News in brief

The collective labor agreement will run from 1 January 2006 to 31 August 2007. This agreement makes it possible to pay the monthly €26 salary increase as compensation for the transition to the new health care expenses plan. The new collective labor agreement awards all employees with a pay rise of 1.6% as of 1 April 2006 and another pay rise of 1.2% on 1 April 2007. A structural increase of 1% in the end-of-year bonus is also included in the agreement and is meant to encourage employees to start a savings plan. In addition, all universities have concluded beneficial collective health insurance contracts, which are open to employees and members of their families, as well as students and retired persons.
Solar wins

Solar Energy was in the spotlight at the 2005 Shell Bachelor Master Awards. Shell gives their awards to the best Bachelor’s and best Master’s thesis in the area of sustainable development and energy. The awards aim to encourage young talent to keep focusing on sustainability. Both the Bachelor and Master award winners conducted their research at TU Delft’s department of Catalysis Engineering and both winners’ research focused on solar energy applications. Martijn Damen won the Bachelor Award for his research of the options to produce hydrogen by means of solar energy in a photo-electrochemical cell, in which a solar cell is combined with an electrolyser. Joep Pijpers won the Master Award for research that focused on using sunlight to produce organic chemicals and fuels. Pijpers researched the method of photo-catalysis. The winners were chosen by a jury consisting of Rein Willems, President-Director Shell Netherlands, Hans van Luijk, President TU Delft, and Wubbo Ockels, Professor of Aerospace Sustainable Engineering & Technology at TU Delft.
Award winner

Fernando Secomandi, a 25-year-old TU Delft industrial design MSc engineering student from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has won the Coram Design Award. Secomandi designed a system for providing clean drinking water to the residents of the favelas (shanty towns) in his home country. Secomandi’s design was especially valued by the jury because he placed the residents of the favela at the center of his design concept.

New agreement

After consulting with their members, the employees’ organizations and the Association of Universities in the Netherlands finally agreed on February 13 to convert the in-principle agreement that existed into a new collective labor agreement. The collective labor agreement will run from 1 January 2006 to 31 August 2007. This agreement makes it possible to pay the monthly €26 salary increase as compensation for the transition to the new health care expenses plan. The new collective labor agreement awards all employees with a pay rise of 1.6% as of 1 April 2006 and another pay rise of 1.2% on 1 April 2007. A structural increase of 1% in the end-of-year bonus is also included in the agreement and is meant to encourage employees to start a savings plan. In addition, all universities have concluded beneficial collective health insurance contracts, which are open to employees and members of their families, as well as students and retired persons.
Solar wins

Solar Energy was in the spotlight at the 2005 Shell Bachelor Master Awards. Shell gives their awards to the best Bachelor’s and best Master’s thesis in the area of sustainable development and energy. The awards aim to encourage young talent to keep focusing on sustainability. Both the Bachelor and Master award winners conducted their research at TU Delft’s department of Catalysis Engineering and both winners’ research focused on solar energy applications. Martijn Damen won the Bachelor Award for his research of the options to produce hydrogen by means of solar energy in a photo-electrochemical cell, in which a solar cell is combined with an electrolyser. Joep Pijpers won the Master Award for research that focused on using sunlight to produce organic chemicals and fuels. Pijpers researched the method of photo-catalysis. The winners were chosen by a jury consisting of Rein Willems, President-Director Shell Netherlands, Hans van Luijk, President TU Delft, and Wubbo Ockels, Professor of Aerospace Sustainable Engineering & Technology at TU Delft.
Award winner

Fernando Secomandi, a 25-year-old TU Delft industrial design MSc engineering student from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has won the Coram Design Award. Secomandi designed a system for providing clean drinking water to the residents of the favelas (shanty towns) in his home country. Secomandi’s design was especially valued by the jury because he placed the residents of the favela at the center of his design concept.