Today the UvA announced that Karen Maex is going to step down as the Rector Magnificus of the UvA. After nine years of employment with the UvA, she is going to leave office over the course of the summer.

Professor Dr. Ir. Maex (1959) is originally from Leuven, Belgium and started to work in Amsterdam in 2014. She was first active as “Nano-materials and Nano-electronics” professor and as dean of the science faculties of the UvA and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. After two years she took up the chancellorship of the UvA, where she got her term renewed in 2020.

She attached special importance to the themes of increased digitalisation and the internationalisation of science. For example, she pleaded for the European ‘Digital University Act’ in order to safeguard scientific integrity in our modern age.

In the UvA Press release, she stated that living in Leuven while working in Amsterdam took its toll: “It’s time for me to come home.” Stating that her family has always stayed in Leuven, she finds that the time has come to “start working on new projects. As to what kind of projects that could be, I’m not yet sure.”

However, up until today, the commute was definitely worth it for her. Dr. Maex states that “it is an honour to have worked with such exceptional colleagues.” Her Chancellorship was well received with the Supervisory Board, as its chairperson comments: “The Uva is not only going to miss her for her work, but for her personality as well.”

 

Photo credits: Sander Nieuwenhuys