We must keep political and scientific debate as separate as possible, writes Birgit van Driel. Expertise should guide the scientific debate, so that expertise and personal opinions do not become intertwined.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates once again that we should not rely on fossil fuels for our energy supply, writes Alex Nedelcu. If you consider a career into the fossil fuel system: according to him it’s a lost cause.
The last CERN Summer School for now will start next week as TU Delft will stop the Honours Programme. The interest was just as big, but it was hard to get the mission across to the participants, says Dap Hartmann, the co-organiser. This could be because of the magical CERN acronym that generates different reactions among students.
While Mirte Brouwer was learning to read, the current generation of politicians was benefiting from the profits of Groningen gas, cutting back the Dutch military, and buying affordable homes. My generation will bear the cost, she says. Perhaps it is time to start splitting the bill?
The Academic Career Track is supposed to be a clear academic career path, but the reality is quite different, as Britte Bouchaut observes. Because the criteria have become more flexible and personalised, they have actually become less precise.
In their first Delta column, Jutta Van Gestel, drawing on their own experience, sees that AI will never replace the intense thought processes and creativity of the human mind.
Rather than speaking selectively about political developments in other countries, universities, including TU Delft, should adopt and publish clear policies setting out when they speak publicly, when they remain silent, and what principles guide those decisions. That is what a group of Iranian TU Delft employees write under the name Minab in this opinion piece.
Sander Otte observes that there are very few situations in which false symmetry takes on such grotesque forms as in the Israel-Palestine conflict. By facilitating a lecture by the Zionist Gil Troy and framing this as ‘freedom of expression’, he argues that the TU is perpetuating inequality.
For the victims who have seen no accountability and for the staff who still fear to speak, the Education Inspectorate’s departure from TU Delft is not a sign of success, but a premature withdrawal that leaves power structures unchallenged, writes Mahsa Sajedi in this letter to the editor.
