On Saturday, October 25, 2025, the 123rd General Assembly took place at the KR&ZV De Maas. As usual, there was a brief housekeeping session in which President and CEO Prof. Kees Vuik recalled the events and activities that had taken place since the 122nd General Assembly. These included the farewell of our President Magnificus Ing. Ahmed Aboutaleb, the 11th International Steven Hoogendijk Award for Dr. Linda Strande, and the lecture series themed “Water” for the 2023-2024 season and “Deep Fakes” for the 2024-2025 season.

This was followed by the award ceremonies for the best experimental dissertations and theses of the past two years. For the EMC, the prize went to Dr. Arash Derakhshan for his dissertation: “Thyroid Hormones, Pregnancy Outcomes and Endocrine Disruptors,” and for TU Delft, it went to Dr. Janneke van Bergen for her dissertation, “ShoreScape: A landscape approach to the natural adaptation of urbanized sandy shores.” Four thesis awards were presented, respectively to Drs. Thanh Hang Le and Matthijs Klaassen (BSc) from the EMC, Juliette Francovich (MSc) from Technical Medicine (LUMC, TU Delft, and EMC), and Ir. Imad Bellouki from TU Delft.

First, Prof. Dr. Herold Metselaar, chair of the EMC jury, explained why the Steven Hoogendijk Medical Prize went to Dr. Derakhshan this time. Dr. Tim Korevaar then explained how Arash, from Iran, ended up at the EMC, eventually secured a PhD position, and how his dissertation significantly advanced the fields of Epidemiology and Endocrinology. Dr. Derakhshan then explained his research, which examines the influence of ubiquitous substances like PFAS on the thyroid gland, and the influence of maternal thyroid hormones on the development of the unborn child (here).

Next, it was the turn of the chair of the TU Delft jury, Prof. Bendiks Boersma, to explain the awarding of the 2025 Technical Steven Hoogendijk Prize to Dr. Janneke van Bergen, who had emerged as the winner from a selection of five excellent cum laude PhD candidates from five faculties. Prof. Eric Luiten then presented an exposé on the hurdles Dr. van Bergen faced during her research, particularly the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, which had forced the necessary field research to take place without the usual preparations and support. Dr. Van Bergen then gave a captivating presentation to the audience (here).

After the break, the best empirical thesis awards were presented to Drs. Thanh Hang Le and Matthijs Klaassen BSc for their work in immunology and kidney transplantation, respectively (here), to Juliette Francovich MSc for her work on ICU Power Flow Mechanical Ventilation, and to Ir. Imad Bellouki for his work on Portable Resonant Pulser (here). Besides the content, the supervisors’ explanations of the winners and their approaches were particularly interesting. It is worth mentioning that all four thesis winners are now pursuing PhDs.

Finally, Dr. Auke Verhaar gave a critical presentation on “man in space” (here). His experience with “space” began with an experiment on bacterial growth in zero gravity, which failed because Andre Kuijpers hadn’t turned on the power supply. Only on the third attempt, 10 years later, did the expected result emerge: bacterial growth in microgravity is much faster than on Earth. This, combined with a rapid decline in muscle strength and a weakening of our immune system in the absence of gravity, means that initially “harmless” traveling bacteria can suddenly become a threat to astronauts after a long journey. Moreover, Dr. Verhaar sees no economic benefits in, for example, manned space travel to Mars, let alone permanent habitation there, because the benefits don’t outweigh the high costs of maintaining human life on board or fully climate-controlled buildings. In short, dreaming of long-distance space travel seems destined for a bright future, and for space experiments, it’s even a certainty, although you do need stamina.

After the inspiring presentations and ideas, the afternoon concluded with drinks and dinner.