakaria, a single mother of six who sells cups of tea at a roadside stand in a provincial town in Sudan. Prices for basic goods have skyrocketed, and at times she can only provide one meal a day for her children. The cost of the water she boils for tea has doubled. Two of her children dropped out of school a few months ago to work in the fields, but their earnings are shrinking as dry spells hurt harvests. “The situation has become impossible,” said Zakaria who lives in the war-ravaged Darfur region and whose husband left several years ago. Across Sudan, living conditions have rapidly deteriorated since an October military coup sent an already fragile economy into free-fall. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and currency devaluations have compounded the economic pain. Advertisement
The Oct. 25 military takeover upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019. The coup also stalled two years of efforts by the deposed government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to overhaul the economy with billions of dollars in loans and aid from major Western governments and international financial institutions. Such support was suspended after the coup. The previous government also floated its currency to stop black market trading. “The economy has been shrinking since the revaluation and this has been exacerbated after the coup,” said Sabna Imam, a Sudanese economics researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. But a more recent devaluation has pushed prices higher : In March, the Sudanese pound slipped further, at one point trading at 800 to the dollar. It recovered some value but by then the damage was already done. It triggered dramatic price increases for bread, fuel, electricity, medicine, health care and public transportation. In February, inflation reached nearly 260%, according to the country’s census agency. Such figures are expected to be even greater for March. Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy to Sudan, warned last month that the country is now at risk of missing critical World Bank and International Monetary Fund deadlines and the prospect of some $50 billion in debt relief is no longer secure. “The combined effects of conflict, economic crisis and poor harvests will likely double the number of people facing acute hunger to about 18 million people by the end of this year,” he told the U.N. Security Council. Many of Sudan’s more than 45 million people are already living in poverty. In Nyala, West Darfur’s provincial capital, where Zakaria lives, the price of sugar and petrol is twice what it was weeks ago. To make ends meet, Zakaria raised the price of a cup of tea by 50%. Some of her customers can’t afford that now. In the capital of Khartoum, relentless anti-coup protests have paralyzed the city as protesters barricade streets to pressure the generals. With the latest bout of inflation, people were forced to cut their consumption by half, according to Ahmed al-Tayeb, who sells groceries in one of the city’s main markets. He said he’s seen significant shortages in basic goods partly because of the closure of main highways linking the capital to Red Sea ports and the Egyptian border to the north. Two U.N. agencies — the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization — are warning that the worst is yet to come. The FAO said 5.6 million people are affected by the dry spells in addition to the 9.8 million people who are food insecure due to the economic crisis. It said this season’s rain level in most provinces is less than normal, with lengthy dry spells expected into the summer. The two agencies said recent bouts of violence in the Darfur and Kordofan regions have damaged farms and left many jobless. “In Sudan, we are currently sailing into the perfect storm,” said Carl Paulson, the WFP’s head of program in the country. He said a number of factors are to blame, most recently Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The invasion has driven up prices of fuel and food worldwide, but this is a bigger issue for poor countries in Africa and the Middle East, which depend heavily on imports to feed growing populations. Russia and Ukraine are the source of 87% of Sudan’s imported wheat. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than $1.9 billion is needed in 2022 to provide assistance and protection to 14.3 million people in Sudan. Sudan has for years struggled with an array of economic woes. The country was plunged into an economic crisis when the oil-rich south seceded in 2011 after decades of war, taking with it more than half of public revenues and 95% of exports. Sudan was also an international pariah after it was placed on the United States’ list of state sponsors of terror early in the 1990s. This largely excluded the country from the global economy and prevented it from receiving loans from international institutions like the IMF. Former President Donald Trump removed Sudan from the blacklist after the transitional government agreed to pay $335 million in compensation for victims of attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network while the terror leader was living in Sudan. The removal also was an incentive for Sudan to normalize ties with Israel. Imam, the economic researcher, said Sudan had been expecting $700 million in the 2022 budget in foreign loans and aid to ease the burden of austerity measures, including the currency flotation and slashing of subsidies for bread and fuel. But with suspension of such aid, the military-led government has increased taxes and other fees by 145%. “This adds to people’s sufferings,” she said.

Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 69,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials.

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LEIDEN , Netherlands , 1 February 2016 -- Erasmus University , one of the largest universities in the Netherlands with over 24,000 students and a research community of approximately 1,400 scientists , has selected OCLC as its library management system .

Erasmus University Rotterdam selects OCLC WorldShare Management Services.

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin, currently offering banking, investments, life insurance, and retirement services to meet the needs of a broad customer base. It serves more than 85 million private, corporate, and institutional customers in Europe, North and Latin America, Asia, and Australia.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)  is an internationally oriented research university that provides higher education to students. It is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Name	Firm	Work History	Other Seats
Arnoud Klerkx			Erasmus University Rotterdam
Freek Rijna			Erasmus University Rotterdam
Thijs Bakker			Erasmus University Rotterdam

Name	Arnoud Klerkx	Freek Rijna	Thijs Bakker
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Work History
Other Seats	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Erasmus University Rotterdam

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