Our team

Executive board
Responsible for the overall scientific and strategic management of the NPEC facility. Decides on the acquisition, maintenance and upgrades of the facility and it closely monitors both the technical progress as well as the financial state of affairs.
Members

Prof. dr. M.G.M. (Mark) Aarts (WUR); Chair

Prof. dr. ir. G.B. (Gerlinde) de Deyn (WUR)

Prof. dr. ir. C.M.J. (Corné) Pieterse (UU)

Prof. dr. G.A. (George) Kowalchuk (UU)
Supervisory Board
Monitors the Facility on a ‘not day-to-day basis’ and advises the Executive Board. It approves the annual financial and management reports.
Members

Prof. dr. J.C.M. (Sjef) Smeekens (UU); chair

dr.ir. P.W.J.R. (Petra) Caessens (WUR)

Prof. dr. ir. B.J.G. (Ben) Scheres (RijkZwaan)

Prof. dr. G.R. (Geert) de Snoo (NIOO-KNAW)
Building team
The NPEC building team is responsible for the construction and testing phase of NPEC of the different modules in NPEC, which includes coordination of development of the specifications and descriptions for the different modules towards tendering processes. Selection of suppliers and vendors will take place through an national/ European tender procedures, which will be organized and supported by the Procurement and Tendering Centre of Utrecht University in conjunction with Wageningen University and Research.
Members

H.J. (Rick) van de Zedde, MSc (WUR)

Dr. R.M. (René) Klein Lankhorst (WUR)

Dr. T.P. (Dolf) Straathof (WUR)

Dr. R.L. (Roeland) Berendsen (UU)

Dr. D.H. (Diederik) Keuskamp (UU)
Facility managers
The facility managers are responsible for day-to-day operation of the facility. For their management tasks, they are supported by a small team which provides administrative, financial and communication support. Facility management is coordinated by both Utrecht University and Wageningen University & Research.

L.H.G. (Lucas) Schmitz, MSc (WUR)

J. (Jelle) Jolink, MSc (WUR)

Dr. V. (Valerian) Meline, Phenomics Scientist (UU)

Dr. V. (Vinicius) Munaldi Lube, Phenomics Engineer (UU)

Dr. M. (Marciel) Pereira Mendes, Operational Manager (UU)
Scientific Advisory Board
Nine members of national and international renowned researchers and industrial R&D leaders in the field of Plant Sciences advise on the NPEC performance and future strategy at least annually, but also on its own initiative.
Members:
- Dr. Astrid Junker, head of Plant Phenotyping Syngenta, Germany
- Dr. Ulrich Schurr, Pflanzenwissenschaften Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
- Prof. Eva Rosenqvist, Section for Crop Sciences, Denmark
- Dr. Bettina Berger, University of Adelaide, Australia
- Dr. Francois Tardieu, INRA, France
- Prof. Malcolm Bennett, Faculty of Science Sutton Bonington Campus, United Kingdom
- Dr. Dong JIANG, College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, China
- Dr. ir. Kris Audenaert, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Plants and Crops, Belgium
- Dr. Nico Eisenhauer, Leipzig University, Germany